This kit comes in a really big box, but it turns out there’s a lot of empty space in there:
And when we take out all the runners out, the spread looks … lacking:
In terms of pure runner count, it has about as many as the Gundam Wing Master Grades I’ve built recently, though keep in mind that those are smaller than your typical MG’s. Compared to “normal” sized kits, it’s about 4 runners short.
But I know from experience not to judge a model from its runners. Consider the following:
- The kit this is based on - the MG Lunamaria Custom - comes with at least three additional runners that aren’t included here. If they were in the box, then the total runner count would be much closer to “normal”.
- It’s technically a grunt suit, so it’s not going to be as fancy as a Gundam
- As far as I can tell the Zaku Warrior doesn’t have a dedicated backpack, so that’s one less body part to build.
In other words, I don’t think the individual body parts are going to be simpler than other Master Grades; it’s just missing stuff that you might find on other mobile suits.
Of course, there’s only one way to test that theory, and that’s by diving into the build.
Waterslides
This kit has a number of markings, and much to my surprise, most of them are waterslides.
The only regular decals are for the monoeye, and for the yellow spikes on the shoulder shield. I’m going to try using those, but if they don’t look good I’m willing to bust out the yellow paint.
Does it Come With Weapons?
Sadly, all of the runners that were removed from this kit contained weapon parts. That includes the big gun that goes on the Lunamaria Custom, as well as the beam effect part for the Beam Tomahawk. The only weapon we get in full is the machine gun. Don’t get me wrong - I would have loved to get all of them, but if the machine gun is all I get, I’ll take it.
Speaking of which, let’s build that first.
Machine Gun
I may not generally like the mobile suit designs in Gundam SEED, but this is a nice take on the classic Zaku machine gun:
It preserves the general shape, but makes it look more hi-tech and futuristic. I’m quite pleased with it.
Shield
In terms of assembly, it’s pretty basic. Two colored parts, and a black frame underneath:
But you know what? It gets the job done:
Now when it comes to detailing, I used the big yellow sticker that goes around the spikes, but not the ones that go on the spikes. Those ended up looking terrible, so I got out the yellow paint.
Specifically, I got out a new bottle of yellow that I just so happened to have bought a few days ago, and it might be the best one I’ve ever used. Not only was it a pretty good color match, but it coated the spikes nice and evenly, without becoming transparent and letting the color underneath bleed through:
I’m also happy to report that the big waterslide decal didn’t give me any trouble. It never ripped or warped or anything (that was quite easily my greatest fear with this build).
My only regret is that I went a bit too heavy on the panel lining; I don’t like how some if bleeds through the decal around the word “Alive”.
But overall I think it turned out pretty great, which is important considering it’s one of the highlights of the mobile suit.
Feet
We get a nice, basic, but functional inner frame:
And then some simple armor to go around it:
You’ll notice that I didn’t touch up the bottoms of the feet. While I didn’t want to leave the model completely untouched, I also didn’t feel the need to crazy either. Coloring in the feet just didn’t seem necessary.
Legs
Let’s start with the inner frame. It looks quite a bit different than the Gundam-type MG’s I’ve been building lately, which is a good thing. It’d be weird if they looked exactly the same:
As for the outer armor, it’s quite a lot of parts separation. There are thrusters on each side of the leg, and each one is its separate section that can move back and forth:
And on the inside of each you’ll find color separated thrusters:
But in addition to all this wonderful parts separation, there’s also a lot of surface detail - and I think I might have gone a bit too far with the panel lining:
It looks a bit too heavy handed, and I’m afraid it’s going to distract from all that wonderful pink. I’ll reserve judgement until the model is finally assembled.
Lower Torso
The are thrusters in each of the skirts, and those need to be painted in if you want color accuracy. But overall the color separation here is wonderful. Even the grenades attached to the side skirts are color separated.
Upper Torso
The chest is nicely color separated in the front, though not so much in the back. There’s a lot of surface detail back there for you to paint in:
I’m rather fond of this color piece that goes along behind the head:
I think it adds some nice additional bulk to the unit.
Finally we get to the front:
You may notice some silvering around the “LOVE!” decal, which I tried to fix after taking this photo.
Head
This model has a clear part that goes in front of the monoeye. In my experience that’s not very common - in fact, the last time I remember it happening was with my very first build.
I’m not sure it’s a good idea. The eye is already embedded so far back there, the clear piece just makes it even harder to see.
Anyway, this is an interesting take on the Zaku head. It’s got the basic shape, but it’s made to look even more like some sort of German shocktrooper. It sands away some of the goofiness and cuteness that you sometimes get with the classic Zaku, in favor of a look that’s just plain mean.
Arms
We get some really nice parts separation:
But we also get lots more panel lining, and once again I’m afraid I may have gone overboard.
Perhaps the bigger problem is with the heart shaped decal on the right shoulder:
Some of it flaked off, and I tried filling those spots in with a variety of red paints. But after topcoating, one or more of those paints began to yellow, so now there two big yellow splotches. They didn’t look too bad for the first day or two, but eventually they started to get brighter. In the end I painted over the entire heart with a single heavy coat of red paint. You’ll see that in most (though not all) of the lightbox photos later on.
Figurine
The Meer Campbell figure is quite colorful for something so small, and I did the best I could:
As far as I can tell as a non Gundam SEED fan, Meer’s hair is supposed to be a darker tone of pink than Lacus’ bubblegum color locks, but I only had bright pink available, so that’s what I went with.
Side note - there’s also a pilot figure for use in the cockpit, but I didn’t keep it. I had no need for it.
Finished
This might be the quickest I’ve built a Master Grade. Part of that, I think, is because it has only a handful of waterslides. But I think the big thing is that it didn’t really require much in the way of color correction. It looks pretty great out of the box, so that even if you panel line it from top to bottom, there’s not that much extra work in store.
So overall I’d say this is a quality build outside of its pink paint job and heart-shaped decals. But now it’s finish, and we get to see if the cutesy aesthetic holds up.