Alright, it’s finally time to talk about this build.
First off, I’m pretty glad I didn’t write any work in progress build posts, at least in this particular case. As you can see, it took me two full weeks just to finish the build. If I had also been taking photos and writing posts during that time, the build would have taken that much longer. With the holidays approaching fast, I’m not even sure if it would have even been completed by the end of the year!
(That being said, I vaguely remember spending the first half of December 2021 lethargically wrapping up the build of the Real Grade Nu Gundam, only to spend the second half of the month cranking out the High Grade Victory Two, and half of a Star Wars kit. It’s entirely possible that this will not, in fact, be the last project of the year).
Anyway, this one ended up being more eventful than I anticipated. Here are the highlights
Did the Zeon Grey spraypaint work?
I decided to test out the Zeon Grey spraypaint on the weapons. It worked incredibly well - until I applied clear coat. Turns out that, like many official Gundam branded paint supplies, this one doesn’t react well to the cheap Krylon clear coat I typically use. It caused the paint to get spotty and discolored, almost to the point of looking marbled.
I salvaged it by using copious amounts of weathering compound. The result looks nicely weathered (at least I think it looks nice). But that means that the next time I use it, I’m going to have to get another can of Mr. Hobby Clear Matte spray to use instead.
In fact, I’m starting to think it may just be worth it to use Mr. Hobby spray permanently. Yes, the cans are smaller and more expensive, but I can’t argue with the results. Maybe if I go back to spraying full, completed body parts, rather than spraying down individual pieces before assembly, I can get more use out of a single can.
Did the Mark Setter and Mark Softer work?
I’m honestly not sure. The proponents of these two materials often give off the appearance of a cargo cult. They fully believe that they work, but they don’t offer much in the way of evidence.
For example, I watched a Youtube video that tried to demonstrate their effectiveness by applying some decals both with and without setter/softer. From my eye, it honestly didn’t look like there was any difference. There was maybe a bit of improvement when the author used Mark Softer on a decal that went across two curved surfaces. But when he tried to scratch two decals off (to demonstrate that the Mark Setter made one of them harder to peel away), they were both obliterated instantly.
Furthermore, I’m not entirely convinced that the cargo cult actually understands how to use them. Almost everyone I encountered said to apply them as follows:
Mark Setter on plastic -> apply decal -> Mark Softer on top of decal
But according to the official Mr. Hobby website, the order is supposed to be reversed, with Mark Softer used first, and Mark Setter used last:
For this build I tried using the first approach. The first few decals didn’t turn out very good. There is lots of silvering around the edges, and nothing I’ve done to fix it has made it go away.
On the other hand, some of the later decals look fine, but don’t necessarily look better than the waterslides I applied to the Gogg back in the summer (in which I only used water).
In the end, the difference in quality is (I think) largely due to the fact that, at first, I was afraid to apply any pressure to the decals, because I was afraid that they’d move around too much and force me to readjust (and potentially ruin) them. As such, they didn’t adhere quite as well to the plastic.
Later in the build, I managed to get over this fear, and the silvering was much less of a problem. But if you look closely you can still see the transparent edges around each decal, which everyone swears that the Setter and Softer helps to eliminate. So I’m not really sure what, if anything, they did to help.
Next time I use waterslides, I’ll try to apply these materials in the opposite order, the way Mr. Hobby suggests. If the results are better, then I’ll know that most other builders are idiots. If not, then the jury will still be out as to whether or not they’re BS, or if I’m still doing something wrong.
Was I able to remove the seam lines using Tamiya cement?
I tried harder than ever before to remove the seam lines on this build (I know from my experience with the HG Zaku I Sniper that they’re particularly bad on this old Zaku mold). I’d say I had a roughly 50% success rate. Some are completely invisible, and some are invisible from a reasonable distance away. But some are still quite visible even from afar.
I don’t know why I got such mixed results. It may be that I didn’t apply enough pressure to keep the pieces tight enough together, or maybe I didn’t use enough cement.
What I do know is that the process added a lot of time to the build, since I typically let the cement dry overnight before attempting to sand the seam lines away. That added at least three additional nights to the build, but in reality it was probably more than that. There were multiple nights where I simply didn’t do any work, solely in an effort to procrastinate on seam line removal. I guess that means that, for my own sake and enjoyment, I probably shouldn’t go HAM on seam lines for every build. But I don’t regret doing it this time around. Even if they aren’t all gone, it’s still an overall improvement.
Anything Else?
Every single piece of green and blue plastic in this kit ended up getting a case of the splotches, which meant I had to cover every single one of them in olive oil to drive out the moisture underneath the clear coat and get the colors consistent.
I least I think the problem is moisture. Maybe not. All I know is that this trick with oil still works like a charm, and still holds up months and even years after a build. I just wish I didn’t have to do it. It’s another reason why I’m thinking of switching to Mr. Hobby paints.
Oh, and I broke the handle of the Heat Hawk, though thankfully I was able to glue it back together.
Okay, show me the Zaku!
First of all, I already showed it to you at the top of the post. Second of all, I haven’t done a photo shoot yet, so I don’t have anything else to show you. You’ll have to wait for the next post.