1/144 Z'Gok Part 1

My current project is inspired by a post I saw in an old Hobby Japan magazine(might scan for later). I don't want to get too much into the base and display though and more into the kit I am using for this.

I dug out my old HGUC 1/144 Z'gok kit I built a very long time ago. Thankfully, unlike most Gundam kits, the Z'gok did not have any extra parts or any weapons to old or anything so the entire kit was intact even though it was quite old. Obviously the pieces needed a lot of cleaning and i spent a lot of time removing dust and gunk from the surface, removing old nubs and sanding them down. In the end the kit looked like I just built it out of the box. I also experimented with seamline removal with okay results. I still need some practice with this technique. Sanded down the entire thing with 800 grit paper and then rinsed the parts in soapy water.

Here is the kit before and after the next step: weathering.

I spent a bit of time weathering the kit but it was quite fun. I used the rust gundam weathering marker for the hatches on its chest to give them that look that they had been used quite a bit. I also used this metallic rust for the barrels of missile pods on the head, turned out with really great results. For paint chipping,  I went over the edges with some silver dry brushing used a paint brush and ink from a sharpie silver paint marker. Had to clean this up a number of times before I eventually got it looking even across the kit. Added grey gundam marker to the light blue on the body for paint chipping effect and went over the kit with some grey spread and removed with a qtip.

I'm really happy with the Mono-eye though. I got rid of the faded pink mono eye sticker and got a piece of nail art jewelry and colored it with a pink permanent marker. It's a little big but still fits the eye quite well for this kit. I might put up more about this one later.

~hideki~