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I was browsing the Sci-Fi kits on Ebay one afternoon, and happened to see this particular kit. The box illustration looked neat, though there were no pictures of the actual model. I guessed based on the shape of the torso and head that it might be a Votoms kit. Even after looking at various retail sites, I couldn't find a product to compare it to. Deciding that it would be fairly simple to construct an all black kit, I went ahead and bid $24 on the kit and managed to win.
I've known that vinyl works well for organic shapes, but after building a T2 Aerial Hunter-Killer was a bit wary of mechanical vinyl kits. This one quickly swept away my reservations. The hollow vinyl parts were beautifully cast, with almost no flaws. With a hot hair-dryer and sharp knife I went to work trimming off the excess vinyl.
In almost no time, I had the major sub-assemblies constructed, leaving the task of painting next on the list. Rather than just painting the Shadow Flare pitch black, I decided to use an armor painting technique I've used before on tanks. Using a base color slightly lighter than black (a very dark gray), I chose to "highlight" the joints, corners, and panel lines with lightly traced black. The contrast, though subtle, really brought the kit to life. I chose not to drybrush highlights, due to the fact that it was supposed to be a very dark kit, and the scale, at 1/24, would have made any such highlights look more like weathering. The claw and leg pieces were airbrushed steel, with chainmail silver highlights on the claw. The monocular was painted with variations of red. A light wash of thinned black was added before sealing the entire kit with Testors Dullcote.
Usually, I'd fill a kit such as this with either plaster or expanding foam to add balance and support. Since the whole purpose of this kit was to allow me to build a model with as little fuss as possible AND because the kit's construction seemed to have enough internal support on it's own, I chose to forgo this step. I may add a base for stability later on.
