Customized Zaku II

1
April 19, 2021
2
April 19, 2021
3
April 19, 2021
4
May 1, 2021
Figured I'd add in a quick overview of the items that will form the basis of this kit now that I have a way of taking evenly lit photographs:
- MS-06S Zaku II Ver 2.0 Char Aznable's
- Universal Century MS-05L Zaku 1 Sniper resin conversion kit
- SIMP/EVO Zaku II (ver 2.0) Grunts decal sheet
- CJ Hobbies Metal Detail Parts
5
May 17, 2021
6
May 17, 2021
7
May 17, 2021
Was originally working with the resin head, but something just didn't feel right to me, and fitment kept being a rather large issue. So I said screw it, and sanded a good portion of the spare helmet from the kit down, and I'm already liking it a lot more. Naturally I'll have to add in the vertical slot for the eye's motion, but I'm okay with this.

The other reason why I wound up switch from the resin parts to the plastic ones is they're the same level of detail for what goes under the helmet, and UC put a massive thick tab/vent on the front and I wound up cutting through some detail.
8
May 17, 2021
Test fitting of leg parts. I like how there's this almost chunkier look to things, as if it isn't as refined.
9
May 17, 2021
Alternate angle of the test fit. Still plenty of fitting, sanding, and scribing to go, that's for sure.
10
September 17, 2022
11
September 17, 2022
Originally rolled the spikes with styrene rod that I then wrapped with styrene sheet, but I couldn't quite shake the whole "bowling pin" feeling they were giving...
12
September 17, 2022
...So I tried out my "backup plan" of some rectangular styrene, and it didn't take long to get some very basic shaping in that I greatly preferred!
13
September 17, 2022
Test pieces were done, so let's get the initial pieces cut to length...
14
September 17, 2022
Blutak test fitting of the liberty spikes.
15
September 17, 2022
Blutak test fitting of the liberty spikes.
16
September 17, 2022
17
September 17, 2022
18
September 17, 2022
19
September 17, 2022
20
January 23, 2023
21
January 23, 2023
22
January 23, 2023
23
January 23, 2023
24
January 25, 2023
Figured I'd show some pics with the modified front skirts being on the model, now that glue has dried.
25
January 25, 2023
26
May 16, 2023
Picking up work on this again, and figured since a few friends are running a MechaMay event, that this was the playful nudge to get the Zaku II finished! Bringing the Yujiao Land resin detail up kit into the mix in order to help keep the progress going!
27
May 16, 2023
Quick test fit of the resin parts after initial pour tab removal, but not full on tidying of them, to see what needed the most work
28
May 16, 2023
About a third of the way through fully cleaning up those pour tabs
29
May 16, 2023
Pour tabs fully cleaned up, let's test fit again to see how things look. Yup, this YJL kit definitely helps tie things together, and fixes my issues I had with the initially bulked out shoulder shield.
30
May 16, 2023
31
May 16, 2023
32
May 16, 2023
After a good clean. Simple Green HD for resin bits, Dawn dish soap for the plastic ones.
33
May 16, 2023
Basics of the palette I'm thinking for the colours. Overall I'm thinking orange with some hot pink accents, with a dusty white (and greys) as the secondary colour with purple accents.
34
May 23, 2023
Initial brush prime laid down. Thanks to forest fire and wildfire smoke I wasn't able to use my airbrush, so brush priming with ProAcryl Dark Neutral Grey Primer it was. Several sessions later, here's what we have.
35
May 23, 2023
First coat of non-primer is ProAcryl Dark Neutral Grey in order to smooth out the colour. It isn't perfectly smooth, but it's more than workable, and more importantly in my eyes the bare parts where they will be visible are now a uniform colour. Next up, actual colour.
36
May 23, 2023
Second coat of primer laid down by brush due to forest and wildfire smoke
37
June 25, 2023
Drybrush of ProAcryl Warm Grey followed by Bright Ivory to pick allow more details to be visible
38
June 25, 2023
ProAcryl Black Wash added in to dark details. Not sure of my thoughts on how it turned out
39
June 25, 2023
ProAcryl Transparent Purple laid down to add some colour to the frame parts
40
June 25, 2023
Testing a 1:1 mix of ProAcryl Royal Purple and Dark Magenta
41
June 25, 2023
Testing colours on the shoulder shield. Previous mix of Royal Purple and Dark Magenta used for the purple, and then Dark Ivory, but I'm not feeling the Dark Ivory.
42
June 25, 2023
There we go, that's a lot better - ProAcryl Bright Neutral Grey (possibly mixed 1:1 with Bright Ivory at this point) is a lot closer to that "dirty white" or light grey I was thinking of.
43
June 25, 2023
Laid out the initial colours for my purple mix (1:1 ProAcryl Royal Purple / Dark Magenta)
44
June 25, 2023
Close-up of how the purple mix looks, since my phone muted the large photo's colours
45
June 25, 2023
Close-up of how the purple mix looks, since my phone muted the large photo's colours
46
June 25, 2023
Close-up of how the purple mix looks, since my phone muted the large photo's colours
47
June 25, 2023
Forest and wildfire smoke is clearing up enough that I'm able to airbrush, so out comes the masking tape!
48
August 5, 2023
Smoke's finally had a somewhat long enough break to be able to airbrush, so here we go with the next layer of purple. I think it was something like 2:1 ProAcryl Dark Magenta / Royal Purple for the mix.
49
August 20, 2023
Okay, I like how that initial grey prep looks with that purple.... Like really, really, REALLY like how the two are working together.
50
August 20, 2023
Tried out about two dozen ways I could make the purple and initial grey prep work together since I very much so liked what I'd seen with the two colours, and wound up going with a "simple" sponging of ProAcryl Neutral Grey followed by Bright Neutral Grey. Definitely curious what it's going to look like assembled, and will make further decisions from there.

