1/144 Zabanya Gundam

I wonder why I picked the numbers 0067 to denote this unit despite it's GN-010 unit number. Then I realized that in a spur of the moment, I mistook the 67th release in the 00 series as it's unit number. I felt stupid now but at least it's a somewhat realistic number instead of placing 8888 or 4444. Or worse, the 69 Gundam.

Nevertheless, this Gundam kit has a nice armoured look and probably the standard missing giant backpack gun is replaced by the shield bits or rifle storage equipment.

I can't help but be amused by the audacious designs, from the suspended lower than waist equipments, double guns, claw-ish toes and hidden rocket launchers. It's surprising to me because the thing barely needed support as it's a relatively short unit and the shield bits just adds on to its stability BUT when you want to move it and pose it around, it looks a little silly as it's not exactly acting like a pair of wings.

And in it's standard mode, I will proceed to call the shield bits, "fence", just inhibits the motion of the guns. Zabanya is then left with that 90 degree of freedom between his fences. It's like a limiter imposed onto him to prevent him going berserk and shooting everything.

The fences however, can be splitted into 3 parts, 2 bits molded together twice and 1 bit on its own, with a slot to keep the rifles in. I figured if you really wanted 6 individual bits, you'll need 5 more Zabanya, though that'll in the end, give you a really long fence to work with. Probably you'll also have the only Gundam capable of making a house or herd sheeps.

I really should have done the digitalized pattern on the fence as that would really add on to the aesthetics of this machine. More of the 67 numbering, to remind me of my mistake.

Throughout the unit, there's the chest rocket pods, the shoulder armour rocket pods and the knees' rocket pods. They all have the missile's heads design molded into the plastic and the hatch can swivel open [For example in the chest] or slide up [The shoulder armour]. However, since those are pretty much hidden, the only thing I concerned myself with was the adjustable visor under the V-fin to reveal an additional scope.

As explained in earlier posts, I shouldn't have topcoated the kit during the rainy season, hence the frosting but it was a whole lot worse before. I had to topcoat gloss over it to reduce the frosting effect.

Which was unfortunate as I really grew to like the kit but the frosting only added on to its rugged look, or so I kept telling myself.

Without its fences and rifles, the Zabanya is an extremely flexible machine, almost capable of kneeling but it's able to stand and execute martial arts poses, which I'm embarassed to upload. Unlike the very leggy Raphael, I love the bulked up Zabanya and the basic unit is really cute, a word not usually synonymous with Gundam but when you've done units like Ex-S, Unicorn and Nu, kits like this makes me go "Awww, I love simple kits too".

With the fences and rifles however, you'll furrow your eyebrows, trying to get a cool picture without requiring 20 different action base stands to execute them.

It cannot be denied that this unit is handsome with his visor either up or down.

My pretty fences! If Bandai sold these parts separately, I would have gone and purchase some more just so I could make a large wall and imagine that the Zabanya is a Mobile Fortress.

Probably a suprise content in this post, I didn't feel good making an individual post about the MC Model Nu Gundoom despite my fascination with the line up. I also have the Nu HWS and Hi-Nu, which I look forward to building, hence in the end, contributing to a total of 6 Nu variants in my possession, 3 each of both MC Model and Bandai.

For this kit, I opted to change all the black parts to dark blue and added some yellow paint. Some of it I regretted as it made the kit a tad too colourful but I started to be alright with the colours with more exposure to it.

I like the details in this kit although some might argue there's a tad too much of it, noticeably in the head areas. I have no complaints about the additional panel lines though, having worked with the relatively plain Bandai HG Nu Gundam and was really impressed with the blocky design of the MC Model Nu.

There are also lots of other details, such as the back leg thrusters, the calves and side skirts although some of it have to be painted or be panel lined to be highlighted. A particular highlight was the embossed "A" logo of Amuro, which made it really awesome when it's painted and works better than decals.

Accessories-wise, they gave 2 sets of Fin Funnels, 2 Hyper Bazookas, a Beam Rifle and a Shield, with some beam saber effects and hilts. I opted to go with the so-called Assault mode, whereby 2 Hyper Bazookas replace the Fin Funnels, as I wanted a different look to this Nu.

I admit I am inexperienced and botched the dark blue areas. I had primed the areas before but still the paint won't spread evenly despite the thin mists, and it was so frustrating that I decided not to waste more primer. Without primer, some parts were painted better than ever before, further enraging me as I should have not primed some parts earlier, and I do not know why this is so, but that's just my experience with dark blue spraycan.

This mounting frustration ended up with me just rushing through the bazookas, which explains the nub marks and poor colour choice. The middle bazooka, taken from the HGUC Hi-Nu, was of a lighter shade as it was primed before and I had to superglue it to the backpack, which meant restricting some of the Nu's mobility.

All this anger and hair-pulling was nothing compared to the agony of trying to fit some of the ridiculously tight polycaps. Coupled with some loose fittings, such as the lower legs and then more obvious seamlines, I was very disappointed in the building stages and just wanted to finish it.

Thereby resulting in a lot of mistakes when I look at it but this I suppose was a lesson for me when I'm going to confront the Nu HWS and Hi-Nu.

Not related to painting however, the kit's shoulder looks slightly small when it's viewed in its entirety.

Removing the bazookas would eliminate 80% of the "wrongs" with this kit of mine. However, from a bigger picture, this equipment setup feels a lot more stable and machine-like, as compared to having fin funnels and I like that alot.

Nonetheless, the overall kit, despite not being of Bandai's make, is still a good complte package and MC Model would be the only non-Bandai Gundam kit I would purchase, lest another one comes along to make 1/144 variations. I hope that there's some AoZ units like the Woundwort released.

The arms are designed to be in that macho stance and posing them can be quite a problem as the shoulder armour is slightly loose whereas the arms are rigid. A weird combination indeed as you have to battle with a slightly flimsy shoulder while trying to tug at the hands and wrists.

Front skirts are also slightly loose, which I fixed by sticking in a very small blutack, which solved what a coat of paint and glue couldn't.

Surprisingly, while the MC Hi-Nu is a lot taller than Bandai's Hi-Nu, the Nu Gundams are of the same height. You would've thought it would be slightly taller, considering the uplift MC did.

For 2012, I purchased the awaited HGUC Banshees and also a can of TS-84 Metallic Gold from M Workshop [Singapore] which is double the price of normal Tamiya Gold. I hope it works well for the Banshee kits and try my best to obtain the best gold finishing I have ever accomplished.

I am also awaiting for Delta Gundam that not even it's price tag can keep me off from it.