...and here we are, finished last week and already through photo shooting.
On duty in a hilly landscape:
Check the Defender in the background
Alternatively, for better detail view, on black:
...and some "nose art" detail
in bigger:
Putting the things together went pretty straightforward. The legs were already complete, but hidden under lots of old paint (I counted four layers...). These old parts consequently needed some cosmetic surgery. The material was already quite brittle, so I did not dare a brake fluid bath and tried my best with sand paper. Results are so so, so that many details were later added with small polystyrene strips. But at least, the spare parts found new and good use!
The gatling gun arms were 100% taken from the Gundam kits, just minor things added. With internal vinyl caps they'd fit onto the original breast part and allow free rotation as well as side movement of about 20° to the left and right - good for a "natural" pose.
Most attention went into the crew compartment and upper torso, which was placed on top of one Serpent Custom's shoulder pieces. It consists mainly of the Tunguska's box-shaped central turret section, with added pieces on the hull's sides/shoulders which are supposed to be ammunition storage containers for a quick change. These parts, which blend very well into the overall design, are actually shortened halves of a camera pod from a 1:72 scale F-14 kit from Italeri!
The radar equipment was taken from the Tunguska tank, too, only the rear antenna had to be modified because the original parts were so crude that I did not want to use them. Finally, flexible hydraulic hoses and ammunition belts were added between mecha hull and arms, as well as small details like the hydraulic telescopes at the hips, searchlights, vents, handles, etc.
The result looks very compact, functional and plausible. I wanted to stay true to the Destroids' design as grunty, tank-like vehicles with massive firepower and a menacing look, and that's what I think I achieved pretty well.
For the mecha's livery, I also wanted to stay true to the Destroid look: only a single overall ground color (brown or green, even though I have seen dark blue Phalanx') and some white 'decoration stripes'. Additionally, some 'nose art' swas to be added, because it is a frequent sight on these mecha.
To set it apart from the Defender in my collection (olive drab), I went for a brown tone. After long search, the Manticore's basic paint became 'Israel Armor Sand/Grey' (Testors 2138), a murky, almost undefineable tone. Some details were painted in a dark brown (Burnt Umber, Testors 2005), the stripes were painted by hand in flat white.
Then, standard weathering was done with a black ink wash and dry painting with lighter tones like Humbrol 83 (Ochre), 140 (Gull Gray), 84 (Mid Stone) and 121 (Pale Stone). Decals came from the scrap box and are only few, the 'nose art' piece is a donation of a friend of mine (many thanks, André!) and actually belongs to a Czech MiG-21(!). Finally, everything was sealed under matte varnish.
All in all, this build-up was rather simple, since I had most components at hand and the paint job did not require much effort. But I like the simple look, and this fictional Manticore Destroids blends well into the line of the official Macross mecha. And finally, the leftover Tomahawk chassis has found a good use after waiting for resurrection for more than 15 years.
Thema: Macross 1:100 Macross - ADR-05-Mk.II Destroid "Manticore" (Kit bashing/scratch-built) (Gelesen 25843 mal)