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  "description": "Take to the streets of Night City in these sleek and armored cycles!",
  "path": "/tutorials/learn-to-paint-zonda-cybercycles-from-cyberpunk-red-combat-zone/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-15T12:00:48.000Z",
  "site": "https://gamingtrend.com",
  "tags": [
    "Vehicles: Zonda CybercycleMotorcycles in Combat Zone bring a whole new kind of mobility to your games. Unlike larger vehicles, they’re agile, quick to turn, and perfectly suited for getting melee monsters or fragile support pieces exactly where they need to be. With the ability to weave as they blaze across terrain without chewing through too mMonster Fight ClubMonster Fight Club",
    "Buy Cyberpunk Red: Combat Zone",
    "How to Prepare your Minis for PaintingGamingTrend’s Comprehensive Guide to miniature prep work before painting!GAMINGTRENDAlec Kozak",
    "Learn to Paint: Yaiba Kusanagi Learn to Paint",
    "Slapchop is a painting method",
    "Full Body Conversion Set 1",
    "Full Body Conversion Set 2"
  ],
  "textContent": "The Zonda Cybercycle, also known as the Zonda Parallax Cybercycle, is a high-speed superbike. Able to reach speeds of 300mph, the Zonda Cybercycle is meant to be used by those elite riders of Night City. Agile and stylish, your gangers will get into combat, or safety, fast.\n\nVehicles: Zonda CybercycleMotorcycles in Combat Zone bring a whole new kind of mobility to your games. Unlike larger vehicles, they’re agile, quick to turn, and perfectly suited for getting melee monsters or fragile support pieces exactly where they need to be. With the ability to weave as they blaze across terrain without chewing through too mMonster Fight ClubMonster Fight Club\n\nCyberpunk Red: Combat Zone is a fast-paced, miniature skirmish game from Monster Fight Club. Set in the high-tech dystopia of the Cyberpunk RPG universe created by Mike Pondsmith, Cyberpunk Red: Combat Zone opens up a new way for players to create stories and combat in the universe. Crafted by veteran tabletop game creators, Combat Zone uses the [RE]action Dice System for organic, free-flowing gameplay interactions; no rounds, no turns—the game just goes!\n\nBuy Cyberpunk Red: Combat Zone\n\n## Unboxing\n\nThe box includes the two figures, two motorcycles, two motorcycle bases, four vehicle stat cards, and 4 mod cards. The figures, who are multi-part, are separate from the single-piece motorcycle, all of which are soft plastic. Also included are additional tokens for use with the vehicles.\n\n## **Assembling Your Models**\n\n### **Prepping Your Models & The Tools**\n\nGamingTrend has put together a guide for you to follow for how best to clean, cut, and assemble your models, regardless of the game. While the materials for the models may be different between games (plastic, resin, metal, etc.) there are simple techniques you can do to help make your painting experience go that much smoother.\n\nHow to Prepare your Minis for PaintingGamingTrend’s Comprehensive Guide to miniature prep work before painting!GAMINGTRENDAlec Kozak\n\nAdditionally, if you are new to painting, and are not sure what brushes or tools you need, check out the article. This is just a starting place, and every painter has different preferences and recommendations. These are my recommendations based on the last decade or so of painting and I hope you find them helpful!\n\nFor this tutorial, I have included a visual guide (below) of the paints I used for the miniatures so you have an easily-accessible list to refer to if you need to go shopping. The paints are noted on the picture. Many paints are used for multiple figures, so a single bottle of each will be more than enough.\n\nThe cycle bases are like 2.5x the length of the standard figure bases.\n\n## **Painting** **Your Miniatures**\n\n### **The Paint Plan**\n\nFor pretty much every miniature painting project I do, I start with a plan. Even before putting the primer and paint on a model, I find photo references of the paint schemes and details I am looking for. Most times, this means having a browser window up with different web pages and images next to my painting area, so I can quickly refer to them as I paint. I also come up with a paint plan, choosing what colors I am going to use and what order I apply them in.\n\nFor the Zonda Cybercycles, I wanted to paint the bikes in two different styles: a box-art style to capture the sleek design, and an action pose to help make it pop on the table. To help make the painting process a little easier, I affixed the bikes and figures to some bases using double-sided Gorilla tape and mounting putty. The figure with his foot on the ground and rifle at rest is a super cool rest pose, and I would like to capture the ambience of the city using some object-source lighting (OSL) glows. The other cycle I will paint to look like the box art. Lastly, since the bases are so large, I will paint on some road markings so help break up the flat area.\n\n🎨\n\n****PAINTER TIP**** : This guide is meant to help you build confidence with miniature painting. We’re not going for gold medals on these models—this is simply a guide to get your pieces painted.\n\n**_Remember that done is better than perfect!_**\n\n### **Priming**\n\nIn general terms, getting the majority of a color for a model applied via a rattle can or airbrush saves a lot of time. Typically, I prime all of the figures with a zenithal prime on them, using a base coat of Rustoleum Flat Black and a top coat of Army Painter White Primer or one of the other color primers. Here are the primers I used for the miniatures:\n\n  * Rusteolum Flat Black Primer\n  * Army Painter White Primer\n\n\n\nI painted both the Zonda Cybercycle and Yaiba Kusanagi sets at the same time. Check out the Learn to Paint: Yaiba Kusanagi Learn to Paint article, too!\n\n### **SLAPCHOP METHOD**\n\nFor these pieces, I chose to take a variation of the “slapchop” approach for them. Slapchop is a painting method where you accent the details of the models by dry brushing shades of gray and white. Then, using speed paints, contrast paints, and/or washes, you paint a single coat over the top of the model, creating shadows, mid-tones, and highlights in a single pass. This would be akin to using Multiply or Screen layers in Photoshop to establish color values on a gray underlayer. This is a very fast and efficient way to paint a lot of models that you don’t want to put a lot of detail into, and instead rely on the mold of the model to provide enough detail and contrast to make it stand out on the table.