The shoulders and arms went together reasonably well.At this point I re-connected the battery pack and did a test of the 4 shoulder points where the binders will attach. I wanted to still sure I was electrically sound. All was good.Even just as a torso and arms, this is an interesting looking mech with the great front lights and special shoulder sections that support the heavy binders.  Now these are the first major elements that use the metal photo etched parts. The plastic was painted with Tamiya lemon yellow with a top coat of Tamiya clear yellow. I like the slightly orange hue reminiscent to me of heavy machinery. The metal parts cut cleanly and easily from their sheet and went into place relatively smoothly, with just a little jiggling to get them all seated correctly – fiddly, but not unreasonable and looks great!  Now work started on the legs, with the knee sections with the small hydraulics. While I was on painting yellow pieces, I did the rest of the hydraulics I’ll be needing later on. The orange bands are Tamiya clear orange. More metal pieces for the calves. Again, the metal pieces worked well, and just a dab of glue held them in place while I lined up the final plastic section. This kit has a great looking inner frame. I always like hydraulics on an inner frame. With the yellow vents in place, the legs are starting to take shape, and you just know the rest of the armour is going to make this a large kit.  The legs have these highly detailed thrusters either side. There are 8 individual pieces making up each one.  More power pipes…. I’m getting the hang of them now! Just don’t get too happy with how you’ve bent them into place because they’ll have to move when side thrusters join on to that peg in the middle. With these front shin sections in place the legs bulk out some more.  And now with the side thrusters attached the legs are looking really awesome.  Back to wiring hell. These leg lights are independent of the rest of the circuitry and the manual warns you they’re tricky. We’ll, they’re tricky indeed, but at least no plastic cutting was needed unlike the chest lights and rear thruster sections from earlier. I did manage to get one side all assembled and working until this resistor (150 ohms I think) decided to snap off from its connection to one of the battery boxes. No way was I going to be able to solder a connection onto that blind end of the resistor, and of course, my gas-powered soldering iron ran out of gas… But with some fresh gas purchased at Giant Tiger, and a 100 ohm resistor from my parts box, I was back in business. The light effect through the lenticular diffusion panels and metal grille is great! The ankle side sections are massive and in multiple pieces, so if you wanted to paint them separately for effect, you could. I see a hole at the front where one of the small metal detail parts obviously needs to go, but there’s no mention of it in the instructions and they show a hole there too! Now with both sides in place I tested the lights again and found the other side had a poor connection at its battery box. I dis-assembled that side, put a couple of drops of super-glue to hold the wires on the battery box tight and put it back together. All good.  Now if there’s one section of a Gundam mech that I like it’s the feet. These feet are fantastic with great detail. I used Vallejo oily steel thinned with some Future Finish. With my thin oil wash on top, the result is excellent. The small thrusters are nice metal parts, with some yellow plastic centres. I added a drop of Tamiya clear orange to each just to finish them off. Tamiya clear orange was also used for the pipe detail on the soles. Yes, these are the tops of the feet, they’re blue and they’re bold. I like it! On the front of the battery compartments are more of the nice metal stickers. Unfortunately the instructions tell you to place them once the battery compartments are located on the legs, rather than when you’re actually building them. Re-ordering these instructions would make the build simpler.  The knees have a bold blue section also. There’s not much guide on how to attach the knee, but the parts slotted into place quite smoothly. More armour being built up on the top of the legs.  And now armour right to the top. More sections for the binders drying after details done with black oil wash, some Tamiya clear orange and Tamiya Weathering master for the copper sections. Vallejo oily steel is going to look great on these sections after their oil wash.I wanted these sections where the funnels will attach to be lighter in tone, so they’re just Alclad grey primer with a nice top coat of Future Finish.  More Vallejo oily steel. And yet more Vallejo oily steel. All pieces will receive the black oil paint wash and subsequent cleanup.The legs are back in the paint booth for some more Future Finish.