Master grade MS-06J Zaku II

[chromdome35]

HAH when you said paint sticks I was thinking of actual sticks with paint in them, I wasn't sure what you were talking about, these never occurred to me. Yes, I have a few myself.

[mz3]

Actual progress...

Paint...

Good...








Primed all the green parts with grey mr surfacer 1500 and black parts with black 1500. Then gave all the green parts a preshade of flat black. The the darker green parts were painted with xf-62 olive drab. The lighter green parts were painted withxf-89 dark green 2. The black parts are painted with xf-63 german grey.



Now, from this point on these parts, I'm not going to post ratios on the paints. When I start fading I just start mixing paints. I've never really had set mixes/ratios. I'm thinking about playing around with hairspray and layering some of the fading. I'll need to reassemble everything so I can properly fade the parts. More fading up top with more chips and damaged paint down low.

[Real G]

I can’t wait to see your paint application!

[dupes]

Mmmmmmm, Zaku!

[mz3]

More paint....
















Olive drab lightened with flat yellow and the dark green 2 lightened with the same flat yellow. The yellow is a mr hobby aquas gundam color. This is the basic shading for now. The pictures may not give a good view of the actual shading.

I realized after I initially painted the parts I wanted to spary a ligther color under the base paint. I just totally forgot. I remembered before I painted the black parts. So those will have a slightly different chipping to them then the rest. Which I'm hoping will look cool.

[deafpanzer]

Excellent painting job! Nothing looks monotoned at all.

[chromdome35]

Those highlights and blends look great!

[mz3]

PFA...






Today I'm getting thr frame ready for paint. I missed a bunch of nubs and moldlines. Nothing fancy here for paint, probably just black primer.

[mz3]

Update....




I went ahead and painted the whole frame with mr surfacer 1500 black. I was just being lazy. I didn't want to break the knees and elbows apart for this step, even though I will break them apart fir detail painting.

I did not go over the hands yet. I haven't cleaned them. Sanding the individual finger parts can be a pain. When I'm motivated I'll hit them.

[deafpanzer]

Nothing beats Mr Surfacer! I grabbed four spray cans at hobby shop last Friday while they were in stock.

[mz3]

I don't even remember when I started using it. It doesn't even come up in my thought process when planning out a kit. First step for painting- mr surfacer.

[chromdome35]

Sept 17, 2023 20:53:16 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Nothing beats Mr Surfacer! I grabbed four spray cans at hobby shop last Friday while they were in stock.

I've pretty much locked in on using Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black Thinned 60/40 MLT/Mr. Surfacer on every model. Its the closest thing to bulletproof I've found.

[buddho]

The painting looks fantastic!

[mz3]

Sooo.....

My Zaku got pink eye...











Painting on the frame is done. I tried to keep it simple since most of it probably won't be seen. Dark copper xf-28 and mr color super iron 2 sm203. Then I just drybrushed testors steel all over the areas that will be seen.

The eye is a "custom" color I mixed with tamiya clear red, gloss white, x-22 clear, x20a and retarder. I don't have ratios cause I was trying to work fast. I just mixed until I got a color close to the sticker it comes with. The base of the eye is flat black and the edge is testors steal. Under the eye is dark copper with a quick raw umber oil wash. . I think that dark copper there will add more once the armor parts are on.

[deafpanzer]

Oh no, not the pink eye?!?!? I better send you my personal nurse to take care of that...



Excellent chipping work especially on the edges and corners by the way!

[mz3]

Send her my way😍

Cooling cable beads...




My fingers hurt!

[Real G]

I dream of the day when 3D printing makes those power cable segments easy to clean and almost ready to use.

Where do I sign up to get vaccinated?  But that needle looks kinda big.  And dull...  

Tetsujn 28 better watch out, Zaku inbound for a return match!

[406 Silverado]

WOW!! This is coming along nicely MZ. All the painting and weathering that you've done on this one is really adding up to yield some very good results bud.

[mz3]

Happy Saturday...




Some template painting. The yellow is fuzzy, the scare under it pushed it a bit off the surface. All of them will get some sanding.






Hit the frame with a light layer of buff to tone it down a bit.

And put some "primer" color on the beads.




I started with mr surfacer 1500 then added a mix of tamiya red and re brown randomly mixed. Most of them will be dark green, but a couple will get some heavy chipping.

[406 Silverado]

Coming along nicely MZ. I envy you guys with all the bench time you have. I may get back on mine tomorrow......

The weathering and paint work that you are putting into this one is bringing out the best. Great work bud.

[mz3]

Some painting...






The skull I've been working with water color pencils. Hopefully it stays after I topcoat it.

[deafpanzer]

I really like what I am seeing especially the very faded skull marking!

[dupes]

I'm always torn as to how much work/detail painting to put on the frame. It always feels like you can't see ANY of it. Excellent paint!

[mz3]

Most of the time I will only paint the areas of the frame that show through the armor. The only reason I painted this entire frame was because I put too much primer in my airbrush and didn't want to waste it.

[mz3]

Updatesss...





The blackish parts I started with black mr surfacer 1500. Then german grey, hairspray and finally nato black. Then I used a mix of 50/50 water and windex to strip the paint. I'm kinda like whatever on most of these, once a flat coat goes on the chipping will probably disappear. I should have used a lighter color underneath the nato black.

Then I had an idea...










I still have about 80 of those little magnets from the last Gundam project, so I decided to use a bunch of them to hold the ax in place. I ended up stacking several in the ax, both hands and the holder. CA'ed everything in place and tested. It all works great. I had to hollow out the holder, if I didn't it would have scratched the ax handle. Next step is to start putting armor back on and figuring out more weathering.

[Real G]

The paint and weathering is shaping up nicely.  I like the magnet idea; might have to cockroach it for my builds...

[mz3]

The magnets are awesome! They fit anywhere you can think of.

Gun...


I took inspiration from the T-90 tanks on the scope lens. There is a hole in the rear of the clear part so I put some black in before painting the rest of it.




And let the weathering begin!!!





I got a new phone with a fancy new camera in it. I'm still trying to figure it out. But 200 mp is way to much for anything!

[mz3]

Zaku...

[406 Silverado]

You're really doing some mighty fine work to this MZ. All the painting and weathering is making this one some true eye candy. Lookin' great bud.

[mz3]

Thank you!

Inspiration hit!





Little more damage to it. I might try this on the waist lines if I have some wire thats big enough.

I'm still deciding on the desert yellow part/s.