Kit Information :
Scale : 1/100
Grade : Master Grade
Made by : Bandai
Completed : October 2007
Box Art :
RX-178 Gundam Mk II (Titans Prototype Mobile Suit)
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The Gundam Mk II has always been one of my favourite designs for any 'Gundam', whcih is why I originally purchased this kit. It had been sitting on my 'to do' shelf for almost 12 months when I finally decided to make a start on it.
As usual, I had planned many things with this kit but ended up going for a tricked out version - or as some people have mentioned to me, a 'Pimp my Gundam' version (if you have seen 'Pimp my Ride' on MTV then you'll know what that means).
I wanted to stay with the blue/black Titanesque theme that the Mk II is painted in when first seen in the Zeta Gundam anime, but at the same time I wanted something completely different to the OOB colors. I had a bottle of Tamiya Metallic Blue sitting around from a while back when I had planned to paint my Gouf in those colors and thought I'd give that a try. If it didn't work out, then I thought I'd strip it back and paint it with Silver / Clear Blue Candy type combination. Because I didn't use a black base coat, the blue came out a lot lighter than I thought it would.
Beads were added to quite a few areas as well. I had planned a lot more but due to the size and space restrictions on some areas, I kept the use to the feet, torso, and skirt armor. To fit them, I drilled a small hole with my pin vise and then carefully widened the hole with my hobby knife. This didn't always work well and some either pushed all the way through or sat out too far. I got around this by selecting the right bead to fit each hole.
I also removed the inner part of the shoulder vents and replaced it with wire mesh. In hindsight, the mesh I have used looks slightly too big. I think it still looks fine, but a smaller weave mesh would have looked much better.
Mesh chain was used on the power conduits, similar to the way I used them on the Hyaku Shiki. To get the chain to hold it's position, I slid thicker guage wire down the insides and glued it in place. All in all, I replaced 10 pieces of conduit with chain mesh. 4 on each leg and two on the back pack.
The thrusters on the back pack were purchased from Ako Hobby along with the Mega Beam Rifle the Mk II is holding. The internal thruster bell was painted with Clear Blue and the outer part with Smoke. The original thruster joints were removed and then the new thrusters were glued on. The Mega Beam Rifle that the Mk II is holding was a total pain in the arse. The plastic was difficult to work with and the glue didn't want to hold the pieces to well. As soon as I put a little pressure on some pieces, they came apart at the join. I eventually got on top of that and also took the time to replace the barrel with aluminium tubing which I polished with fine sandpaper to a chrome like finish. It was then painted with Alclad Steel over a Black base and Clear Blue over the Chrome pieces
I went with Gold panel lines for this kit because, well, blue and gold work well together. 1 drop of Gold enamel mixed with 5 drops of Low Odour Turps gave me a mixture that not only flowed into the panel lines well, but also kept a decent coloration.
The base is a simple Chrome silver picture frame and I have painted over with Clear Blue. The glass was left in and I designed a simple picture with Photoshop to go underneath.
Much more information about this build can be found in the in-progress page, which can be found by clicking the link in the right side bar. And while you are clicking there, don't forget to click the all important Gallery link!
UPDATE 29th June 2008 :
This kit was entered into the 2008 Australian Plastic and Scale Model Championships and I am proud to annouce that it won 3rd place in the Science Fiction Category!
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