TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

[clee-cm]

Cool, you decided to build the RX-78-2 ver Ka., I had no idea as to what I was in for when I started to plan out the project. I understood how high the MS would be, but I underestimated the dept and width of all the add on components that the Hazel has been equipped with.

I did not understand how big a EFSF or Zeon MS is until I started to build the Hazel.

Well, I wish you luck on your Gundam. So, how much does the resin kit weigh? Is it very heavy?

[mtomczek]

Cool, you decided to build the RX-78-2 ver Ka., I had no idea as to what I was in for when I started to plan out the project. I understood how high the MS would be, but I underestimated the dept and width of all the add on components that the Hazel has been equipped with.

I did not understand how big a EFSF or Zeon MS is until I started to build the Hazel.

Well, I wish you luck on your Gundam. So, how much does the resin kit weigh? Is it very heavy?

I would say the two 11x17x7 boxes that the kit comes in weigh in together at about 20lbs or so. This kit doesnt have an internal skeleton like the 1/35 Gp03 does, so its alot of huge solid resin parts. The shield is one giant piece of resin, as are the shins/calves/knee area.

I can't wait to see yours put together!

[Ezechiel]

 Wow, rock on!

[nico]

I also spent most of the weekend sanding and filling the seams of the right lower leg's parts. I am out of super fine Milliput, so I am now using silver grey Milliput.

You should use epoxy for cars repairs. It smells but it s cheaper than milliput.
You can get it normal in metallic box and fine in tube. It cures very fast. It perfect for this kind of work.

[clee-cm]

Yeah, I know I could use autobody putty, but I have had the Milliput for a 3 years, so I had to use it, I also have a big can of bondo sitting in my garage, I will have to use it at some point to.

[nico]

Ok You're recycling your stuff 

[clee-cm]

Before I forget, Thanks for the nice comments everyone... 

@ nico: Yeah, I had a lot of other brands of epoxy putty that I am able to recycle for this project, I used most of it as filler to reinforce the parts I created. The stuff was starting to harden to...

[clee-cm]

I am still hard at work, most of the work right now is sanding and/or puttying all of the parts. I have been spending some time checking all of the pieces to the Hazel, and going back to clean up and fill in any of the spots that I have missed, now I have putty and styrene dust all over my desk and carpet...   

I have decided to discard the one piece of the lower leg armor that I have already constructed, after giving it much thought, I decided that it is better to have both of the lower leg pieces match, than have two slightly different looking lower legs. Now I am constructing two sets of lower leg armor, I have cut all of the styrene plates for the 2 lower leg, the legs are going to look better, but there will be more pieces for the lower leg armor. The armored plates that protect the Hazel's ankles are now separate pieces instead of being permanently attached to the two halves of the lower leg pieces.

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

After I finish the Lower leg Armor I move on to construct the two hands!!! 

[clee-cm]

It is time for another update, I have been busy sanding and puttying all of the parts, it seams like over the past 3-4 weeks all I have done is sand and putty. So after traveling out of town and taking a short break away from this project to do some LCD TV hunting, I am back at work.

I have been working on the lower leg armor shell, I decided to discard the original pieces of the lower leg that I previously built, the more I looked at it the more I hated it. the two halves did not look right. So I decided to build both lower legs at once, and have two matching pieces. Yes, it is more work, but I am happy that the pieces match, they definitely looks better than the old piece. The problem was that the 4 ankle caps did not look right; they looked cut in half, now there are 4 pieces for each lower leg, the front and back halves, and the two ankle caps.

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

Another project that I have been working on is the Roller insert for the Front Slide mount, I went to Home Depot, and used three pieces of PVC Pipe, one is for the Roller mount, the other two are for each of the sub-arms that connect on to each end of the roller mount.

After cutting all of the pieces of the base for the roller mount but I cut the two sides plates to short, so I had to use some Milliput to correct the angle of the base that the PVC Pipe sits on.

In addition, I have been working on the head, I created the eyes for the Hazel's face, thickened the two antennas, and glued the two plastic plates that cover the two head cannons on each side.

Ughhhhh..... More Filling and sanding!!! 

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

At this point, I decided to do a progress check on all of the pieces that I have completed. I also have to clean off all of the putty dust that has accumulated on all of the parts have to be cleaned off, I also found that I forgot to sand off the putty on some of the parts.

I laid out all of the parts that I have completed on my dining room table so that everyone can get a idea of how much work I have done over the past 10 months. 

I haven't covered my dining room table yet!!!  

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

At this point, I have to add the surface detail to all of the parts, finish the sub-arms, build the hands, Cockpit, Cockpit hatch, the 8 leg shocks, the Shield, Beam Saber and the Beam Pistol.

