MG RMS-106 Hi-Zack

[sunsanvil]

To be honest I'm not a huge fan of the Zaku, but I feel I need one in my collection. Since I'm gradually building everything from Zeta Gundam, the Hi-Zack was an obvious choice, and it has an interesting blend of design styles. Its clearly a Zaku with its head, spiked shoulder, pipe fittings etc, but there are elements of federation as well as AEUG design in there which make it pretty unique.

I've got the waterslide decal set of course.

One thing I plan to replace is the hoses at the elbows. Unlike the rest of the kit which uses plastic rings over a flexible PE core, they are entirely of PE. Even if it holds paint, as soon as it flexes it will at very least crack if not peel so I will scratch build replacements out of styreen tube and some sort of wire.

Paint job and markings will be true to the movie as a Titans Mobile Suit.

 

[MrNatural]

Killer! looking forward to some progress pics. I really need to build a zaku for my collection as well.

 

[Junkie]

Nice stuff Brian. Looking forward to your build.

 

[TRM]

Wow, look at that!!! Looks like you got some work cut out for you Brian!!! Bring it on!

 

[ModelMakerMike]

Y E S!!!!!
I LOVE the Hi-Zack!
Do it UP!!!!
;D ;D ;D ;D

 

[sunsanvil]

Well I'm in trouble, and by trouble I mean I have a lot of work to do. I had avoided this kit for years because of this sprue:

Turns out its not even the usual polyethylene that the poly-caps are made of. Its some sort of rubber, reminds me of an elastic band (only it breaks if you stretch it much). I cant use ANYTHING off this sprue. I knew the top two pieces for the elbows were a write-off, but if the rest had been PE I could have painted it as none of them flex. This means everything you see here is going to have to be scratch built from styrene tube slices.... thats a lot of slices...<sigh>.

 

[TRM]

Sorry to hear about the mishap there!! I don't envy that cut fest!!! Hang in there!!!

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Well I'm in trouble, and by trouble I mean I have a lot of work to do. I had avoided this kit for years because of this sprue:

Turns out its not even the usual polyethylene that the poly-caps are made of. Its some sort of rubber, reminds me of an elastic band (only it breaks if you stretch it much). I cant use ANYTHING off this sprue. I knew the top two pieces for the elbows were a write-off, but if the rest had been PE I could have painted it as none of them flex. This means everything you see here is going to have to be scratch built from styrene tube slices.... thats a lot of slices...<sigh>.

Hey Brian,

If I were you, I would take a piece of the sprue, and do to it what you would normally do for paint. Vallejo primer and then color, just to see how the material will actually behave. I think we both know what is going to happen, but you might be surprised.....worth a shot at least before you go to all the trouble to scratchbuild it all!

 

[YOULI]

Yeah... Same here !

Some solutions though :

- You can replace the all thing with Guitar Strings or Springs with the right diameter.
- if you want the tiny cylinders, add some Q-tips parts on it, you can even make those with lollipop handles, or the two of them...

- there is also solutions with pearls, toys parts, with electric wires.

That's what I've done (or been doing) with my Zaku II FG.
(sorry the link lead to a french forum, but the pictures will help you I think)
http://hobbyforever.forum-actif.net/t2526-zaku-ii-fg-1-144-bandai-red-comet-s-custom?highlight=Zaku+FG

If you have, like John, or me, the CHOPPER II, it would be an easy task. If not, just some technic and patience rolling the Q-tip with a blade would do it. It can even be fun !



With modeling, there is no problems (that you can't fix) only solutions (that you can find).

 

[YOULI]

Couldn't open the photobucket album last night. But here is what you can do easily with the Q tips and Lollipop handles. One in another, you can obtain some very simple, and easy to do, Zaku or Hi-zack cables.

 

[TRM]

Off an running!! Nice tips and some nice scatching...Keep it coming!!

 

[Grendels]

The Chopper is a wonderful tool.

 

[YOULI]

+1

Wonderful
But pricey
Easy and fast
But pricey...

I paid it almost 60 euros. But it's worth the money all right, it makes the task to cut small parts, or here small cylinder, easy, and clean, it's what I needed to complete my Star Destroyer and soooo many more projects.

 

[steezy]

Use metal option parts!! Here is a link to a highly recommended store, http://www.curtratcliffe.com

It'll take a couple weeks to arrive, but you can continue to work on the rest of the kit

Great kit by the way! I've been meaning to pick that one up!

 

[amateurmodeler]

That sucks about the rubber sprue. I'm sure you'll figure something out.

 

[sunsanvil]

Well life had literally gotten in the way of this build but I'm finally back at it.

Using slices of styrene tube, all edges rounded to get the just the right look, with a copper wire core, I finally replaced the evil rubber parts for the knees.



Original rubber/elastic on the right, scratch built on the left.

Incredibly tedious, not fun work. I don't recommend, but those darn pipes are so iconic to the 'zack family I had to do it, even if they are such a small part on the finished suit.

The ones at the elbows will be a much larger challenge. Where these are fixed (and really did NOT need to be made of elastic) the ones at the elbows need to articulate. The rubber part as is has to stretch just to accommodate a 90deg rotation of the arm vs. shoulder...

 

[ModelMakerMike]

VERY nice! ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

[steezy]

That must have been so tedious. Looks great though! Better than the original.

 

[Grendels]

I agree, it looks much better than the original.

 

[MrNatural]

Good to see you back to work on this one. Looks great so far.