MWO Atlas Build-up

Before assembly, thoroughly clean all parts in warm water with a mildly abrasive cleaner like Ajax, Softscrub or Comet. This will cleanse any additional mold release and allow paints to adhere to the surface.  Remove flash or over pour with a razor knife or saw.  Additionally, it is strongly recommended that you test fit all pieces before final assembly.

There are LOTS of parts with this kit.  Some are option parts so there WILL be parts left over when you are done assembling.  

Before you get started, I would suggest reviewing and maybe even printing out this pic I found on-line. It is a great reference pic for the build.

The Head Assembly:  There are two different heads with this kit.  As I am not a MWO player, I am not sure of their proper names.  The one the kit was designed for is the one circled:  

Note that the chin pieces had to be removed from the original and cast separately. Those will have to be removed from the tab and glued on. Then, the head can slide right in to the torso assembly. 

To use the other head, there will have to be modifications to it and to the torso section.  The highlighted section on each will need to be removed/trimmed.  If you do not want to mod the head, try removing more of the marked area on the torso.  

Note the placement of the detail piece below the chin.

UPDATE:  I spoke with the original designer and he put forth an alternate method for using this head that does not require grinding parts.  A plastic shim can be inserted into the slot in the torso that the head will sit on as seen in the picture be provided that are below.

Torso Assembly:  The main assembly is a basic front/back set up.  Simply mount the back onto the main torso ensuring it is centered. 

Move on to detailing the back as illustrated in the following pictures.  You may have to do some sanding or trimming to get exact fits. 

Add the rest of the detail parts to the upper torso.  The LRM on the front of the torso should be mounted after you mount the shoulder rotators (see below).  Individual parts have been circled. The part circled in red has both a left and right side version. 

Shoulder Assembly:  Each shoulder assembly is 4 pieces:

Mount the first part of the shoulder onto the torso.  Once I had the piece placed, I used Thin CA glue with a precision application tip to get a nice amount of glue with out big blobs around the edges. 

Mount the second part on to the assembled "rotator".  I found the hole had to be drilled out just a bit. Also, note the area circled. This area is for the shoulder detail armor.  It also had to be drilled out for proper fit. If you are daring, you could use small magnets in these parts to allow posing. 

 Finally, add the should armor cone.  Note how the upper arm will attach to the shoulder.

Notice the gap if you don't drill out the area circled in the previous picture. 

Arm Assembly: The basic arm assembly is 4 pieces.  There is also a ridged piece that can be mounted on the backside of the elbow joint.

There are also two different style of laser that mount on the outside of the arm. Note that there is a dark hand in the last picture in this section.  That is the hand that was used as the basis for the kit hand.  If you want a pose-able hand, they are available on eBay for about $20 a set. 

Hip Assembly:  There are 9 parts on the hip assembly.  Note in the picture where the detail parts go. 

Leg Assembly:  The leg assembly is fairly straight forward. These consist of an upper and lower leg, foot, heel  stirrup, hip actuator, knee actuator, knee actuator covers.  The pictures below illustrate the assembly process. 

There are detail pieces to cover the inside and outside of the knee actuator.  The flat part goes on the outside of the knee and the round part goes to the inside.

And that is about it for the major assemblies.  I hope you enjoy this kit, initially created by Scott at the Messy Desk; slightly retooled, detailed and cleaned up by me and cast by JPG Productions.