Ok, so since the engineering of the new Zaku is so friggin nice, I decided to experiment and try building one of these suckers without painting it (in the traditional sense of painting the thing) I did use paint for the mono eye, drybrushing, and the fade. I do not count the clear coats that I used as paint since it's still using the base molded colore bandai gives us.
Normal sanding techniques were used. To get the fun little texture to the kit, I used your run of the mill solvent model glue. In this case, I used Mr Cement deluxe from Gunze Sangyo. I just brushed on the glue using the supplied applicator and then took an old tooth brush and scrubed the surface until the glue was dry. The process is fairly quick. Then I let the parts sit over night so that the glued surfaces cure properly. Taking a 150 grit sanding pad, I just sanded the surface to smooth out things a bit and when done, I had a nice little roughed up surface.
The entire build process can be seen here:
http://gamerabaenre.com/no_paint_zaku2_0_progress.htm
I'm not done with the project yet, I still need to build the weapons.
Zaku II 2.0 build with VERY little paint
Cool nice work I really like the thrusters what did you replace the parts with ? Are they custom gunpla parts or something or did you use something else ?
Anyways keep up the nice work I think I mite even pick up a 3rd zaku my self and try this out but then again I mite just get tempted into using Mr.Surfacer and painting the thing :/ but yours was for a snap contest.
Have you ever done the gluing & tooth brush effect and then painted or would you just recommend Mr.Surfacer if I was to paint ?
Anyways keep up the nice work I think I mite even pick up a 3rd zaku my self and try this out but then again I mite just get tempted into using Mr.Surfacer and painting the thing :/ but yours was for a snap contest.
Have you ever done the gluing & tooth brush effect and then painted or would you just recommend Mr.Surfacer if I was to paint ?
The thrusters in the first set of pictures have been replaced with the standard ones that come with the kit. However, the after market thrusters are from Akocreation.com and are aluminum thrusters. I plan on using them for my next Zaku II J.
As for which texture technique to use. They both work for painting a kit. However, with the mr surfacer method, it primes your kit in addition to applying the texture so you get a dual use. I was experimenting with the glue technique out of curiosity and because I was doing this to keep within the guidelines of no painting.
As for which texture technique to use. They both work for painting a kit. However, with the mr surfacer method, it primes your kit in addition to applying the texture so you get a dual use. I was experimenting with the glue technique out of curiosity and because I was doing this to keep within the guidelines of no painting.