This maybe particularly obscure , but a long time ago, my mother bought this kit
"Robotech Defenders Ziyon" for me, after watching copious hours of Robotech. I distinctly remembered the cover art, featuring the mech in a winter scene and as an adult did some digging to find this model kit. What I discovered is that these revel kits licensed the names but used various Japanese brands unrelated to the Robotech production. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotech_Defenders
I then learned that "Ziyon" was in fact a mech from Fang of the Sun Dougram, called Soltic HT-128 "Bigfoot". I was able to find an updated model kit. See https://japan-figure.com/products/m...1-72-scale-dougram-soltic-ht128-bigfoot-model and the project began.
The base was constructed with cut, glued insulation foam, textured and covered with a very light layer of sculptimold to fill in any gaps. My attempt at trees did not succeed so I found an online seller from Etsy by the name of Trident Customs, out of Canada. These were then trimmed and shaped to better match the scale. My tree attempt did not go to waste as I used the two frames as dead trees in the background. The snow was a mixture of some baby powder and AK snow micro balloons and some minimal use of Vellejo snow effects . The snow on the trees was achieved by using white chalk.
The model itself was fairly straightforward and I opted to paint the red armor with Montana acrylic based spray paint and the body with a mixture of Vellejo using brushes. The canopy was treated with a makeup brush with floor polish and more chalk for weathering and snow highlights.
I had wanted to find 1/72 , Empire Strikes Back rebel hoth troops, but could not locate any. So the figures were 1/72 german WWII winter solders, slightly modified and hand painted. The snow mobile was a modified 1/72 scale Space 1999 moon buggy from shape ways, RIP.
Positioning the mech was incredibly easy due to the incredible engineering of the Japanese model allowing for absolute articulation. And an off the shelf LED lit display case ensures a dust free viewing. So I hope. This was a lot of fun to put together and I highly recommend searching for the defenders line if anyone has an interest in 1980s Japanese mechs. Thanks for reading and taking a look.
"Robotech Defenders Ziyon" for me, after watching copious hours of Robotech. I distinctly remembered the cover art, featuring the mech in a winter scene and as an adult did some digging to find this model kit. What I discovered is that these revel kits licensed the names but used various Japanese brands unrelated to the Robotech production. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotech_DefendersI then learned that "Ziyon" was in fact a mech from Fang of the Sun Dougram, called Soltic HT-128 "Bigfoot". I was able to find an updated model kit. See https://japan-figure.com/products/m...1-72-scale-dougram-soltic-ht128-bigfoot-model and the project began.
The base was constructed with cut, glued insulation foam, textured and covered with a very light layer of sculptimold to fill in any gaps. My attempt at trees did not succeed so I found an online seller from Etsy by the name of Trident Customs, out of Canada. These were then trimmed and shaped to better match the scale. My tree attempt did not go to waste as I used the two frames as dead trees in the background. The snow was a mixture of some baby powder and AK snow micro balloons and some minimal use of Vellejo snow effects . The snow on the trees was achieved by using white chalk.
The model itself was fairly straightforward and I opted to paint the red armor with Montana acrylic based spray paint and the body with a mixture of Vellejo using brushes. The canopy was treated with a makeup brush with floor polish and more chalk for weathering and snow highlights.
I had wanted to find 1/72 , Empire Strikes Back rebel hoth troops, but could not locate any. So the figures were 1/72 german WWII winter solders, slightly modified and hand painted. The snow mobile was a modified 1/72 scale Space 1999 moon buggy from shape ways, RIP.
Positioning the mech was incredibly easy due to the incredible engineering of the Japanese model allowing for absolute articulation. And an off the shelf LED lit display case ensures a dust free viewing. So I hope. This was a lot of fun to put together and I highly recommend searching for the defenders line if anyone has an interest in 1980s Japanese mechs. Thanks for reading and taking a look.
I had never heard of Robotech (or even mecha) when I got another kit from that range, that came with a kind of assembly bay diorama that could apparently be linked to others. After some searching, it was 
