- RZ-046 Shadow Fox

The Shadow Fox is a small windup kit that was most famous for its role in Zoids: New Century /ZERO. Though the kit is small it boasts some impressive weapon articulation, and a wind up key hidden in the tail. It also has a considerably large part count for a windup.

Box Images

- First Edition Card

- Lore

Information:	Technical Data:	Equipment:
Released: May 26th, 2001 Cost: 1000 Yen Motor: Wind-Up Motor Pieces: 88 To Assemble - 93 Parts - 24 Caps (19 are used)	Length: 17.3 m Height: 8.0 m Weight: 52.0 t Max Speed: 290 km/h	AZ 30mm Armor-Piercing Laser Vulcan AZ 70mm Electromagnetic Net Gun Smoke Discharger x6 Electron Bite Fangs Strike Laser Claw x4 3D Radar & Multi-Sensor x2 Multi Weapon Rack Shoulder Weapon Rack Anchor x4

Zoids Battle Story

ZAC 2101 ... The Helic Republican Army, which survived the surprise attacks of the Wardicks, the assault of the mass-production type Death Stinger, and the onslaught of Zabat Corps, finally launched its landing operation on the Dark Continent of Nyx, home to the Guylos Empire, in June of this year. The Republic fleet centered around Ultra Saurus, Hammerheads, and Barrigators, while the Empire consisted of Wardicks, Sinkers, and Brachios. Can the Republican army conquer this naval battle and land the strongest ultra-high-speed unit, the Ray Force, consisting of Liger Zero, Shadow Fox, and Command Wolf AC on the Dark Continent!??

Fuselage Explanation

In order for the Republican Army to survive the Dark Continent War, a high-speed, medium-scale Zoid that could support the Liger Zero was absolutely necessary. The Shadow Fox was developed in response to such a request from headquarters. It sports outstanding stealth with its smoke discharger, sound-muffling system, optical camouflage, and a maximum speed of 290 km/h, as well as ultra-high performance sensors and a multi-weapon rack that can change weapons freely depending on the combat situation. It's also effective in sabotage missions.

- Instructions

- Review

In spite of being a wind up, Shadow Fox is one of the coolest Zoids in the NJR line. It has an excellent attention to detail, and although some parts are painted, the excess paint isn't hugely distracting from the rest of the Zoid.

Nowadays, the Shadow Fox has become rather scarce in american stores. This includes online bidding services like Ebay. I would thoroughly suggest searching for import stores, or Yahoo Japan. Even with the fees of a third party bidder, the price of this zoid on Ebay is far worse.

- Images

Rundown

Pros:
    Excellent Design; Unique compared to many Zoids.
    Painted parts ensure that the Zoid maintains anime-accurate color details.
    Many unique gimmicks.
    Multi-weapon rack on the back allows many different weapon choices.
    Tail design hides the windup key, so you don't have an unsightly pole sticking out of your Zoids' side.

Cons:
    Anchors are not posable
    Cockpit doesn't close completely (problem persists in all 3 of my Shadow Fox models)

- Gimmicks

- Jaws

Like most Zoids, Shadow Fox can open its jaws. The jaw piece that wraps around the base of the jaw doesn't allow it to open very far, though.

- Head

Hinges on the neck allow Shadow Fox to move its head up and down as well. It can ever so slightly move it from side to side, but I didn't feel the range of motion was enough to photograph. It's probably just a loose joint.

- Cockpit

The Shadow Fox's cockpit flips open as well. I meant to get a shot of the inside, but I forgot. Nonetheless, there seems to be a problem with the Shadow Fox's cockpit not closing all of the way. This was really annoying to me, and I've had a total of three Shadow Fox kits in my collection, all of which had this problem.

- Feet

Albeit a kind of pointless feature, given the fox has to stand somehow, the paws are in a position to rotate up and down.

- Laser Vulcan

Shadow Fox was one of the first wind ups, if it /the/ first to have a weapon as adjustable as the Laser Vulcan Gun. A rail underneath of the gun fixes it into an upright position, and ontop of another platform, the gun is set to be able to swivel sideways. With the platform itself being able to tip forward and backwards, this allows an incredible range of motion for a gun system, setting the Shadow Fox's long ranged equipment on an entirely different scale than most Zoids.

The only annoyance with the weapon is that it's meant to be able to turn/rotate. This only makes sense with a gattling gun, but it would have been nice if this had somehow been wired into the motorized actions, as on its own, it's a fairly useless gimmick. Nonetheless, I can see why it would have been difficult, given how adjsutable the weapon is. Turning the large teal wheels on the side of the gun will rotate the barrels.

- Tail

Looking at the tail as a whole, it can flip up and down. The hinge is pretty stiff, though. I suspect that this may tie in with the wind up motions, but I haven't tested this yet.

The bottom of the tail also opens up to reveal the Net Gun. Aside from just being a nice, accurate feature, the Net Gun missile gives an alternative wind up switch that isn't an eye sore when not in use. It plugs into the ribs of the Zoid where it can be used to wind up the motor. This is kind of annoying at the same time, since it requires disassembling a part of the Zoid to wind it up.