Hi Ufo,
I really like your idea about so far. Actually I am going to do a sea horse based on this idea ( animals of the sea without legs ) but with a different style ( no metal part or tech part ).
I think that you should stick with your design a little bit more ( it works really well like this !) instead of loosing you in small tech details.
i have one concern… you created a full mech warrior so you have the machine… but i don’t see it being well balanced with the flesh…
Yep ! try to define a rough 3d shape to help you defining the model.