By Loran
Hi, I’m Loran and I have an MSV addiction.
I just love these designs. Something about taking existing suits like the GM and Zaku and modifying them to serve a specific purpose really appeals to me. In many ways you could argue that the Zeons were fools for making all of this random garbage—seemingly pointless variations of the Zaku to suit every environment instead of just making one suit that can work in all of them, like the Federation did. Still, applying logic to science fiction with giant robots aside, there’s one thing you certainly can’t deny-these designs are really neat!
I’ve sort of been going against my typical “one kit at a time” dogma as of late. Some projects just haven’t been making me very enthusiastic. It’s often a combination of a few factors: switching interests, lack of interest in the design, or lack of supplies. Either way, I think I’m getting back into the swing of kit building as of late, mostly because it’s been total hell trying to find new Transformers, and with the new movie coming out, I’m afraid I’m out of luck…
So I’ve recently acquired a huge haul of MSV kits—big surprise there; and I’ve been going back and working on some old ones. I finally got started on my Full Armor Gundam, but… long story short, let’s just say for the first time ever I had to order some replacement parts. Until I can reevaluate my plans with that one, I’ve done some work on a few Zakus…
Here’s one I’ve wanted to do for a few years now: The Zaku II High Mobility Type. I’ve been having a hard time deciding what I wanted to use as the base kit, until I saw a few kitbashes that used the First Grade Zaku as a base. At first I said, “Hey, that’s cheating!”, since the First Grade kits are built just like the original ones. But then I thought for a second, and realized how brilliant of an idea that was. I’d originally settled on using the Real Grade Zaku, but that would be way too expensive for a kitbash. This has proven to be very easy considering the structure of the First Grade’s legs-very little modification is needed. This one is actually on hold right now, since I need some more parts from the FG kit (mainly the head and leg cable).
The Zaku Flipper is… an interesting design to say the least, but thankfully this ‘bash is none too difficult. The hardest part is shaving down the camera equipment from the Flipper and getting the “crotch cam” fixed onto the base. The rest is pretty easy. I’m debating whether or not I should modify the legs of the Zaku itself, since the Flipper and Recon both have weird square legs. I think I’ll leave it, since I never really cared for that design choice.
This poor Zaku Tank has been in limbo for about a year, but that’s worked to its advantage, I’d say. Originally it was going to be built straight with just the First Grade Zaku’s head attached, but now I’ll have a head left over from the Flipper, so I’ll use that instead. I’m also going to give it the cannon backpack from the Zaku Cannon to make it look more like the Zaku Tank from Gihren’s Greed.
Of course, there’s a lot more where these came from. I also have a Prototype Gundam, a Guncannon II, both Psycommu Zakus, and a second R-type. I’m going to be quite busy this summer! FPNYC gets MSV kits in stock from time to time, and I’d definitely suggest stocking up when you have the chance-assuming I don’t get to ‘em first. 😉
