[WIP] HMM Command Wolf

[Gunduck]

I managed to locate all the posts from my WIP of the HMM Command Wolf that was lost when the old forums went down
so I figured I might as well re-post it here to give myself some motivation to get some more work done on it


23/12/2009
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I figured I would post this WIP to breath a bit of non-Bandai air into the forums XD

Anyway, this is just a quick post/teaser before I leave Melbourne to visit the folks over Christmas..

Brief Summary:
the Command Wolf is the grunt Zoid of the Helic Republic. Full History: http://zoids.wikia.com/wiki/Command_Wolf

enough yapping. lets bring on the Pics!

Box Art:

Personally, I just love this box art. It's done by an artist that goes by the name of "Mercy Rabbit"
his web site: http://www.geocities.jp/mercyrabbit01/ (WARNING: Site contains images that are NSFW)

All the sprues laid out on the table:


Coloured lineart: the one on the left is the standard mass production colour and the one on the right (I assume) is a Desert type (can someone who can read Japanese confirm?)


Random mechanical illustrations from the manual:


I realy think Kotobukiya have outdone themselves here. All up there are 5 pages of these illustrations, showing off all parts of the Zoid
If you want to see the others, checkout Dalong's review: http://dalong.net/review/kotobukiya/z02/z02_i.htm

I'll be taking this one with me to keep me occupied till I get back (and hopefully clear up the Weapons Block that's holding up the Strike ATM)
and I should have a couple of hours tonight after I arrive to make a start []
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24/12/2009
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I started work in the turrent this morning
Parts ready for cleanup:

for a size comparison, on the far right is the beam rifle from a MG Strike

Completed turrent & pilot figure:

as above, I've included the Beam Rifle & pilot from the MG Strike as a comparison for size

Close-up of the turrent's cockpit & pilot


and the arms can even be moved


The turrent isn't directly attatched to the back of the Command wolf, it actually sits in a seperate cradle:




Two sets of transparent canopies are provided; one orange, the other tinted gray/smoke:

I'm leaning towards the smoke canopy myself (but it will probably depend on the colour scheme I choose more than anything)
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26/12/2009
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been a bit busy the past couple days (care guess why? [LOL]) but despite that I managed to make some decent progress so I can bring you this fairly large update this evening.

Parts that make up the bust:


The "Zoid Core" (the orange marble like thing) in it's carrier and inside of the radiator:

because I'm a little OCD when it comes to these sorts of things, I'll be adding some detail to the inside of the radiator with some PE mesh later on

The completed bust:


Not many parts for the waist:


Funky little sliding gimmick (more on this latter):


Bust & waist assembled:


Now just to add the tail:


Before we go any further, we'll need some brakes:

4 Disc Brakes ready to go

All installed, looking much better:


The shock absorbers, some armour and the reason for that little sliding bit:

the shock absorbers, claws and some pistions have a dull Gold coating (over black plastic), but by shear coincidence it is an almost perfect match for the metallic Gold Gundam Marker (GM04)
Sweet no obvious nub marks on the plated parts
Those black PVC power conduits will get replaced with some mesh tube and wire later on

And with that I've pretty much finished the bust & waist, except for the exhausts which I've left on the sprue to make painting them a bit easier.

Next up the head (or maybe the legs......)
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01/01/2010
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time waits for nobody

First up the paws:



The front legs:


Articulation test (front):


The rear legs:


Articulation test (rear):

nice and flexible

Completed:

well almost XD

In perspective:

height comparison with a HGUC NT1-FA

Well that's that, only the head to go now then after that I'll be working on the colour scheme and prepping the model itself
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03/01/2010
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now on to the update!

The neck parts:


All put together:


Not many parts for the head:

the teeth are relatively sharp, a nice change from the average GunPLA

All together now:

and I now see what Hemish means about the VSL on the head/jaw. ewwww

Boxart revisited:

close but not quite
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so that's about where I'm upto at the moment. Since the last photos, the command wolf has been stripped down to sub-assemblies and some have been glued and I've also puttied up quite a few sink-holes

[hoahoa]

hell yeah, its back its back!

[Hoardz01]

I gotta say, I like the looks of this kit. A bit of paint and you will be absolutely laughing. Like you said at the top, good to see something a little different :-)

[Sonar]

Thanks very much for going to the effort of reposting this WIP. Looking forward to seeing some colour on it. Bad MF.

[Hoardz01]

I'm officially sold, just ordered the lightning saix, will be watching here closely!

The command wolf AC looks wicked too but I can't find one to buy, only the LC variant. Any ideas?

EDIT: Looks like a release of a AC/LC pack Command Wolf is on it's way, will have to grab that one for sure.

[Gunduck]

thanks for the comments guy!

@Sonar. Ironically the next thing I should be doing is actually removing colour. To be more precise, removing the gold and silver plating from some of the parts to make painting easier

Say if anyone has experience with removing plating? Online I've read of people using everything from break fluid to Coke so I'm at a bit of a loose which method is better

edit:
Yay some tangible progress

[Hemish]

Its funny you should post this, I went to my parents yesterday and dug through all the stuff I dropped off there and brought home my command wolf as well.
Took it out of the box and had a real good look at it, there are some bastard seam lines in there to fix.
Lots of masking too.
I'm contemplating scanning that sticker sheet and sending it to samuels decals and getting them to make me a decal sheet for it too

[Hoardz01]

@ Hemish. Is that an option with the decals? I know they are great guys, but that is a pretty special service.

[Hemish]

From their website
"Dear guest,
Welcome to our website! We sell most of the Model decals with different scales and colours, surely, you can find out some items that you are interested.
We also provide tailor made service. You can send images, finished graphic designs or any other formats to us to produce your unique decal.

Machine:
ALPS MD-5500 Printer is using to print decal with White, Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Gold, Silver ink cartridges.

Graphic:
Samuel & leopard2a6ex were graphic designer, we draw & designe graphics by Adobe Illustrator CS1.

Samuel Decal
Since 7/04"

Eyep I know of a couple of guys from the plamo site from Singapore that had done it in the past, cant for the life of me remember what they paid for it though