Shenx Dragon of Infinite Sanding

You ever see a project and think "Oh gee! How cool!" and the project looks simple enough, so you go for it? But then you start the project and before you know it, the whole thing has (somehow) ballooned into 3x the project?

Current Status -- Still sanding as of 10.30.22

Kit Overview -- This is the first kit from Shenxing Technology (well, okay, second if you count recolors) and I was a little wary of it at first. ABS kits require an insane degree of precision and that's really hard to hit right out of the gate. On top of the whole writing instructions thing. (So how good IS your spacial thinking?) But LOOK AT IT. Regal sky noodle! Yes! Please!

Which is all a long way of saying I'm going into this fully expecting some "extra credit" work and at least one moment where I cock my head like a confused puppy.

Preppin' -- Since eventually this will be painted that means sanding. A lot. The worst step. And I get you can technically skip it (primers, paints, and sealers ARE world's better than they were twenty years ago) but when I don't pre-sand a piece it's still kinda delicate and prone to scratching. And this is a piece that by design wants to be handled. So. Here I am.

By the way, what's pictured is just the neck and torso parts. Looking at the instructions that appears to be the most obnoxious step, so let's just rip that band-aid off right now. Hopefully I can get away without sanding any of the inner parts. For reference--since people tend to ask me this for some reason--I'm using Gator brand paper, 320 grit. It's inexpensive, available just down the street, and does the job. Save the fancier stuff (*cough*gunprimer*cough*) for...something else.

I Choo-Choo-Choose You -- Since I'll be sanding until my arms fall off, might as well decide what colors to paint it in the meantime. Yes, I'm retentive enough to make mock-ups. Feeling a bit "clishy-clashy", so I want to try a color scheme I don't normally use or lean towards. Problem is, all of those are pretty decent and if I were at all a smart person I'd file these away for a future project. (The lighter bits around the fins are from dabbling with the idea of cramming the thing full of LEDs, but eventually had to trash it on the grounds that the kit really isn't designed for it. Maybe if the plastic in question was clear instead of smokey grey...)

After annoying talking to a few folks about it, I decided to go with Number 5. There are no wrong choices here and you don't see orange dragons that often. It's a little risky. It's assuming I can find an orange and red bright-but-dissimilar enough so that they don't bleed into each other. But on the other hand, it's not like this matters. So Angry Pineapple it is.

Paint! -- Still sanding, but the paint came in! This always feels like such a crapshoot. Don't ask me how, in this day and age, manufacturers have such difficulty matching their promotional swatches to their actual paint. But anyway. These look nice. Not 100% sold on that magenta, but it does look better out of the bottle. Happened to catch a sale so I picked up a few more bottles "just to round out the collection". As one does.

Totally prepared to be underwhemled by that verdigris wash, but I don't care.

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