I haven’t been taking a break from modeling as much as slowly destroying one of the best kits Bandai has ever released, the Master Grade Zaku II 2.0. This one, specifically, is a Johnny Ridden version that’s been in various stages of completion since at least 2010. Just recently I decided it would be the perfect sacrifice for practicing new techniques and generating new tutorials. It was recently the testbed for The Army Painter primers, pla plating, option parts, and now, pre-shading.
Zaku II
PG Zaku II ver. Reprise – Fin
Finally complete, yay!
For those of you new to the project, a little background first. After a long hiatus from Gunpla I returned to the hobby with this, Char’s Zaku II, back in 2008. Being my first kit in a long time, and a Perfect Grade one to boot, my Haro did it turn out like shit. Poor lining job, no details, stickers, and an orange peel gloss coat on top. I’d often thought about tearing the whole thing apart and giving it a proper paint and detail make over. Between my ever growing backlog of kits, and the difficultly of sanding down such a gloss coat, the thought never came to fruition. Instead I decided to revise it and complete another idea I’ve been bouncing around, a clear – yet frosted – Perfect Grade kit.
PG Zaku II ver. Reprise – Update 03
I’m nearing the end of my PG Zaku refurbishment. Enjoy a few photos of the kit pre-full armament…
PG Zaku II ver. Reprise – Update 02
I’ve been making decent progress on my clear PG Zaku, though I ran into issues.
The torso and waist armor were both given coats of Tamiya’s Smoke, clear black paint. They booth looked exactly the same prior to the dull coat, but one received the tail end of a Mr. Super Clear Flat can while the other was coated with a fresh one. For whatever reason the waist armor stayed the proper colour and the torso developed an odd blue tint. This is the first time I’ve applied top coat over a piece using clear paint so I’m not sure where to begin in identifying the project. Since this kit is something I’m doing to just work the idea out of my system, and there’s nothing I can really do to fix the pieces aside from ordering new ones, I’ve decided fretting over it isn’t worth the time. There are plenty of other gunpla projects to be anal over!
PG Zaku II ver. Reprise – Update 01
Long ago, in the depths of 2008, I built a Perfect Grade Char’s Zaku II. It was horrible. A travesty of all things great. A concoction of orange peel’d gloss and stickers. Thus, 2012 being the end of the world, the only proper thing to do would be to light it on fire and sing a sad song in remembrance. Or I could cover it in awesome.
Yeah, I’ll do go with the awesome option instead. Okay, maybe I’m being a bit presumptuous of myself.