Newbie's second post (MG Zaku II 2.0 Diorama)

[taz1004]

Hi, my second posting here.  It only has been 6 months since I started modeling so I think I'm still considered a noob.  I'm willing to take any constructive criticisms thrown at me... just don't throw rocks :)  And if parts of this diorama looks familiar, that's because I used Foo's Zaku head diorama as reference.  Also used many techniques I learned on this site such as hairspray and grass.  This won 1st place in a Korean gunpla online contest and I'd have to thank Foo for putting together such excellent reference materials.

Here are the pictures shot in my cheap basement studio



And these are pictures shot outside.  Love that natural light.



By the way, I just got email from Foo about BAKUC and was considering to enter this piece.  I'm sure I don't stand a chance against excellent modelers here but is there a more detailed contest rule posted somewhere?  Can other contest winning piece enter into BAKUC?  And it said "unaltered photographs" what does that mean exactly?  The photographs I posted here has color corrections and removed few obvious dirt spots from my camera sensor using Photoshop.  I'm sure most everyone does this much after taking pictures.  And that I combined the pictures into one large layout.  Would this be considered as "altered"?

[FichtenFoo]

Very nice work! I find it shocking that someone took my advice and did something cool with it! The outdoor pics look especially great and make the water look really real.

Only two criticisms... the grass, while fantastically done, looks too tall for the scale/figure. And the figure painting looks rough. Again, a scale issue. Aside from those I really dig it. Nice work!

[taz1004]

Thank you for the reply.  Means a lot coming from you especially.  The scale of the grass was bothering me as well but just hoped that it looks more like tall wild grass.  But it still looks tall to me too.  Do you have any suggestions on grass for 1/100 scale?

[FichtenFoo]

No problem. Probably static grass, but done the right way with the static charge gun. Expensive though! Check out ScenicExpress.com... not sure if they ship to Korea, but it'll give you ideas. I think I'm close to these guys because any time/way I order, it arrives next day.

[Doctor Seleski]

Interesting how something like grass can give the entire work a different feel.  Even with the scale tree, it seems like this is a human sized Zaku sitting in a field.  I'd add that the weathering seems a bit overdone in some areas as well.  Take a look at the backpack.  Where it contacts the back itself has weathering along that edge.  Why?  The edges seem really worn, yet some of the real rub/contact points on it don't seem to have any wear.  I almost feel like it needs more battle damage.  It took some to the shield and head, but nowhere else?

But overall it looks fantastic... especially for only modeling for half a year!

[Funaka]

Despite some of the flaws mentioned, I really like the feel of your Zaku. You took advantage of the kit's poseability to do domething very natural with it. Also, I really like what you did cutting out the plate on the ammo drum to see trhe bullets inside. I thought it was a waste to cover up a nice detail like that, and it's not entirely unrealistic, seeing how the trend in militaries worldwide is transparent clips to let soldiers know how much ammo remains. I may borrow that idea...

[tetsujin]

Right on!  Zakus are great and I love how this one looks.  The color's great and I enjoy the rivets and scenery and everything...  The main things that stick out to me are:

• The damage to the head - it's hard to see it clearly in the photos but my impression of it is that it looks kind of "melted plastic"-ish.
• The weathering on the head: there's a fair amount of paint chipping on the top half of the head where it meets the bottom, but not so much on the bottom part where it meets the top...
• The cut on the shoulder spike seems too clean for a Feddie weapon.  I could almost see damage like that being the result of a heat hawk, a superheated physical blade - but a beam saber I'd expect a much softer surface.  Admittedly, this is a "nerd comment" rather than something that reflects too much on the actual model work - but still, from a more modeling-oriented perspective there's the question of how that kind of damage occurs...  Maybe he slammed the spike into something and it cracked?  I don't know...
  

[taz1004]

I really appreciate the inputs but was a bit surprised that most of the comments are about amount and placement of the battle damages and weathering. I admit that not all damages and weathering came out as I intended but I did not place those damages randomly and I do have reasons for each one.  But whether that makes sense to everyone or not would depend on individual's interpretation of the Gundam universe because this after all, is science fiction.

For example, I don't imagine the beam sabre to make soft or rough cuts.  In the first fight the Gundam had, it made very clean cut on the first Zaku Amuro destroyed.  The melted damage on the head was also intended as I was imagining a beam sabre slowly getting close to the head as this Zaku tries to fend off.  As for varying degree of weathering on each part, I also believe that's possible as each part of armors would be replaced with new and/or used parts frequently.

Right now, I'm planning to build F version of Zaku II which is space type.  Is it realistic for it to have rust because rust doesn't form in space?  But when it docks, hangar deck or maintenance deck would have breathable air.  And it would spend more time docked than fighting in space so it should have rust?  But then again, they should be washed and maintained when docked so no rust?  What's more realistic?  Well... is there right or wrong?

Again, I believe this all depends on everyone's interpretation and this is one of the reason why I prefer modeling Gundams.  I can apply my imagination instead of simply trying to replicate reality.  But I do admit that I have a long way to go. 

[mac]

very good idea bravo

MAC