Mecha Talk

Does the HG 1/144 Zaku Warrior kit work with the NG 1/144 Wizard packs for the Blaze Zaku Phantom and Slash Zaku Phantom kits? Or will I have to drop for the HG versions of the latter kits to get my Zaku collection complete?

Yes, the NG 1/144 Wizard and Silhouette packs are compatible with the HG kits, but I don't have any experience with the NG Blaze kit. The Slash pack lacks a central post for the polycap, so it just snaps in by the polygonal posts and holds in by friction; it's a good fit, though, and I've never worried about it falling out. It comes in all blue, though I don't know how much work you do on your kits.

_________________
"For who would lose, though full of pain, this intellectual being--those thoughts that wander through eternity; to perish rather, swallowed up and lost in the wide womb of uncreated night, devoid of sense and motion?"

Unfortunately I don't have a good reference for the Wizard packs themselves (sniffle). They LOOK predominantly gray with just a few color-specific panels. If that's the case, I'll just resort to using Zeon Green Gundam Marker to normalize it for the regular Zaku Warrior.

The Slash, Gunner, and Blaze packs are mostly different shades of grey, with a bit of red or yellow here and there. A matching color set to the basic ZAKU would look really nice, though.

_________________
"For who would lose, though full of pain, this intellectual being--those thoughts that wander through eternity; to perish rather, swallowed up and lost in the wide womb of uncreated night, devoid of sense and motion?"

Basically of you want a slash pack you gonna have to spray or paint the NG one, because it's entirely bleu. It did it a few years back, it's alot of work but it's nice when it's done. Or you can dream bandai will release a HG or MG one soon

_________________
In the end, nothing remains

At worst I'll get a Zaku Phantom Slash, I suppose. Winding up with a bunch of spare ZAKU Parts for kit-bashing isn't exactly a bad trade for me, and there are a few non-canon packs that I wouldn't mind getting builds of anyway.

Edit After Here
Following up, I did get the suits in (See the Corrupt the Young thread) and managed to get the Blaze cannons painted. I'm not terribly skilled at painting, unfortunately, since I have the attention span of a gnat for such things, but it came out okay. Surprisingly, there are no HG kits of the Slash anywhere to be found... which is a pity. I know there would be demand.

(As a thought, I'm a bit surprised that Bandai didn't release loose Striker, Silhouette, and Wizard packs.. the variants would have done fairly well and up-sold some of the grunt units quite nicely...)