Zoids and Stuff » canine

HMM-007 Command Wolf AC

RCM — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:40:11 +0000

Thanks to a sale at HLJ I was able to pick this up for cheap(ish).

FZ-002 König Wolf MK-II

RCM — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:30:03 +0000

When this one came out, it was good news for everyone who had missed out on CPs 22 and 23. I originally only got it for its swapping potential, but recently a lack of new kits drove me to revert this one to its stock configuration. If you like colors, this one has them. All of them! I took these pics with the flash on, which really shows how insane the colors are.

Of interest: the “fart cannon” pieces have a slight mold change from the NJR version. The mount’s hardpoints were changed to be the standard blox hardpoint size, to aid in “fuzing” possibilities.

HMM-002(ltd) Empire Command Wolf LC

RCM — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:04:10 +0000

Well, Irvine’s gun has never looked better. Empire Command Wolf LC was the second limited kit from the HMM line, released summer 2007. It is a recolor of the regular Command Wolf, but it also includes a new weapon—the long range cannon (like Irvine’s variant in the NJR). It sold out quickly, teaching a valuable lesson: if something’s limited, don’t hesitate! I hesitated, so I had to pay a lot more on the secondary market.

HMM-002(ltd) Empire Command Wolf LC (Build Review)

RCM — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:02:42 +0000

What to glue, what to paint, check it out, check it out!

General tip:
Apply the stickers as you complete each piece, instead of waiting until the kit’s finished. It is much less tedious this way! A-and: don’t work in a carpeted room, if possible. There are some really tiny pieces that can be lost easily. Every time I dropped a piece, I ended up crawling around for an hour until I found it again.
Sprues:

A lot of sprues are duplicated (4 of sprue G, for example), which saves on production costs, but also means you need to pay attention when building. Once I accidentally made three left legs and had to pry some pieces apart (dangerous, since most pieces want to stay stuck after assembly).
Head:

The teeth are part of the main head assembly, and thus unpainted. You must paint them, or your woof will look bland. For the Empire woof here, I went with silver.
“Bust”, as they call it:

Glue that peg, or else it will stay stuck in the leg’s polycap, if you ever need to remove them. For the rest of the “bust”, some detailing will work wonders. I used a foil sticker and green Sharpie for the chest light.
Waist hoses:

Glue them on this end, since this piece gets a lot of strain and they’ll pop out if you don’t.
Waist connection:

An interesting thing with the wolf is that the head and waist are connected by a “spine”, and then the chest attaches to that spine piece.
Waist and tail painting needed:

The shock absorbers are one piece in gold plastic, so some silver helps out. The tail piece is not even that lucky, so break out the gold as well as the silver.
Gun mount:

Depending on which way you face it, it will mount the default guns, or the Irvine gun. Also, gold and silver detailing is recommended on the hydraulics.
The big gun:

This is the big feature of the kit, and BE CAREFUL with piece O-1. The part where it goes into the main gun is the most fragile piece ever. “Luckily” mine broke in a way that’s not so visible. I’m afraid to even glue it, since the dab of glue would be even bigger than the break.
Leg and foot details:

The ankle hydraulic is tiny, but detailing is worth it. The leg one is gold only, so get out the silver.
Paint those feet:

Since the feet are on the same sprue as all the hydraulics, they’re stuck in an Empire-inappropriate gold. Thankfully some primer and Tamiya Gloss Aluminum spray saved the day.

HMM-002 Command Wolf (One Year Later)

RCM — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 18:27:51 +0000

One year later, and I’m finally finished. All the time I was putting off doing stickers, I was also bothered by the ham-fisted panel lining job this poor guy got. My previous gold and silver markers were a piece of crap, so I redid the teeth and hydraulics too. Either this project was cursed, or HMM kits really don’t stand up do disassembly, because I broke three pieces AND lost one. I replaced the lost one (a cap-like piece that holds the shoulder armor on) with a leftover Armored Core weapon. Just what the crap it’s supposed to be, I don’t know.

UPDATE 9/08: I found the lost shoulder cap!

GZ-007 Sword Wolf

RCM — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:30:57 +0000

Sword Wolf is one of the hero zoids of the anime. It’s a recolor of Whitz Wolf, with added swords and such. I had W.W. back when it came out, and wasn’t impressed, so I ignored this release until I saw a photo at the right angle and realized it was cool. The swords really complete the kit. I’m going to repaint this one–some day. (Thanks to Alteka for the “SHAWINGUUUU” text in the last pic.)

König Wolf (NJR/Fuzors)

RCM — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:17:22 +0000

If you take out 3/4 of the colors used in the Fuzors MK-II, you get a pretty decent Woof. Especially if you have some extra black caps lying around. The last pic shows what you get when you do the opposite swap: USA! USA!

CP-22 and CP-23 (on König Wolf)

RCM — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:02:40 +0000

CP-22: Dual Sniper Unit / CP-23: AZ-5 Missile Unit

I somehow lucked out and got the two CPs right before they disappeared. The secret was getting them the DAY they were released. I usually just have CP-22 applied, because both is overkill. I do want to paint the missiles in CP-23, though…

RZ-053 König Wolf

RCM — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:44:18 +0000

People seem to either love or hate this woof, but it has a special place in my heart, since it was the first zoid I got after a zoidless year of abject brokeness. For silliness, see the Hasbro box: no umlaut, and “fart cannons” facing forward! Semi-silliness: why does a giant mechanical wolf need giant “night vision” goggles? Night jiggling? I guess because of the cardinal rule of anime/mecha: it looks cool!

Command Wolf

RCM — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:04:08 +0000

This one originally came with gold underbits, but I did not want that, so I grabbed a Command Woof AC for the black parts. Much nicer.