Wow – this has to be the most detailed inner frame of a mech I’ve built. There’s so much part differentiation, which makes it really easy to add coloured details.

As I’ve gone along I’ve been using Future Finish as I go to seal the sections, as if I don’t the Tamiya Weathering Master will often wipe off and smudge.

The back section just has so much detail. I used the Tamiya Weathering Master to bring out the details on the grey (or gunmetal) parts, and Tamiya Smoke on metallic parts to add contrast to their details.

I love these little fuel pods, and the Tamiya Lemon Yellow covered in Tamiya Clear Orange just looks great, and goes well with the supplied metallic finish parts.

Starting to get the parts together, it’s standing firm and stable.

And the rear skirt section fits well, although I’ve not installed the fuel pods, waiting to when the kit is finished.

Now onto the first of the electronic circuits for the lights. The circuit board fits well, and the cables are not too fiddly.

Routing the cables through the chest works ok, but getting the lighting boards fitted into their parts was a bit finicky.

But it lights up great, and the switch on the head is reasonably convenient.

The lights cycle nicely when turned on!

Arms and shoulders went well. As like the rest of the kit, the parts are tight, and the instructions need to be very carefully followed.

The runner for the pod parts has a rather strange mildly iridescent, magenta/blue colour. I went with a deep Navy Blue. I used thinned white oil paint to panel line the details.

The support arms have a tonne of detail and are a touch tricky to get together.

But they feel firm and have locking joints to help support the weight of the wings.

More electronics fit nicely inside the pods.

And then we layer up more and more detail….

The pods build up nicely, and again, top coated to keep them clean and to stop the white oil paint rubbing off.

The rest of the “wings” build up like the rest of the frame, in layers with lots of tiny details. It can be quite tricky to push some of the small pieces into shape, but eventually they fit tight, and save so much time compared to hand-painting small details.

I kept mixing up the paint effects to allow the details to shine. The large side pieces are Tamiya Dark Grey, with a lot of Tamiya Weathering Master dry brushing the details into appearance, with fineliner adding a bit of extra shadow on the edges to keep the details popping.

I went with Alclad Chrome on the large thrusters. I wasn’t going for a proper chrome finish, just metallic, so I used Tamiya Gunmetal as the base coat.

And more top coating with Future Finish to lock in all the dry brushing.

At this point there are so many parts and my desk is full! Rather than go onto the armour, my plan is to finish the base so I can get some nice photos of assembly of the inner frame.

The base does have some separate parts to add detail, but for the most part, if you want to bring out the details you’re hand painting or masking (or both). I went with a lot of masking, putting down Alclad Chrome on top of the Tamiya Gunmetal base, masking, then Alclad Polished Brass.

To me, this detail looks like some kind of fuel tank, so I used the same Lemon Yellow + Clear Orange, on top of masked metallic details.

The base has a very sturdy arm to hold the model. Unlike the main frame of the mech there are no separate parts to add colour detail, so again, it’s masking time!

I’m keeping the edge of the base in Tamiya Gunmetal, but the rest in Tamiya Dark Grey. The Dark Grey takes the weathering master really well, and the colour is a slightly cool grey, so it contrasts lovely with the more neutral gunmetal.

Tamiya Dark Grey again for the arm parts, with masked details.

The Alclad Polished Brass came out just great on the sliding section of the base.

The masked inner details really came out nicely, and Tamiya Masking Tape has been nicely reliable to not pull off the paint.

A little thinned Tamiya Smoke in the crevices works well to keep the contrast around the metallic details.

I’m very happy how the painted details came out on the main arm.

These stairs and cherry picker parts are all grey plastic, but I thought they’d be better in Tamiya Lemon Yellow. I masked off some parts which I kept Tamiya Gunmetal.

Lots of decals…

So so so many decals……

But when it all came together assembled, it looks great in its own right, even without the mech in place.

But with the mech frame in place, it’s looking great, and is really quite sturdy, which is very important. I made a cobbled together stand from three action bases for the Elyn Kshatryia, and although it worked, it was really delicate. This feels sturdy.

I had to go back and do some work on the arms to get the locks working just right. The fit there just has to be spot on to get them functioning easily, but once done, it’s holding the weight of the wings well.

And sturdy enough for a trip around the house so I can take some better photos later…..

So far, this is a fun kit. I like the level of detail on the frame, but wish that had continued through to the base. The fit on the parts is very tight, and I’ve had a few times where a painted part just wouldn’t fit and I had to carefully sand off or strip back the paint on joints. Even then, there was some real weight and strength required to some bits to fit properly together.

I like how they’ve gone with locking joints for the wings. Even still, the shoulders still feel a little delicate, and we’ll see how it goes once the extra weight of the armour is in place.