Kotobukiya Liger Zero Schneider from Zoids

[PrivatePublic]

Hey all been saving something for this GB, it's a very different kind of big cat. Not a Tiger, or a Panther, or even a Löwe, but a Liger!


So for context, there was this show I used to watch while growing up in between Dragon Ball Z and Pokémon called Zoids about robot animals fighting other robot animals. Specifically, robots based off dinosaurs, big cats, foxes, bulls, etc. with big eff off laser cannons blasting away at each other and something which passed for a plot, the classic empire vs resistance storyline if I remember correctly. What's not to like? Much like Transformers, the show was created to sell Tomy's toy line. I have no idea where it ended up disappearing to, but I used to have this robo-t-rex with a cannon in its mouth, because why not?


What I didn't know until recently is that Tomy themselves and a number of other companies have continued to produce toys and, more importantly, proper model-quality kits based on the original toy line and the expanded universe. One of which being Kotobukiya who also also well known for manufacturing gundam kits, figurines based off shows and movies, and more. Naturally I had to have one, and so here we are!

It's a big box...


...and a full box

_{^{(Some day I need to figure out how to cut down on the glare...)}}

For what it's worth, this beast is 1/72 scale.

It's worth noting the "Schneider Unit" is one of a number of fit outs for the base "Liger Zero" model. The Liger Zero is also available as a standalone kit and you can separately get the different packages for each different "Unit" to swap out on the main model, or I suppose frankenstein them together. Alternatively, like with this kit, you can get the versions which include the Liger Zero base and the unit-specific bits, but without the attachments of the original that said unit-specific bits replaced. Some have more guns but I wanted the one with swords

The intent, much like the Bandai kits and some of the gundam kits out there, is that you can build the model from the box without paint or glue, with all the parts just cut out, cleaned up, and snapped together like the one on the back of the instruction booklet. Of course I have my own plans for a colour scheme, so I'll be painting it anyway. Plus I've read online that these kits that they can sometimes work themselves lose over time, so I'll be gluing it anyway I've just gotta be careful with the glue as once it's complete it's (supposed to be) posable!

A sample of the instructions. The whole booklet is in Japanese, but the illustrations are nice and clear for the most part and the Google Translate mobile app has come a long way in case I do need to read bits


Decals too. None of the stars, crosses, or circles we're used to here, but that's part of the fun of this GB right? They look to be of good quality.


And a look at some of the sprues. The kit comes in multiple colours of plastic, including both moulded and coated metallic sprues, although unlike some of the Bandai kits for example it's one colour per sprue.

Absolutely no flash, short shots, ejector pin marks where they shouldn't be, burring, rough patches or anything like that spotted which is fantastic. As far as I know these kits aren't produced in massive numbers due to the subject matter being a bit more niche than military models, gundam, Star Wars kits etc so I really appreciate the quality put into these. They cost a pretty penny but first impressions say that's justified for a fairly large, well detailed, posable, snap-fit kit from quality moulds.



Even the blades are made of multiple parts.



Plus the amount of detail on some of these parts is impressive, I might have to get creative with the detail painting to make the most of it. For example the woven-textured hose fittings have detail the whole way around rather than awkwardly smoothing out where the moulds halves meet. Come to think of it, I can hardly see any seams on the parts themselves.


Now in my infinite patience I've already made a head start before I even put this thread up but I'm pleased to say the first impressions are good. More on that when I get around to the first update

[Twokidsnosleep]

Wow
That is a heavenly slice of awesome right there
Super choice!

[BigWall]

Very cool kit!

[RangerNeil]

Now that looks VERY interesting!!!

[aur0ra145]

I remeber that show! Had no idea they made kits for it.

[digger303]

Cool and no English in the instructions either

[PrivatePublic]

Update time. Thanks all for dropping by

On the side I've been watching some of the '99-2000 TV show Zoids Chaotic Century "on the high seas", so to speak, since it's not really available by legit means any more. It still holds up surprisingly well, though it's clearly a bit dated haha

First up is the head. There's some pretty nice details here and elsewhere. I'm keen to see how they come up with some paint and a wash.


In place of the usual locating pins and holes, there are large locating nubs to mate the parts together. That's what lets it snap together strongly I suppose, but like I mentioned last time I'm still gluing it anyway to make sure it stays together. You can see a couple on these parts, one big block and another smaller nub join the cheek piece to the side of the head. The coloured parts look pretty good too.