\n\n## **Step-by-Step** **Painting**\n\n### Driving Cycle\n\nThis cycle was really straight forward to paint. With both the cycle and the rider, I started by 'color blocking,' whereby I use washes and contrast paints to block out the areas I am going to paint up. It's like paint by numbers, only without the numbers. Once I was happy with where all the colors where going to be, I highlighted up the topmost parts and it was ready to go.\n\n### **Standing Pose Cycle**\n\nSimilar to how I prepared the minis for the Full Body Conversion Set 1 and Full Body Conversion Set 2, I started with a wash of Druchii Violet and then dry brushed white over the top. This rider, who is just chillin' waiting for contact to show up, is going to get glows from the airbrush, so I lightly applied the contrast paint colors to him, thinning them out on the wet palette.\n\nOnce I was satisfied with the color application, I glued him together and started lightly dry brushing the green, pink, and yellow in the places I planned to have the OSL glows on; red on the back (for the pink), green from down in front, and yellow from the headlight. Now with the outlining done for the OSL, he was ready for airbrushing.\n\nAirbrushing went pretty quickly. Remember to thin down your airbrush paints to the consistency of milk! I started with pink, then green, and lastly yellow. Yellow was last because its light source is closest to the object (the bike) and therefore would be brighter than a nearby neon sign or light.\n\nBack at the desk, I used normal paints to accent edges from the glow to help reinforce the bright illumination effect from the lights. I then glued the bike to the base (after doing the basing, see below), applying both dry brushing and thin color glazes to the asphalt. This glow shouldn't be as bright because the light is hitting dark asphalt, which isn't going to reflect as much light as shiny metal would. With that, he is done!\n\n### **Basing**\n\nThe bases for the bikes are big and flat to accommodate the bikes. I wanted to put them on asphalt but still make them a little more interesting to help break up the big space. For the bike that's not driving, I wanted to make sure that the light glows were illuminating everything from the side, as if there was a light source positioned just off to the side of the base. For the bike I painted like the box art, I utilized some small painter's tape to create the white straight lines and then add in some cyberpunk marks. Once the white dried, I applied some fluorescent paint over the top to give a little glow to the lines (because, naturally, roads would have neon lights in Night City.)\n\nSince the asphalt is not entirely smooth, the tape does create small gaps, allowing paint to flow underneath. To prevent this from happening, first apply black to the tape, and then after that dries, you can apply the white undercoat. Otherwise, the white paint flows underneath and creates little paint \"fingers,\" which totally defeats the purpose of using paint to make straight lines.\n\n### **Sealing**\n\nAs I do with all of the models I paint that I also play, I applied a protective clear coating over the paint. This helps preserve the paint on the model and keeps oils from hands from rubbing off the paint as you continuously touch the models during games. There are many different kinds of clear varnishes to use, but I typically use any matte or anti-shine varnishes, as satin, semi-gloss, and gloss tend to distort the colors of the models (not to mention that most models aren’t supposed to be shiny).\n\nBrands that have been reliable for me are Krylon Matte Clear Spray, Rustoleum Matte Clear Coat, which is slightly glossy, and Testors Dullcote, although the latter can be expensive and difficult to find. For a coat with no shine that really enhances the colors, I use AK Interactive’s Ultra Matte Varnish, applied with an airbrush.\n\n## **Painted and Ready for Play**\n\n##\n\n## **Impressions**\n\n### **What I liked**\n\nBoth of these cybercycles are really cool looking, especially with the hollow rear tire. The model that's standing and resting adds a variation to the standard motorcycle-rider design you see in other games. Even though he's not in an 'action pose,' he does provide an opportunity to have fun with the painting.\n\n### **What I didn't like**\n\nCleaning the mold lines was kind of rough, and I spent a lot of time trying to clean them up before priming. Then, of course, after I primed them, I found that I still missed some. So, I wasn't a big fan of having to prime twice. The driver in motion has a lot of details on her body that get lost once she's glued onto the bike.\n\n### **What I would do** **different next time**\n\nWith the driver hunched over, I should have spent less time painting those details on here. Next time I do basing work with the glows, I think I will use an airbrush to help make the glow effect a little more consistent throughout the base.\n\n## **Final Assessment**\n\nThese were really easy to paint up, and I was happy with how they turned out compared to the box art. I love all the details on the bikes and figures, and enjoyed bringing them out and accenting them for their respective designs. Because of the size of the model, they took a little longer to paint than a standard figure, especially since I spent some extra time with the glows on the standing bike. They are going to look great on the table, and I am excited to use them in my next game!\n\n* * *\n\nHave you painted Cyberpunk Red: Combat Zone miniatures yet? Share your work with us!\n\nDon’t forget to subscribe and follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, and YouTube for more Cyberpunk Red: Combat Zone reviews and painting guides, as well as more hobby and tabletop news and reviews!",
  "title": "Learn to Paint: Zonda Cybercycles from Cyberpunk Red Combat Zone",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-15T12:00:50.653Z"
}