WhiteWulfe
Been a while since this project last saw the desk, but now it's going to be here until it's finished, because I'm rather enjoying working on it! So after a little bit, I realized something seemed off with the recast parts - they're 5-10% too small. After a bit of debating as to whether or not I wanted to spend a bunch of time trying to make this all work, I decided to say screw it, challenge accepted, and I'm going to modify the base kit itself, since I was planning on a few modifications anyways.

I'll update the project specifics in a little bit, but basically I'm going to take the base MG MS-06S Zaku II kit and turn it into a Zaku 1 Sniper, but also take inspiration from artwork Kyoutasab on Twitter posted ( twitter.com/kyoutasa../1237399489612115968 ) and go with what I can best describe as "a punk rocker inspired fennec suit". Plan is to modify the head to have a five point liberty spike mohawk, fennec ears, a fennec muzzle, and panel lines from a few different Zeon suits (the rounded shoulder is getting the shoulder "cage" from the MS-04 Bugu, and the shoulder shield is getting inspiration from Excitation Potential's Johnny Ridden kit (basically the bigger, beefier shield) for example).

Turns out I'm rather enjoying the semi-scratchbuilt aspect of it all!

17 September 2022, 18:34

Villiers de Vos
A very unusual subject for me, but you are very skilled.

18 September 2022, 04:02

Torsten
I see like Villiers 👍

18 September 2022, 06:15

WhiteWulfe
I've been working through a fairly massive wall with this kit, and while there's been a decent amount of progress here and there, after doing a test fit of things to see where it was all sitting, I'm going to wind up finishing the modding I've been working on (namely the front skirts that are missing due to being clamped for drying, and the left and right torsos) and then call that phase of things done. I'd love to go whole hog on converting it to a Zaku 1, but every time I sit down to try and do work on it I'm hitting an absolutely massive wall, and so I figure it's better to call the modifications where they are, finish things up, and then move towards preparing for paint. Besides, I kind of rather like where it's at now, and I've more or less gotten across the initial intent I was aiming for even if it's strayed from my initial plans.

I'm a go with the flow kind of guy, and this is where things have gone... And where it's at, I'm happy. I'd much rather be here, tidy up a few things, and then get it into the booth than wind up with it back in the box, ignored for another six months. It's time for something new to take up it's space on the workbench.

EDIT: As for the Zaku 1 Sniper, I've discovered there's a recaster that does a MUCH better job of things, so at some point I'll wind up getting that kit in and revisiting the MS-05L Zaku 1 Sniper. Not like I'll mind another Zaku on the shelf, I love the design!

23 January 2023, 05:13