Kit Information :
Scale : 1/144
Grade : HGUC and NG
Made by : Bandai
Completed : 22nd June '08
Boxarts :
Guncannon vs Zaku II
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As the pilot of the severely damaged Zaku II tried desperately in vain to get his Mobile Suit upright again, the hidden Guncannon crashed through the jungle to finish what had only begun seconds before. With a final blast through the chest armor of the Zaku II, the Guncannon's pilot grinned, 'Game Over...'
This scene depicting the final moments of a lone Zaku II on jungle patrol was built as a part of the Modelgeek Sci-Fi Diorama Groupbuild, a Groupbuild that required that there be more than one subject in the scene and involve a diorama of some description.
What began as a plan to build a snow hunting diorama soon evolved into a 'Guncannon kicks arse' project which took on a '08th MS Team' feel by placing the battle in a jungle style setting.
The Zaku used as a No Grade version which required a number of modifications to allow for better placement in the scene and for easier painting. The neck joint was changed as well as the arm to shoulder connections by removing the pegs and replacing with polycaps and left over sprues. The right leg was cut in half and melted using a soldering iron to give the effect that it had been blown off in the heat of the battle. I took the remaining piece of the leg and placed it in the jungle to show where it had landed. It was painted in browns and blacks in a sort of plain jungle scheme. Decals were used sparingly and these included some small warnings and a couple of Zeon emblems.
The Guncannon was much easier to work with as it was a newer HGUC version which did not require any modifications at all. The camo pattern was air brushed on freehand with use of brown, flat earth and sky grey over the top of an olive green base. Burnt Iron was lightly air brushed around the ends of the cannons to show that they had been used and were tarnished by the heat of firing.
For the actual battle scene, smoke was added as a 'flow through' effect from firing the beam rifle so close to the Zaku itself. Smoke was also added underneath, out of the thrusters to show that the Zaku was trying hard to stand up at the time of the final attack. This smoke was made with cotton wool that was air brushed with greys and clear smoke colors. The explosion on the chest was made with Milliput expoy putty which was sculpted to the shape and painted with oranges, yellows and reds to show the fury of the blast. It is small as it shows the first stages of the blast.
The base was laid out using foam which was covered in Plaster of Paris and painted brown. Air drying clay was used to made the indentations for where the Mobile Suits would be standing. The palm trees were made using skewers, masking tape, milliput, wire and tin foil. I had scaled them using a Railroad modeling website but it appears that they are a little bit large for the scene. The jungle undergrowth is Woodlands Scenics lichen and the rivers water was made with Woodlands Scenics EZ Water which is heated up over a flame and poured onto the river bed.
All in all, this isn't one of my better builds and I had trouble finding the motivation to finish it (which is why it took nearly 3 months to do). 1/144 dioramas are quite hard to pull of convincingly. Oh well, onto the next project!