Icarus's blog: "Somantics"

......... and my douchey forum cohort hasn't sent me the confirmation yet.

I swear to god if I get screwed again on this JR custom...

oh
right
anyway

I'm assembling my second Zaku I

Why my second?

...

...


...





because it was $15 instead of $35 and I have nothing else to do?

I could be attempting to unlock more items in MGPW but... some other night.

Truth be told this was a bit of an odd kit
Its the Zaku I Ramba Ral custom
and it is loaded with extra parts.
Enough parts to really consider alt builds and mods.

The RR custom comes with 3 chest plates, 3 torso plates, and 3 cod pieces
It also comes with alternate shoulder designs and 2 dome shields for the shoulders
typically the Zaku 1 only features a dome shield on the left shoulder.

So I'm building this one closer to a standard version.
One shoulder shield- no fanciful chest plate,

I haven't decided on actually using the face and leg tubes included with the kit.

Another perk to this kit is that it comes with 2 machine guns and a bazooka so... I literally have more guns than arms with this thing.

But the point at hand

I intend to build this kit
and then strip it

my experience with masking wasn't all that possitive.
I may be better off learning an alternate method but the thing is if I'm not careful with my seams and connections- they'll get all gooped up in the process and won't fit correctly on the rebuild.

I've at least learned a new technique to make the stripping about...
a million times easier

cut the connector pins (the rods and tubes that fit to gether and lock between the parts)
at a forty five degree angle.

makes prying pieces apart a synch, but the overall finality of the kit suffers, and... it increases the risks of seriously fucking up your build

I can live with that.
Getting those damned things pried was a biiiiiitch.

I did learn that the fewer strips used with masking, the fewere chances of failure
and there
really
really are limitations to what can be done.

1/2 cm strips on a 1/144 can result in some issues. Pull slow slow slow so as to not pull any adjacent paint off.
Have something handy to clean the goo off when you're done.

I'm not going to say my 1/144 black tri star gouf is a complete catastrophe
he's not
he just... didn't come out perfect.
And just like with the 1/144 NZ there's some joint and seam issues. The problem is I really don't think there was a way around it with this kit.
I had to seperate the torso to paint, and I had to leave it seperated to put the hips back in- the damn skirt was fixed
if the torso is together- the legs would never get attached to the hips
now there's a massive seam on my toros

The good news is
NO
MG
is built like the 1/144's so a lot of those structual short cuts and handicaps aren't there.
Each skirt plate is individually pieced and in place, and articulated
heads shoulders knees and elbows are more mobile and less finicky and more solidly designed.

I'll know more after a few 1/100 paint ventures. Which may include the very kit I'm building right now.