HMM-004 Geno Saurer (Build Review)

Since this one was a mega-build, usually taking a whole evening for each section, I thought I’d do an “in progress” review and point out cool features and potential trouble spots.

Eyes:

The piece that goes here was too dark for my tastes, so I did it in silver, leaving the raised parts for contrast. I also painted silver behind the actual eye, to help it catch light better.
Head/Neck:

You will want to paint the areas around the teeth, or else suffer an unsightly all-white mouth.
WEAKNESS:

On the chest/shoulder unit, the only thing holding the sides together is that tiny spine and the earnest prayers of children. When you put the core block in, it helps a bit, but really superglue is necessary. You should also glue the ball joint pegs, because they aren’t held in very tight.
Beware:

This piece is as thin as a promise! I nearly broke the last rib while panel lining. Thankfully it’s held securely in place by later pieces.
Pelvis:

Much of this detail will be hidden when the model’s done. Also: glue required if you like stability!
Details:

Those hoses were really hard to thread all the way through, but so worth it. Tweezers helped on the top ones.
So far:

The next step is the tail, which is two pages of instructions and around 80 pieces.
Tail:

Those vents got really really small the further back you went. You will definitely want to glue the top vent pieces, because otherwise they like to pop off.
Tip of tail:

The purple bits on this segment were too small to be cut out, so I painted the background black to make it look right. The “tail lights” on the back were reddened with a sharpie because it’s way too cold to bust out the airbrush and clear red paint.
A gun:

About an inch longer than the Tomy Geno’s gun, and a lot meaner. Only bummer is that it was largely one color. I was all happy when I finished this, until I realized I had to do the exact same thing again.
Something else to glue:

Otherwise the weight of the guns will cause the whole mount to pop right off.
Arms:

The arms took all me all evening, but more than half of that time was spent detailing: trying to color in the claws (which I still don’t have quite right) and painting the hydraulics (my gold marker was failing me). A word about the claws: they are SHARP! A word about that hydraulic piece behind the hands: it severely limits wrist movement and WILL break if you’re not careful.
Naked legs:

Before putting on armor, the left and right legs are identical (same with the arms).
Leg armor:

This step took longer than I expected. You will definitely want to glue the mounts for the calf armor, because not much is holding them in place.
Details:

(left) hidden detail behind the knee, (right) more sharpie-modded clear bits.
Feet:

Lots of glue required here–mainly for the armor bits.