



Introduction:





This kit was completed as a free commission to the winner of my Patreon launch contest! The Winner Gabriel Z. requested an HG Psycho Zaku painted with Char custom color scheme. This was a great kit to build as a commission because it's a model that I would have never purchased for myself. And, despite some misgivings I had about the design of the model and the inclusion of five dozen vernier nozzles; it turned out to be a pretty fun kit with a cool final design. This isn't a model I would recommend to a novice builder, but I'm positive an intermediate or advanced modeler would be up to the challenge.





Lore wise I can think of this design existing in an alternate Gundam timeline. Maybe Char's initial conflict with the Gundam resulted in him being severely injured. After recovery he might find himself being willingly (or otherwise) inducted into the Living Dead Unit. I wouldn't be surprised to find him surpassing the other pilots of the unit and finding himself as the test pilot for the Psycho Zaku.



Kit Talk:





First things first; this kit had a lot of seam lines that needed to be fixed. Each, bazooka, rifle, fuel tank and panzerfaust has a big ugly seamline running the length of the part. The seamlines on each fuel tank were poorly matched and required a bit of sanding an puttying to even everything out.





The vernier nozzles were also worrisome, as the smallest nozzles barley measured 2 mm in each dimension. If you drop one of these pieces I guarantee that it will vanish! I painted each nozzle in two colors. I used a silver interior color and a neutral gray exterior. I will likely do something similar using gold on my MG when I get around to it.





I modified one set of Nozzles on the backside of the legs. I did this by drilling out the low detail molds on each side. I applied Tamiya thin cement to the drilled area to smooth out the drill marks and later inserted a Kotobukiya nozzle into the gap to fill out the space.





Unfortunately during the final construction one of the chest pipes snapped. This wasn't entirely unexpected due to the design of the part. However, this at least allows me to show a solution to properly fix this break.





The chest pipes are made of the same hard plastic as the frame, but feature a series of slices to allow the part to gradually curve. There isn't enough surface area to properly glue this joint back in place and expect it to hold.

I used a thin steel rod (get these from the hardware store) and a pin vice to drill a hole.

The rod is bent into shape and inserted into both ends of the pipe.





Colors used in the build are Gundam Color Char Pink & Red, Mr. Color Navy Blue and Gaia Colors Neutral gray 2 and 4. Other colors like silver, clear red, white, yellow and orange were also used minimally for small details. The only thing I regret is that this kit does not include a second 'deactivated' heat hawk like the recent HG Origin kits; I opted to paint the heat hawk in it's activated state (because it looks cooler that way), despite still being holstered.





A fair bit of masking was required to add the white stripe to the shoulder, and the light gray bands across the fuel tanks and bazookas. I also took the time to mask and paint the small vernier details on the lower legs. The silver lips on these areas were applied by hand using Vallejo silver and a toothpick.





Decals for this kit were taken from the RG Char Zaku II and the HG Gundam The Origin decal sheets. The decals scheme I chose to apply was fairly reserved due to the complexity of the design of the mobile suit.









Photos:





It has been a while since I completed a commissioned build, s this is just a reminder. I do not pose commissioned kits; and in this case, I will not be plugging the weapons into the backpack weapon racks.





It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the mobile suit cannot stand on its own with the fuel tanks attached.





The weapon racks are empty, but just imagine how much bulk this monster would have with everything equipped.

Without the fuel tank the Zaku can just about manage to stand on its own. Its balance is still precarious even with this setup.











