 Poor Zaku only has one arm, but he knows how to use it.  Zaku rejoices in his new second arm, and highly articulate fingers.  Endoskeleton complete.  Zaku demonstrates his impressive flexibility (and shows off his rocket boosters).  Zaku rests at ease, knowing he's the slickest mecha on the block.  Armor complete. (White balance askew.)  Zaku marvels at his fresh topcoat.  Unfortunately the matte topcoat fogged up the clear eyepiece...  ... But don't say that when he can hear.  The next annoying loudspeaker cart is going to eat some 100mm for lunch.  Char's not afraid of a little Gundam.  Gazing at the stars... Or the front door.  The view from street level. The Zaku II stands tall at 18 meters. As you can imagine, fitting it in our apartment isn't easy. Thoughts I
initially chose the Zaku as an exploratory foray: into the realm of
Master Grade models (I may never be able to build a High Grade kit
again), into the Universal Century timeline (originally I was
exclusively an After Colony fan), and most importantly, into the art of
proper detailing. In particular, having discovered the sumiire
inking technique, the Zaku, with it's broad, smooth surfaces punctuated
with the occasional armor seam, joint, or other jot of detail, struck
me as an ideal testing ground.
If I was going to build a Zaku, Char's custom seemed the obvious choice. Soft spot for antiheroic bad guys, I suppose. Plus the head antenna of the MS-06S command type was more appealing than the plain dome-piece of the F- or J-types. Moreover, though I didn't realize it till later, it was also quite fortunate that the second version of this kit had been released earlier this year, and so I would get a taste of the cutting edge of Bandai's Master Grade engineering. (Superb.) Building this model was a joy every step of the way. Even in my incompetant hands, the parts come together beautifully, and the resulting poseability of the model is astounding. Despite my sloppy painting, hurried cleanup of clip-marks, and haphazard inking, the Zaku still ended up looking quite decent. I'm certainly pleased with the result. The next two items on my list of MG kits to build are the Gouf Custom and Ramba Ral's Zaku I; I look forward to seeing how these similar Zeon mobile suits come together. Back |