Kusakusa Gunpla

I’ve noticed that I’ve been lacking Zeon monoeye units in my collection. Well this is the first step to fix that problem. My initial idea for this kit was not to paint it, but to apply some weathering and battle damage effects. I did however sprayed the inner frame with Mr Color Dark Grey spray can. I painted some details on the inner frame using Tamiya enamels and used wash method using flat black enamel for the panel lines. So here’s some pics of the inner frame first:

It was a real shame that I had to cover the inner frame with the armor. So much of the details like the ass and leg thrusters would be obscured from view. Even the eye slit was so narrow that you can hardly see the monoeye. Anyway, I decided to make a rough surface on the knees, foot and shield to add some weathered feel to the kit. The method can be found on the How-To section.

After putting on the last piece of external armor, I proceeded to giving it a full-body wash using a mix of flat brown and flat black enamels to give both panel-lining and weathering effects. Then I added battle damage using my penknife (I’m too cheap to buy another hobby knife). I used some pics from Dengeki Hobby magazine as reference on where to place the damage effects. Nothing major, mostly scratches and bullet damage. Then I painted chrome silver onto the damaged parts followed by a little bit of black to add some sense of depth to the damage.

The next step was my favourite, adding decals. The dry-transfer decals that came with the kit were not impressive, especially the huge words ‘Principality of Zeon’ for the shield. I only used a few of them and the rest I used water-slide decals I got from the Shizuoka Hobby Show. I added minor scratches to the decals to further simulate damage. And to top it off, I sprayed with flat Topcoat.

Overall, the design and details in this kit is awesome. Now comes the bad points. Too many parts in the inner frame adds a lot of weight to this kit, which in turn makes the joints loose very easily. The legs are particularly heavy, and the polycap joints in the groin can’t hold the weight when posing with lifted legs. Second, I was dissapointed it didn’t come with a backpack like previous Gelgoog MGs. Nevertheless, it was a fun build and worth my yen.

EDIT(8/19) – Added new pics with the minelayer backpack and bazooka I got from Toys R Us