Sid Ri'cel's blog

I bought this kit a couple years ago before the HGUC Geara Doga was announced, cuz I really like the design and didn't think Bandai would make a HG or MG. When Bandai announced the HGUC, I decided to use this kit to work on my scratchbuilding/modifying skills. Got a pile of aftermarket parts to put on it, and some joint mods planned to make this better than a HGUC. It's been sitting on my desk since then, waiting for me to get my other kits finished first. 

Finally finished my Spartan. I took it to the AV IPMS Desert Classic model competition yesterday and got 3rd place in the Sci-Fi Vehicles Mechs and Robots category ^_^ More pics after the jump.

Following the LED Mono-Eye tutorial I got the LED wires running down the neck to the rear of the torso, haven't mounted the battery or switch yet, so the wires dangle out the back. Shoulder spikes are still sticky-tacked, haven't finished the mounting yet.

Been working on this Zaku off and on, started it at Gamera's June '08 Build Gathering, with a little more work at following gatherings, and some sporatic work at home. So far I've replaced the stock plastic "power cables" with brass beads and springs, replaced the plastic backpack thrusters with aluminium thrusters, and replaced the spikes with pointy-Adler's-nest-awesome-spikes. I'll show details on those later, This post is about the Mono-eye.

Yes, I'm bored, but the poseability(?) of the Zaku 2.0 is fantastic, it puts my PG Zaku to shame!! Too bad they only come with 1 ammo drum. <_< Quite infuriating, maybe I'll use it as a test part for resin casting. ZAKU NEED MOAR AMMO!

I've got my workstation setup at the new house, but not my spray booth yet. Kinda stalled on the Spartan ATM, got distracted by a Shiny MG Zaku 2.0, and a MG Shin Musha Gundam. ^_^ The Zaku is going to be "mostly" OOB, just some metal upgrade parts, coming in the mail. Working on some custom decals. Finished all the sanding, can't find any seams that need work, so, once I get all the shiny new parts it's ready for primer and paint. I switched the shoulder armor because this is Sid's Custom Zaku, from the Battle of Loum, and apparently, he's the only right-handed Zeon pilot. Think about it. Go on, think about it.

Haven't had much time with finals and getting ready to move. Some of the parts already have silver and burnt iron paint, lower right.

Primered parts:

Overall progress so far: between 60-70% of the parts are ready for primer, I'll start priming within the week.

Latest updates on the Spartan, got distracted a bit so not as much progress as I'd like.

Evened out the chest vent armor with putty.

Prepared lower torso for thrusters.

Started building Anakin's Podracer from Star Wars

It's a pretty simple kit, 1/32 scale.

The pod itself has some horrible seemlines, so I set it aside for now and did some modding to the engines.

Part of the reason for this blog is to keep centralized WIPs that I previously posted across several forums. This WIP had 4 updates on those forums before I created the blog, new updates will appear as separate blog entries.

I'm building this GM Spartan from Ako Creation, I have some ideas on what I'd like to do with this kit, going for more of a "Spartan Custom" so to speak. My goal is to finish this kit for the MMC Conversion Contest, as well as teach myself new techniques... also, to have fun with magnets...