In Progress » MG Hazel [Stutzer]

12.03.2005 » Concepts

Continuing
with my AoZ Unlimited Group Build projects I have started
on my MG Quel to Hazel conversion with a twist. For the most
part the base kit will be the MG Quel with a few modifications
for posability and some add-ons. I purchased a Hazel head
from Models4U to use for this and I’ll be scratchbuilding
the shoulder grenade launchers and the buldged out chest piece/hatch.
The backpack will be the stock one from the Quel as I like
its big boxy goodness.

The twist comes in where I’ll be
making a detatchable ‘Stutzer’ unit for the front.
From what I can gather, it was just the Zeon forces
using stutzers, but I think it might look kinda
cool on the Hazel. Mine will be using the beam
rifle from the MG Gp01 on the one ‘boom’ and on
the other ‘boom’, instead of the grapling arm,
I’ll be adding a row of grenade launchers. Below
are some pics from AoZ of the Hazel in the scheme
I’ll be using and of the Zaku Stutzer. My stutzer
unit will be modified to look more Titans Test
Team than Zeonesque style-wise.

12.03.2005 » Modifications

Another twist is that I’m actually
doing mobility mods. For those who don’t know
what that is, it involves modifying the kit so
that it has more/better articulation and posability.
First up was adding a ball-joint in the chest
so that it could pivot back and forth and left
and right. You can see in the final pic the extreme
side of the new articulation. I’ll be adding greeblies
inside the gap so that it doesn’t look empty when
tilted. Not shown is another polycap mod I added
to the hip joint to allow that to pivot back and
forth. I’ll take a pic of that later. The second
image is that of my additions to make the Quel
into the base Hazel. I won’t be making the leg
boosters or the added ass armor. This will be
a scaled back Hazel. Finally, you can see Pete’s
Hazel head cast in the final pic. He did a great
job with that!

12.05.2005 » More
Modifications

Here’s what I go so far… The
Hazel center chest part is almost finished. It
just needs some more sanding, beveling and the
little circles added to the sides. I need to find
a 1 mm drill bit first though before I add those.
In the top of the chest piece I added a rare earth
magnet under a very thin top-plate of styrene
to hide it.

Then I started on the Stutzer pack.
I added another rare earth magnet in the part
that sits on the chest to hold it together so
that it is removeable. To keep the Hazel/AoZ look
based on the HGUC Hazel I have, I took some thin
yellow sprue (but it will later be painted) lathed
some panel lines into it (using my drill) and
added those to the front of the 2 Stutzer support
struts. More “yellow” tubes will be
added inbetween the struts along with a vent.
When some more glue dries, I’ll add the joints/tubing
to the sides of those struts that will allow the
2 ‘booms’ to swivel up and down. The sensor (blue)
is leftover from my MG Gp01 (Gerbera Tetra) project.

The shoulder parts are almost done
as well. They just need some primer and a little
fill work where the grenades connect. I also filled
the chest vents and scribed a line across them.
I’ve seen several Gundams with these type vents
and I like them. This seemed like a good project
to add that look to.

12.07.2005 » Arms

Things are progressing rather quickly.
Since the last update, I cleaned up the center
part so that it’s nice and sanded, beveled, etc…
I added some more of the yellow rods in-between
the two struts and there will be a vent inbetween.
This will look very much like the HGUC Hazel’s
booster pod details when painted. A grab bar was
added to the top of the struts. The joints were
added to the sides of the stutzer unit and the
‘arms’ were made by layering sheets of styrene
to get that layered look. The joints were made
using road wheels from an M-10 tank kit and wheel
parts from an M* Greyhound. In the pics, they’re
not pushed in all the way. I want to
keep the stiffness of the joints so I am limiting
the amount I “test fit” them. I still
have a lot of clean-up and detailing to do on
the arms and such. Here’s some pics. I needed
to prop the arms up for now as the kit is very
front heavy and will topple over. I’ll have to
weight the feet down with something or display
it on a rod in a flight pose.

12.17.2005 » Armed

I came down with a case of ‘Metal
Gear Solid 3’ so progress slowed a bit on the
[Stutzer]. I’m all better now (and really enjoyed
the game!) so I’m back to the in-progs. Since
my last update I’ve cut and sanded everything
that needed sanded and cut on the Quel. That damn
shield had soooo many injector marks on the inside.
I also finished the hand-held gun and clips. Those
were made from Gp01 ePacs and the Quel beam gun
with a barrel from a GM Type C gun leftover. The
clip covers were made from thick sheet styrene
that was filed into shape. They extra clip will
go on the right forearm. I liked that placement
after seeing it on several AoZ GMs.

I also added the weapons to the
boom arms. The grenade launchers are from an Academy
M10 tank kit. I believe they were shell casings.
The gun is the MG Gp01 beam rifle. The mounting
‘clips’ were made from 1/8″ strip styrene
cut at a 45 degree angle. I had to add some strips
to the back side of the rifle so that it would
lay straight.

That’s it for now. Next I need to
wash the resin parts and then prime everything.
I totally expect to have a little more clean-up
after priming, but will be onto paint very soon.

12.27.2005 » Paint

I’ve had the Hazel painted and
Futured since before Christmas, but with all the
traveling and Santa brining me a cold on Christmas
morning I haven’t had time to do much with it.
I am feeling better enough today that I was able
to finish adding the wash for all the panel lines
and to paint the red stretched sprue details I
added in the recesses to make this piece have
that AoZ feel. Below are some pics. For whatever
reason the parts look textured in the pics, but
not so much in real life. I think it’s a combo
of the dark colors mixed with harsh light and
a need for several more coats of Future for decals
and flat coating. I’d love to add the decal coat
of Future on tonight, but I keep sneezing and
my nose keeps running and that just doesn’t make
for a pleasant mask-wearing painting experience.
Yuck!