Xu Huang @ Serpent

Xu Huang (169 – 227) was a prominent military general under the powerful warlord Cao Cao and his successor Cao Pi during the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms era of China. He was most noted for breaking the siege at the Battle of Fancheng in 219.

Born in the county of Yang in the late years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xu Huang worked as a local administrative officer in his younger days. Later, he followed the general Yang Feng (楊奉) on a campaign against the Yellow Turban Rebellion and was appointed a commander of the cavalry. In 196, after the death of the tyrannical warlord Dong Zhuo, Xu Huang and Yang Feng escorted Emperor Xian from Chang'an back to Luoyang, which by then was much dilapidated. In the same year, Cao Cao came personally to Luoyang to move the emperor to Xuchang.
Xu Huang then prompted Yang Feng to join Cao Cao's camp, but Yang Feng did not heed the advice. Instead he sent out a force in a futile bid to snatch back Emperor Xian. Cao Cao soon retaliated and defeated Yang Feng, whereupon Xu Huang surrendered himself to Cao Cao.
Hereafter Xu Huang participated in every major campaign Cao Cao undertook, including offensives against Lü Bu, Yuan Shao, Ma Chao, and Ta Dun (蹋頓). Xu Huang performed well in all of them, being noted especially for his resourcefulness.

Xu Huang's most glorious moment in his military career came in the Battle of Fancheng in 219. When the city of Fancheng (樊城), a district of present day Xiangfan, Hubei) was besieged by enemy general Guan Yu and the first relief force led by Yu Jin was vanquished, Xu Huang was sent with a second relief force to help protect the city.

Knowing that most of his soldiers were poorly trained, Xu Huang did not go into battle straight away but camped behind the enemy to impose a deterrence effect. Meanwhile, he instructed his men to dig trenches around the nearby enemy city of Yancheng (偃城) in a pretense to cut off supplies into the city. The enemies were deceived and abandoned their position. Xu Huang then established a foothold in Yan. By this time more support troops had arrived, and with the strengthened army Xu Huang finally unleashed an attack on Guan Yu's camp. Guan Yu personally led 5,000 horsemen to meet the attackers, but was eventually outmatched. Many of his soldiers were forced into the nearby Han River and drowned. The siege on Fancheng was then broken

As for this model, there is only one word to describe: beautiful. It is a very well made model design after a Serpent (a mobile suit in Gundam Wing). It is ironic that its counterpart, Lu Bu who is also build from a Gundam Wing mobile suit Talgeese, is not as good as him despite Talgeese is a more prominent mobile suit than the Serpent. However, lots of colouring is necessary. I sprayed the whole thing. Which include the mantel around his neck. The only troublesome part would probably be the axe. The axe was not originally design this way. The original design make it look like a pincer. Bout somehow it is produced this way. The hard part is of course the design on the weapon as tedious hand conrol is needed to prevent the colour from flowing to the outer area