This build was my first step into custom painting so I decided to keep it simple. I only painted the red and gold to try and match the chrome waterslides. I think it turned out really well!

For reference, I used Tamiya acrylic red (X-7) with a pearlescent clear coat and Mr. Hobby GX rough gold (GX-217). The red plastic was painted red and the yellow pieces gold. I used a black base coat under the gold to darken it a bit. Both received a coat of Tamiya lacquer flat clear afterwards. The waterslides are EVO red and gold chrome.

I also tried my hand at touching up the smaller details, such as the hydraulics by the knee area and the weapons. I used Vallejo metal colour via brush. It turned out pretty well but it’s a bit lumpy if I look really close so I’ll have to practice on thinner coats for the future.

Some detail shots:

The action base it came with was alright. With some wider poses, the whole kit got a bit tippy so I ended up double sided taping the base down. The pieces that come off of the kit that hold the funnels were a bit too stiff at the joints and I ended up breaking one when trying to adjust it. It does come with six of these apposable arms so it wasn’t a big deal since I only used three of them for the poses.

Speaking of poses, this kit has a lot of versatility. With the base, funnels, weapons, and kit gimmicks, there’s a lot you can do. It was quite time consuming to get all of the funnels in a good spot but I think I did alright. Here are the keepers that I felt looked the best with a bit of editing:

I really enjoyed this kit. It took about 2 months to complete because of time restraints and an almost too keen eye for detail. The small bits and pieces that I hand painted really tie the kit together, even if they were a bit tedious. I can also highly recommend the chrome waterslides. Colour matching to them was again, tedious, but it turned out and I’m glad I went through the trial and error to make everything look good.

I will say there were a few pieces that were looser than I’d like but a bit of glue fixed that problem. The funnels were also frustratingly loose and I didn’t want to glue them permanently so they required a very delicate hand to pose. Everything else was really solid though and it’s a fantastic looking kit! With the funnels spread out, the kit has amazing shelf presence.