1/48 Mega Scale Zaku Diorama " Dead Turtle " modeled by Don Suratos akaDC23

Just finished this piece today. I wanted to finish something quick to start the year on a productive good note. This was my old sponsored 1/48 Zaku kit I got from Greattoysonline.com way back. I originally plan to use this for a huge hangar diorama, but I just cannot find enough materials ( 1mm rods and tubes ) to work on that project.

I was working on a few commissioned works during the December holidays ( MG Zeta Karaba and MG Z'gok ) but I really felt like rushing and painting something quick to start the year with a conpleted work. So I ended up finishing this quick painting project.

As you can see, I wanted to paint it as soon as possible thus I failed to detail the other parts to match the detailing of the head and shoulder armors. I did manage to add a gazillion of rivet work all over the kit to somehow give it a consistent look. The rivets used were cheap sewing pins which is not as easy to install ( you need tweezers ) as it looks. I also failed to add battle damage to the amputated right leg as I really wanted to paint already.

Although I feel I could have done more modifications and worked with this kit for another week, at least I had so much fun painting this with my old stock of Vallejo paints and washes before the holidays end and before I report back to my dayjob.

The kit was primed with Vallejo Grey Surface Primer, Vallejo Rust colored Model Colors, some Vallejo Game Colors and Vallejo Model Airs. The kit was weathered with Vallejo washes, inks and pigments and the kit was sealed with Vallejo Satin Varnish! Dang I love my non-toxic Acrylic paints ( lol )!

I really like the flat look of the Vallejo Satin Varnish. It has a very subtle sheen rather than a really chalky flat look! You just need to mix around 10% of Vallejo airbrush thinner to make the varnish more suitable for airbrush use.

I learned and re-learned a lot of weathering techniques with this build. Much like the modifications, I could paint this for another week, but felt the kit has served its purpose already.. now moving on to my other projects. 

Hope you like this post ( will edit this post and add gazillion of photos soon ).

Thanks as always for dropping by! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

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1/48 Mega Scale Zaku verDC23 Primed

I just finished priming this old project. I wanted to finish a kit before I report back to work on Monday and to make a good start to 2015. I did not want to rush my MG Z'Gok and MG Zeta Karaba just to finish something as both are commissioned works.

I got lazy and stopped detailing this project today as I want to paint and weather this already. Although I have colds since Monday, I hope to finish this project soon. This should be basically a weathering practice kit for me and hope to pull off better weathering on this kit. 

The diorama or base is entirely made of styrene and textured with Vallejo texture paints. The kit is primed with Vallejo White Polyurethane Primer as usual. 

Thanks as always for dropping by! Until next update guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

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1/48 Zaku Hangar Diorama WIP041014

I just finished my first ever Gunpla project after 3 years of hiatus yesterday, and was able to squeeze in a bit of work on my 1/48 Mega Scale Zaku diorama project before going to work today.

Not much work done really, but I am pretty happy with the result and wanted to share it immediately.
Likers at my Facebook page ( DC23 mech arts ) and members of my group page ( DC23-mecharts ) has already seen this update. I usually post first at Instagram ( @dc23_mecharts ), then my Facebook pages then blog about it.

Anyways, I added more bulk to the crotch area as I can't resist making it bigger ( dang I love big crotches ). Majority of the scratch built crotch are .3mm thick Tamiya pla plates, .5mm Tamiya pla plates and a few 1mm thick pla plates. I also added a foot part (?) from the MG The O.

I will be cleaning up the scratch built part before adding more details soon. So far I like how it looks on my 1/48 Mega Crotch Scale Zaku! Hope to post more updates, but will work on my old pending commish soon. Stay tuned guys!

 

Thanks as always for dropping by! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

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1/48 Zaku verDC23 WIP 033114

Old habits die hard. And so I am slowly over detailing this project as usual.

I originally wanted a classic looking Zaku that does not look too customized. This is the same kit I am placing on a huge 1/48 Hangar Diorama. Obviously I am already obscuring the classic look of the Zaku.

I feel that the visor matches the round left shoulder armor and it should hopefully compliment the big crotch and skirts. This should give my Zaku that extra armor look without the need to kitbash 5 kits! ;)

I am going for a hyper detailed kit that wont look absurd and still resemble your classic green Zaku. No funny kit bashing super mecha monster ongoing here.

BTW, cutting 1/48 armor is hard! It is thicker than your usual MG armors but nothing my Hasegawa saws cannot handle. It has been a while since I customized a kit like so, I almost forgot how relaxing it is. 

Anyways, hope you like my update so far. Thanks for dropping by! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

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34 Zaku Hangar Crews Assembled

At last I have assembled all 34 1/48 crew members of my Mega Scale Zaku Hangar diorama. I have removed the mold lines already and will just need to fill the gaps around the neck and arm joints.

I am now pretty confident that this project will not only be my biggest diorama ever, it will also be the busiest! Unlike my other dioramas though, I hope to do a better job on painting all these figures. I think the main feature of the diorama are the figures as the Zaku will just be standing straight.

The next couple of photos shows that I will not be using identical figures on this Zaku diorama. I wish I could make it sound complicated ( LOL ), but to be honest I just swapped the arms and heads to create different looking figures.

The two (2) photos below are showing the same figures that now looks different due to swapped parts. The upper torso and the leg parts remains the same though. Hopefully positioning them apart from each other in the diorama will not give away the fact that I am just using the same figs.

So far I have 34 figures I plan to use. However if I fail to pull off this custom made Char Aznable, I will obviously end up with 33. The char is basically one of the figures that I sort of sculpted. I gave him some boots and gloves by scraping off plastic and added the costume using Green Stuff. 

Char is still rough but once the Green Stuff has cured, I can refine the sculpt through sanding and shaving. I hope I can pull it off. :)

Assembling figures is fun! But kind of boring after 25 figs! I will set them aside as Char is still curing and now work on the 1/48 Zaku. I am going for a steam punk old school look to match the old school goggles of the crew members.

Wish me luck! Thanks for dropping by! Until next update guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

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1/48 Zaku Diorama " Resurrection " by Phoon

 Modeling by Ronnie Phoon! Ronnie Phoon! Ronnie Phoon!

I am 200% sure that I will be having sleepless nights this weekend! I am so dang inspired right now after seeing the most impressive 1/48 Zaku diorama ever! What is most inspiring is that I personally know the alien ( the person ) that did this masterpiece!

I am so proud and delighted to present a work that most likely all of my readers have already seen ( I know I am late ). I am so guilty to steal all of the photos of this 1/48 Zaku Diorama " Resurrection " by Ronnie Phoon. Apparently Ronnie Phoon aka Phoon at Pla-Zone has been creating impressive masterpieces for the past few years. The last masterpiece that I knew Phoon created was the " Dawn of Change " which was almost his last update in his blog. As I have not visited forums for the past couple of years, little did I know that Phoon has become a monster in this hobby!

Although I stole all of his photos, do head out to Pla-Zone to check his original post. Link below

1/48 Zaku Diorama " Resurrection " by Ronnie Phoon

Thanks for dropping by! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

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