SAFS Mk.III Type R Rapoon

I absolutely love the design of the Rapoon SAFS variant -  the combination of the Racoon's sensors with the bulkier bulges of the Raptor make for two great tastes together. My build was made out of combining parts from the Wave Raptor and Racoon and here's a funny (and sad) story - as I was finishing up the kit, Wave announced the release of a standard injection of the Rapoon... had I waited a couple months, I would not have needed to cannibalize two kits!

As a matter of fact, if my memory is correct, as I was working on finishing the decal application, I took a break and went online and was greeted by an image of the test sprues for the Rapoon injection kit (can you tell I'm not bitter about this at all?) The kit was painted with Gaia Notes and the color scheme was an adaptation of the classic orange/off-white recon scheme from the space suits for a ground use suit. In the Ma.K background, the Raptor was descended from the Snake Eye space type, so a little nod to it's space type lineage seemed appropriate.

The Wave Raptor kit is as good as any of their SAFS variant kits and builds up wonderfully. The only major clean up work was the large seam on the rear hemisphere of the body.

The Raptor pilot has a large VR helmet which if used, prevents the hatch from closing all the way, so it was left off. Weld beads were added with epoxy putty to the Raccoon sensor, however they look a little bit out of place on a suit with such smooth curved lines once paint was applied.

While I wish I had waited a little longer so I could have just gotten the Wave Rapoon kit, any chance to build a SAFS is a welcome one. And hey, for 3 brief months at least, I had a plastic Rapoon before there was an official kit!