Secret confession time! I’ve actually built a Master Grade Zeta Gundam 2.0 before.
Well, that one was the Limited Edition White Unicorn version, and I did that just a few months before I started taking kits really seriously. As such, I’d rather not cover it here, since I’d rather not display a badly-assembled limited edition kit on here. It’d just be embarrassing! Also, I never actually finished the weapons for that. Whoops. Now, normally I just wouldn’t mention such a thing, but I found it relevant because you would’ve thought that after, you know, putting one together already…
I WOULD’VE BEEN PREPARED FOR ALL OF THE FIDDLY-BITS WITH THE TRANSFORMATION ON THIS.
Now, I just have the torso and head done thus far, so I think I have the bulk of the awful transformation bits finished. I’ve actually had some problems this time around. For whatever reason, I could not get the paint to adhere to the eyes, so I had to resort to the sticker. Yeah… I’m not too proud of that, but it works.
Additionally, because of all the transformation parts, I had the hardest time getting the head on the body! This probably wouldn’t have been a problem were I not painting and just did everything linearly, but the collar part kept going down whenever I’d try to pop the head in. It doesn’t lock into place, which I guess is a good thing. It would certainly prevent any breakage.
Also, take care of that hinge on the cockpit. I accidentally broke the piece connecting it to the chest and I had to repair it twice. Thankfully, it’s stable now, so just keep aware of this. The cockpit door also opens on its own to reveal a figure of Kamille inside. I was actually going to put the decal with Kamille’s name on the door, until I realized, “Wait, this is supposed to be Roux’s Zeta! That would ruin the whole thing.”
Sadly, I haven’t gotten a chance to use any of my custom decals yet. None of them were really made for the torso of the suit. You’ll start to see those once I paint up the arms. All things considered, I wish I had a “Zeta Gundam” for the other side of chest. I like the look of having the model number on one side and the suit’s name on the other.
For painting, I went with my homebrew Gundam Blue (same one from Destiny Gundam and AGE-1 Titus), a mixture of white and my Tristars Zaku’s blue, some typical gunship gray and insignia yellow, and… regular insignia red by accident. Yeah, I didn’t realize I wasn’t using my custom red until I already decaled. Oh well, it’s just two parts. I’ll make sure the rest of it is in the proper bright red.
The Zeta Gundam is off to a slow start, I’ll admit. No need to worry, I’ll have this one finished by Thanksgiving, if all goes as planned! I’m really excited to get started on Duel and Buster once I have them in hand. Remember folks, get your kits from FPNYC in the meantime!