Pimp My Zoids

After googling for tons of seahorse images, I found my winning ticket in the left-over parts from last years entry's parts pile. The horns of Lanstag (GZ-012:Lanstag).






The origin fixture uses the Blox stub to hold the horn..I mean fins. It works but its too simple... I wanted something that shows control and strength.

While digging my stash of parts, I digged up millions of skinny legs from the Harpers (CBZ-04:Harpers) and decided to get rid of them.

After going through a few fittings, I managed to alter the legs to become piston joints to maneuver the fins. To add in more details, I used metal spring to doll up the hose and insert shorten safety pin into the spring to give it some contour.

Shown here is the comparison between the original Blox stub and the converted harpers piston system.

The Top cover: The hardest part in creating this model.
It wasn't easier to decide on which style (Open-Top or Hatched-Top) to go as I was still trying to find the missing pieces in sealing up the cockpit....














Verdict: I did not choose any of the above design as I found that they are most suitable for "open top" concept whereas I wanted a hatched top. Fortunately when I was fiddling around with the last design, I snapped up the connected parts of the horseshoe crab variant (FZ-018:Gairyuki Shin) and hit the jackpot. Its shape allows modification to be done on the center from top to bottom. I used the antenna dish assembly(CP-13 Wild Weasel Unit Customize Parts) as the hatch door :)
















Decision: I was out of time ... I had to make a tough call to seal up the top cover without finishing the cockpit or I will miss MCON08... Once the top is sealed, it will be tough to access the interior to work on the cockpit....All my efforts on the cockpit down the drain :'(

The cockpit... The functional requirement of the seat began as only a simple personnel transportation. Then it moved on to a control terminal with multiple display and knobs....Seat assembly is using Zoids model (BZ-012:Leo Striker and NBZ-04:Rapto Jaguar)











At this point, I had a inspirational blockage on the top cover design so I was not able to gauge the interior dimension and available space for the seat... With the deadline looming, I had to move on to other parts...