[Ezechiel]

Damn, so much achieved...
Can't wait for you to start the hands!

[ZLuca]

  I can't believe it! 
I'm so impressed of the quantity and quality of parts!
Can't wait hands me too and the whole model on all his glory.
z

[FichtenFoo]

Wow... just wow... that's a shitload of huge parts! MORE!!!!!

[clee-cm]

Hi Guys,

Thank you for the compliments, I can't believe it myself. I never realized I had built so many parts, I have been focused on building each part of the Hazel, I lost track of the number of parts, I constructed so many parts and I am not even finished yet. But with 1-1/2 months left to go, I don't know if I will finish by the deadline. Regardless of this I am committed to finishing this project.   

I am also excited about building the hands. 

I spent part of the evening looking at Ezechiel's hands, now I have a better idea as to how I will approach this project. I also found a few scans from some where about making your own model hands. they will come in handy to.

Again, thanks for you compliments everyone. 

[Ezechiel]

Tell me if you want more pics of the hands.
Are you going for posable of fixed fingers?

[clee-cm]

@ Ezechiel:

I think I have a good understanding of how to proceed with this project, but I am very interested in seeing more photos of the two hands that you built. I am still deciding if the hands should be fixed or posable.

By all means, post some more photos of your hands.

[clee-cm]

Besides following the US open, my other project for the weekend was to build the two hands for the Hazel, I already had the .100 thick and .25 inch wide styrene strips already. My big worry was how I was going to build the joint covers for the fingers, I got lucky and found the hollow square strene tubes that are close to the size that I need. All I had to do was to cut the tubes to shape and cut out the wall on one side.

I decided against using the EZ8's hand for the model because the shape of the Hazel's hands and the EZ8's hands are totally different. So I had to scratch build the hands myself.

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

I used a hacksaw to cut the pieces that I needed, all in all, there are 20 pieces of Square styrene that I cut for the hand. I am so happy that the hobbyshop had this in stock, it saved me a lot of work.

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

I spent Saturday and Sunday cutting and sanding all of the pieces of styrene for my hand, I started out by test building a few fingers before I got the right size that I needed. I eventually got the right one that I needed.

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

After spending Saturday evening and Sunday morning cutting and glueing the pieces that I needed, I spent the rest of the day sanding down the small pieces, and test assembing all of the parts of the fingers and narrowing the with of the styrene strips so that they will fit into the space of the square styrene tubes.

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

This is a picture of the test assembled hand, I spent the previous 3 days measuring and cutting the parts for the hand itself. That was the easiest part. The fingers were a real pain in the but to sand and cut. I decided to round the corners, this created lots of extra work for me.

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

Now, I have to build the armored cover and the surface detail on the top of the hands, and build the wrist units.

[Ezechiel]

Looks nice, it's cool that you found those pieces of square styrene. With the amount of work you've already done, you can sure use some luck, especially on something that tedious
Are you going to make the pointy tips of the fingers? The one that's in red.

[fulcy]

The fingers look great - are you going to do some more shaping of the hand?  It looks too...  wide and blocky...

[clee-cm]

@ Ezechiel:

I have a large fold out poster of the hazel's head and hand, I know what you are taking about. I have considered adding the tips to the fingers, but have not decided yet.

@ Fulcy:

I still have to bevel the edges of the hands, but they are quite blocky by design. If needed, I will have to lower the height of the hand.

[clee-cm]

I am making good progress on my hands and worked on the two halves of the torso unit, I have neglected this part up until now, so I finished the outer shell of the hips. I still have to putty and sand down the two parts and add in the components that make up all of the computer controllers, power genterators and other components that sit inside of that space. I could have just coverd over the 4 bays with sheet styrene, but the Hazel and the Gundam Mk.II had these areas exposed and uncovered.

After I put back all of the parts into their containers, I also worked on the feet of the hazel some more, I added some detail to the heels of the Hazel's feet.

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

The bulk of my work focused on the two hands, I added some extra styrene to the top of the finger joint covers, and worked on the side walls and the top armor of the outer armor shell for the hands. Later in the weekend, I cut out the slot where the thumb is attached, I used a pin vice to drill out the holes and then I cut out the material around the holes created, then sanded down the walls of the stryne block.

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

I later test assembled all of the fingers and the pam of the hand, I know that the hands look really blocky, but the hazel has really boxy looking hands, I checked a number of photos and all of them show that the Hazel also uses the Gundam RGM-79Q Quel's hands. I still have to putty the seams and bevel the edges.

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

TR-1 Hazel Owsla/Primrose

I still have the two wrist units left, and then I can move on to some of the other parts.