

Lore





There seems to be some uncertainty regarding the origin of this particular Metal Gear Ray. Some believe that this was a newly designed model, while others believe that it's the same (albeit modified) Ray from the tanker incident in MGS2. What is known for sure is that Ocelot utilizes this mecha to battle Snake in the heavily damaged Metal Gear Rex towards the end of MGS4.





Build comments





Typically when I start on a kit, I like to look on google image search for models other builders have completed. However, as far as I have seen, barely anyone has built and painted their kits.





This Kotobukiya model shouldn't be confused with the much larger 3A toy Like many of the Kotobukiya models I have completed I would encourage beginners to be wary of taking this kit on. I say that for the following reasons:





There are seam lines along many of the prominent areas of the kit. Most of these areas will require putty in addition to glue to level out.





This model comes molded in some pretty bland colors, it takes planning and a lot of paint to pull off any of the color schemes featured in the manual. Significant amounts of masking is also an absolute must.





The decals are likely going to be another stumbling block for many, the diagrams showing the camo decal layouts are not particularly informative and there are many similar looking decals.





Paint









I made a rookie mistake and accidentally ran out of the primary blue green color for the body before finishing the lower legs. I ended up mixing up a similar but darker and bluer color to finish the kit off, I blended that color up into the thigh areas.





Each of the raised "barnacles" on the body was masked and painted individually for color separation.





The body was top coated with klear koat by Alcad. I really like the finish, but the paint takes ages to dry. It was still slightly tacky 48 hours after the initial layer.





Photos







The design of the kit requires these hexagonal stands for the kit to stand up.



























Details







The mandibles around the month are swapped between the open and closed poses.













The armor segments on the back split and separate the Ray when it bends forward.