A few more bits go on top and the pilot figure can go in and that's the head mostly done. I'm leaving the clear canopy piece off for now to make sure I don't paint over it later. While I'm planning to assemble the whole thing first before painting, I'm leaving off the trickier bits and leaving most of it as subassemblies. Here's hoping that I can still get paint in there later


Next up is the torso kinda section. Here you can see the fairly extensive use of flexible poly-cap like bits to aid the posing of the model. These are used in most joints so they're not rubbing plastic on plastic. Interestingly there's also some mixed use of styrene and ABS. I'm not entirely sure why bit they seem to be combined in areas where parts need to slide past each other so I suppose the ABS has a little less friction or flexibility or something.


Some more examples of the locating parts, these two will only go together one way no matter how much you force it. The sides of the left piece also slide in and out.


Even the smaller parts are well thought out the same way. Impressive stuff really.


There's a lot more assemblies to the torso that all go together to allow it to move up, down, left, right, forward and back in the middle there and at the neck. The middle portion extends and retracts to give a greater range of motion.


All fitted together. I've just popped the head on for now. As you can possibly see above it's just linked to the neck by a ball and socket joint so I can pop it off again too.


After that's done it's on to the feet. Honestly for the detail and complexity of the kit it goes together fairly quickly. I'm slowing myself down a bit just to make the most of the experience These didn't take long to nip off and clip together and the result is nice with the claws and socket joints in the back.




Last bit for now is a start on the legs. Here you can see how they're made to slide in and out. The little divot in each inner sliding piece matches with a nub in the outer, so while it can slide in and out, it also locks in and out.


The final result then gives a pretty large range of motion.



It's been a really enjoyable build so far. I can't say anything for the others in the series ATM but I'm definitely keen to grab another one or two. Hope you're all enjoying this too so far

[PrivatePublic]

Some more progress:

The leg articulation points are ball and socket joints like the head to neck. Here's one of the sockets, with a PE rubber bit in a little 2 part housing that locks the rubber part between them. That assembly then slots into the leg to make a nice and strong part with an embedded joint. There's plenty of flexibility in these without being overly loose or stiff. Cool stuff



More sliding bits in the legs before the whole thing goes together, again with some nice range of movement. I'm curious to see what kind of poses I can put the final thing in. Should make for some interesting final build shots




And finally that's all the legs in place. They stay on just fine on their own but still pop off easily enough if need be, which is good or this would make painting very awkward


Next up is the tail. It's a surprisingly involved piece but goes together as easily as the rest...



...and articulates nicely too for a bit of a sting in the tail. Here you can also kind of see how some of the larger seams, like on top of the leg, are disguised as intentional gaps. Can't have alignment issues if they're not meant to be aligned in the first place


The final par of the core build, before we get to the Schneider armour package, is the Zoid core. In the lore of the Zoids universe the "techno-organic" is the power source for the machine, like a compact reactor. It just pops in the front of the body along with the little gun package that sits underneath.



Now that the core Liger is done it's on to what makes this one the Schneider unit, big freaking swords With more blades than the average knife block, this thing is the epitome of the phrase


These all snap together one way only and hide the seams along the way. As long as the sprue gates are trimmed flush then there's no fit issues or notable gaps to be found. Once together they look really nice.


Then those sit in their own little housings. As the oversized-switchblade moves around it also bumps the little exhaust-looking thing back and forth as well


Finally those sword-pods get closed up and attached to the sliding parts at the bottom of the body to allow them to stow away up top


Or drop down to the side


Or point directly at whatever robo-dino needs a good poke


It's all coming together now. Thanks for dropping by

[digger303]

[PrivatePublic]

Unfortunately not gonna have the time to finish this one by the end of the GB. As it sometimes does, life got in the way a bit the last couple of months so this build got put on the back burner and now I'm taking a nice little holiday to finish out the month. That said, I'll be finishing this build off once I get back because it's been real good fun, and a bit of a challenge too in some ways.

Over the last wee while I've made good progress on the paintwork. There's quite a lot to do and it has been an interesting exercise in colours that I rarely get to use on the typical military models. The metallic orange in particular, a mix of about 50/50 MiG metallic orange and copper, looks real nice on the model, although it did blow up my air brush just a little when all the pigment settled to the bottom when I wasn't paying enough attention and suddenly I had paint coming out the back and over my hand Thankfully nothing a good clean couldn't fix. Metallics always seem to be the thing that give me hell since the flake settles out quite quickly

In all it's turned out quite well so far




See y'all on the other side of the deadline