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Update: This page
will serve as the gallery for all four of the Wolfgar Team's Zaku II
units. Saki's Zaku is the first one being built, and the subsequent
three belong to Ray, Lester, and Martin.
These models mark the beginning of my ongoing (and perhaps never-to-be-finished) project of building the Wolfgar Team and Gundam Pixie in 1/100 Master Grade. The options are limited when it comes to the Pixie and Efreet, but nevertheless, the Zakus are within reach, so let this be the first step. If you have no idea what I'm going on about, you can read up on Cross Dimension 0079 here.  The Minovsky ultracompact fusion reactor which makes all mobile suit technology in the Universal Century possible. This lovely bit of detail becomes completely hidden within the Zaku's waist, but I know I sleep better knowing it's in there.  Tamiya magic. The little weathering compact works pretty much like makeup... Not that I, uh, know anything about that sort of thing.  Saki's Zaku, complete. The heart decal on the right shoulder is the badge of the Albatross Team, the task force stationed at the Federation's Gobi base, who were responsible for assembling the Gundam Pixie and delivering the new unit to White Base (notably they never completed that second task). What's this mark doing on Saki's Zaku? The answer will have to wait, but has something to do with another project I'm slowly working on.  Rear view. Saki's unit is distinguished by sawed-off shoulder spikes. The fancy-shmancy light-curing modeling putty I foolishly chose to tidy up the spikes after chopping them down didn't work exactly as I'd hoped, resulting in the ends being a bit rough. This ground type Zaku kit varies from Char's Zaku (and the visually identical F-type, which will appear below) most notably in that it lacks the small vernier thrusters in the legs, and has smaller boosters in the backpack (which is evidently called a "ransel," by the way).  A closer look at the battered shield, my first (deliberate) attempt at battle damage properly so-called. The weathering kit does a nice job.  Saki ponders her next move. If there's any model it's worth making four or five times, it's this ver. 2.0 Zaku II. (We'll see if I still think so by the end of this project.) The expressiveness and poseability of each individual unit leads one to be excited about the interaction between a group of them – that is, I'm betting a bunch of them will look excellent together.  One reason I gave up and decided to build all four Wolfgar Zakus was to have a chance to give Saki the "giant bazooka" included with the new ver. 2.0 F-type kit. Now she has the bazooka she deserves.  The squad's battered F-type belongs to Martin Hagar, longtime friend of Wolfgar's captain, Henry Boone, pilot of the Efreet. Saki's Zaku got a light dusting compared to the sand and mud on this one.  While the flamethrower remains in the works, Martin's machine is on its feet and prepared to do some damage.  Meanwhile, Saki's secret weapon is finally revealed – a pair of beam sabers! What a curious accessory for an early Zeon suit to come by...  Not to be shown up by the squad's freshest member, Hagar rests an arm on his heat hawk, pretending not to show off his flamethrower (which has a mysterious resemblance to a Zaku I machinegun with the back half of a Zaku bazooka stuck to the side of it). I'd like to do a better flamethrower, perhaps with a backback tank, but for now this will stand in well enough. Whose idea was it to bring a flamethrower into the desert, anyway?  Decided to prepare all the parts in need of painting beforehand, rather than in batches as I went along.  And a few weeks later, voila, Lester's lefty Zaku is complete. As Hagar's, Lester's machine is much more heavily dirtied up than Saki's. Maybe she's just more fastidious.  Rear view of Lester's suit. Plenty of ammunition on hand, or rather, on skirt.  Go team Zaku!  Saki disapproves of the boys' hi-fivery.  Martin, Saki, and Lester scope out their new Portland environs. Back |