Lower Torso
The lower torso is the first section of the Proto Zero that really gives the impression that this is a 1/100th scale kit. Take a look at the back plate alone. It’s huge!
Construction wasn’t particularly hard, though with decals and panel lining it took me an entire night of building to complete it. A few things stand out as I look at the finished piece. The first is that all the skirt armor attaches to the torso via hooks, which I found to be absurdly difficult to work with; the armor doesn’t attach easily, and the pieces don’t offer a large range of movement. I’m afraid of what might happen once the legs are attached and I attempt any sort of pose that brings a leg forward or backward.
I also took note of the two side skirts. These red, fin-like pieces remind me a lot of the larger stabilizers attached (in the same place) to the Gundam Astaroth. I always assumed this design flourish originated in Gundam SEED, but this proves that side fins existed since at least Gundam Wing.
Lastly, the lower torso makes use of not one, but two ball joints. This is in order to support the transformation mode. The lower ball joint allows the torso to rotate 180 degrees so that the legs face upward when in Neo Bird mode. I tested this feature out, and while it certainly works, you have to apply quite a bit of pressure to twist it. This means that the model should stay in place while in mobile suit mode, but I’m always wary whenever I have to apply that much force to something so delicate.
Feet
The feet aren’t terribly complicated. In fact they’re assembled similarly to the Gundam Astaroth’s (though are much more “complete” looking in comparison). This means that they lack any sort of articulation, which is disappointing. Every single one of my Real Grade kits has can bend along the length of the foot, and yet since then I can’t find the feature anywhere else.
The feet don’t have many opportunities for panel lining, save for on the bottom, which I went to town on.
Other Thoughts
- I’m still seeing discoloration on some pieces, and I’m not entirely sure why. The back plate of the skrit armor, for example, required four or five (light) coats of paint before it looked perfect, because after each new coat the color began to fade in some section or another.
- Speaking of which, I attempted to fix this discoloration on the back plate with a few more coats of paint, but in doing so I ended up damaging one of the side fins. Rather than removing the back plate from the torso, I left it attached for one of the (very many) coats I applied. As a result the right side fin was hit with a big blast of paint. After it dried, it was as if the paint caused the plastic to fuse together. You can see what I mean below:
With a bit of marker it doesn’t look awful from afar, but I imagine I’ll keep the fin closed all the time.