HGUC MS-06 Zaku II 'RED 12'

[Blastvader]

Hello all,

 

This is a recent completion for the UK Gunpla Modellers FB group 'scratch/mod' build off which ran from November 2016 until this week. With the aim of the GB being that all entries had to modified in some way, be that a custom paint job, scratch building, new panel lines etc. As per, despite having all that time I did the majority of the work in the last week or so in sessions snatched between completing assignments for my degree course and job hunting. Hence why it's a bit on the sloppy side. Still, I finished something for a GB and that shouldn't be taken likely, considering my previous form.

 

The base kit is Bandai's aging HGUC Zaku II from 2002 I believe, which is pretty low on detail but would make an ideal first kit for a younger or more inexperienced modeller. Those with more experience are probably likely to find it pretty lacking. Though if you're good at that sort of thing (which I'm not) I'm sure it would make a great blank canvas for detailing up. Due to my aforementioned time keeping issues I decided to go for the 'clean' look which I've not done before. I was wanting it to be more weathered (especially to hide where I'd failed at even the most elementary modelling techniques like removing seam lines....) but ran out of time.

 

In Brief the mods I added to the kit were as follows:

 

HGUC Zaku II (2002) RED 12

Mods:

-new panel lines on the torso, front and back skirts and feet...
-monoeye and bazooka range finder both replaced with polished perspex rod.
-ribbing added to Zaku shield and right shoulder
-builders parts hands added
-backpack replaced with a modified version of the Gelgoog Jäger backpack
-left shoulder modified to shorten spikes
-stupid giraffe neck shortened
-'Red 12' colour scheme.

Paints used:

-Stynylrez primer, Tamiya, AK Xtreme Metals, Vallejo Model Air, Microscale Industries gloss and matt varnishes and Ammo panel washes.

Decals:

-Revell, Academy, Bandai and some rather rubbish third party Chinese ones.

I had a real struggle with the Bandai and knock off decals, the Bandai ones had yellowed pretty badly and were on pretty thick film and despite my best efforts silvered pretty badly in some places (though my being in a rush probably didn't help) the third party ones were on nice thin decal film but there was often too much of it meaning that there was a lot of careful trimming required, they also weren't that clearly printed and didn't respond at all to Microset/sol.

Toodles,

 

Paul

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rockpopandchips]

I like the look of him a big improvment over the stock kit, he looks very anime.

[Hunter Rose]

Nice! I like the shoulder studs and shield ribs very much

[celt]

Dont know what it is but it looks very cool.Well tidy mun.

[Blastvader]

Cheers chaps. Much appreciated, I must say though it wasn't until I looked at this thread on my rebuilt PC with a 2560 x 1440 resolution did I realise just how blurry, out of focus and generally terrible the pictures were...sorry about that. They looked fine on my phone/facebook/company laptop.

 

@celt the suit is this from this series. Just an FYI

 

Cheers,

 

Paul

[celt]

Thanks for the info Blastvader,I now know what Gundam is,looks very interesting.