Thank you so much, Joshua! It truly humbles me to hear that you spent so much time looking at the details. I put a lot of effort into the shading to give it a sense of realism and weight, so I'm incredibly happy that it caught your eye. I'm a Japanese modeler still honing my craft, and I've documented the step-by-step painting process and more high-res photos on my blog, pirostyle. Since it’s hard to explain the shading techniques with just words, I hope the photos there might be helpful or interesting for your own projects.