When I started building Gunpla, I never really intended to watch any of the anime series that have been produced over the years. But after building a few kits, I decided to watch an episode or two…
So now having watch Seed, Seed Destiny, Iron Blooded Orphans, Double 0, Wing, Unicorn, most of the Build Fighters stuff, Origin, Thunderbolt, 0080 (that was depressing…), and probably a few more I’m missing, I must now admit I’m hooked.
Of all of them, I found that I enjoyed Seed Destiny more than the others. I’m not sure why, really… just something about it clicked.
When I found this Gunner Zaku Warrior from Seed Destiny at a bargain price, I figured why not give it a go? While it is 1/100 scale, it’s a “no grade” kit. Gundam models are “graded”, so the builder will get some clue about the level of detail, inner frame assembly, etc. For more on how Gunpla kits are graded, you may want to read this blog post I did a few months back. Of course, most won’t click through to that link (I know, I’m guilty of it too…), so to gratuitously flout what I wrote in that piece of drivel article, I’ll pretentiously quote myself, describing No Grade kits:
These are kits of various scales who did not do well in school, because they insisted on hanging out behind the gym and skipping class. So they were expelled, and formed a gang. Well, less of a gang and more of a loose affiliation. They tried to be a gang, but because they were not as finely articulated as their graded cousins who did finish school, they had to get jobs lifting parking garage gates and working in those claw games at the grocery store. With no time to be gang-ish, they just get together and robot dance to vintage 80s hip-hop after work hours.
So there you have it. As thorough an explanation as I’m probably capable of. Anyway…
Where was I?
He Finally Talks About Building The Kit
The kit is basically an HG kit in 1/100 scale. There is no internal frame, and the surface detail is not extensive. There are some seam lines to deal with, on both the forearms and legs. To make that easier. I converted some of them into panel lines by simply scribing them a bit deeper with my Tamiya panel line scriber. Other parts, mainly the knee armor and tops of the thighs, were glued and sanded, using a bit of Mr. Surfacer 500 to help things along.
One of the striking features of this mobile suit in the anime series is the bright red and pink coloring. At first I thought it might be sort of cool to do a garish pink Gunpla. However, when I put the pink paint on a test area, it looked like someone had spilled a bottle of Pepto Bismol on it. I tried to make it a hot pink, but that looked awful too. Shifting to perhaps a “tactical pink”, I added some gray to the mix, but that looked purple – and awful. Deciding to start over, so I grabbed the closest bottle of a gray paint I had, just to cover over the pink colors (which happened to be Tamiya XF-20 Medium Gray)… and I liked it. (Hey Mikey!) The XF-20 is a very warm gray color, almost tan, really.
So, Lunamaria Hawke’s hot pink Zaku (Lunamaria was the pilot in the anime) is now a stylish tan. Sorry, Lunamaria…
The red areas were given a coat of Vallejo Mecha Color Dark Red, which, if you’ve read more than a few entries of this blog, you’ll know finds its way into every build I do. (I like it!) The white is Vallejo Mecha Color Off White, and the gray areas are… ummm… some gray color. (I can’t recall, actually. {heavy sigh} Getting old.)
The chipping was mostly via the sponge method, using Ammo of Mig Chipping color for the tan(ish) and white areas, and then using the XF-20 for the rest. A few additional painted on chips were applied here and there, but I really restrained myself in an effort to not overdo it.
There’s still a way to go with this, of course. Lots of grime and other weathering stuff to add. But I’m really enjoying this kit. It’s simple enough to avoid the frustration rut, but yet nice enough overall to give an excellent palette for painting and weathering. These No Grade kits may have not done well in school, but they’ve turned out right nice anyway! 🙂
You just have to figure out what colors to use.
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