HGUC Zaku II F2 EFSF - First attempt ever at The Max Technique

I finally tried my hand at what is most commonly known as 'The Max Technique,' it's the common style of leaving edges and panel lines darker than the center of the form. This creates some contrast with the edges that gives a nice effect and somehow ends up making them look more like giant robots. It almost represents a minor form of weathering, as if there are areas that have had their color stripped away by wind and weather.

I am quite satisfied with the results I got. Since the model is only a 1/144 scale, it's a bit difficult to really emphasize small areas, my brush, even at its lowest and finest pressure, just covers too much area. So I opted for an extremely subtle gradation on most pieces. This is the rear skirt armor and you can see that on the edges there is a slight shift in shade. This is the medium brown undercoat I painted each of these with, once it was covered with white it did a great job of blending in. The brown actually looks attractive in areas where it shows through, almost like dusty sand has accumulated.

I was at the hobby store and picked up a nice muted red off the shelf. The name was 'German Aircraft WWII,' so I affectionately refer to it as 'Nazi Red.' It's actually quite beautiful, it's slightly darker than pure red and ever so slightly orangey. It's a lot less harsh than the Gundam Red I have, to me it was an ideal choice for the insides of the thrusters. I contemplated gold or silver thrusters but I want to try to build this true to the original design.

These particular pieces show off the gradation very well. They are such simple forms that painting them properly was extremely easy. To paint so fine, I reduced my compressor's PSI to around 20 so that my working pressure dropped quite low, maybe down to 5 or 10. I barely pulled back on the trigger of my brush so that there was a very light, very fine mist of paint coming out. I worked from the center outwards and after I was done I'd pull my brush very far back, release a lot of paint, and twist the piece quickly. This final coat evened out the gradient so that the pieces appeared to be entirely white, not white with brown peeking through.

So now I've just got to do the gray and midnight blue shading on the other half of the kit and then it's on to detailing and finishing. I can't wait to see how it looks once it's all together, it's so tempting to do a test fit but I really want to finish it all before I put in the effort. Stay tuned for more!

1/100 MG Zaku II 2.0 Snap Build

I've finally gotten around to finishing my Zaku II 2.0 MG! I had a really good time with this kit, Bandai did some smart design on this classic MS. The model has a fully detailed inner frame that is easily comparable to a Perfect Grade - the legs have numerous sliding pistons and layered pieces of internal mechanics, the mono eye swivels from side to side in the visor as the head shifts left and right, and the pilot's cockpit can be shifted internally with a switch underneath the backpack. By the time you slap the outer armor on it, the weight is noticeably heavy which is good because the final product feels very solid, not fragile at all.

The raw plastic that comes in the kit is gorgeous, it almost has a porcelain finish when you buff it making this a great candidate for anyone who doesn't want to paint. One of the biggest reliefs was how easily the tubing was constructed. It came mounted on a little rubber pipe so you snip each one off and can sand them all at once while they remain on the skewer. Then you slide them on to a hollow metal spring which gives a touch of realism that is much appreciated.

The mono eye was colored using a magenta Sharpie. It catches the light very well and I actually prefer the muted pink over the harsh magenta they show as an example in the instruction booklet. I should also mention that the hands on this kit are very impressive, each finger has one knuckle and one ball and socket joint so you can pose them almost any way you want. The palms have a very convenient ridge you can mount weapons in to so they are held tightly. Older kits like the Zaku I in the background lack this feature and tend to hold their weapons very loosely, limiting poses and making them look a little dumpy.

You can see really well in this photo that the head dome on the Zaku II has been rounded out significantly compared to the Gouf. It's not immediately obvious, but a lot of the proportions of this kit have changed to be a bit truer to the 70's design. I personally love it, this is the quintessential Gundam aesthetic. The panel lines are tastefully sparse, the MS has a robust, stocky anatomy that makes it look like it could take a beating (or dole one out!) and it really looks like a machine of war and not a robot superhero.

This is one of those rare model kits where there is literally nothing to critique. I love the attention to detail that's in this kit, easily the highest quality MG I've yet to build. Now if they'd only do a Zaku I 2.0...