MG Zeong has been in my backlog for ages, so it’s great to finally get to build it. It’s an older MG, which you can tell by how many screws you have to use to assemble it!The box is large with great artwork. I loved the design of the Zeong as soon as I saw it in the anime. I’m not going to copy the box-art for the colour scheme on this build. I think the Zeong should be darker and more metallic, so that’s the route I’m going. For the accent parts, I’m using Alclad copper and brass.The blue sections are getting my gunmetal + Tamiya smoke treatment. It makes for a very nice dark glossy, somewhat metallic finish that doesn’t look boring the way black can. When fresh, the shine is fantastic!I used some white oil paint on the small details before airbrushing on the Tamiya smoke. I’m using Tamiya dark grey for the lighter blue pieces. Here I’ve got some pieces all masked up so I can airbrush on Alclad aluminium.The dark grey has a bit of a blue feel to it, so it’s keeping the blue feel of the Zeong from the box-art, but much subdued. Things are starting to take shape. I like how the aluminium contrasts with the dark grey, and how the copper metallic goes with the gunmetal and smoke. Again I masked the dark grey to add in the Alclad aluminium accents. The large skirt is quite nice, especially with the holes for the metallic details to poke through. The skirt was painted with Alclad polished aluminium at the back, and Tamiya dark grey at the side and front. There’s a section that looks darker, and that was created by airbrushing Future Finish onto just that section. Keeping the metallic theme going, I’m using more Alclad copper for these detail parts. For the inner frame, I’m using Tamiya Gunmetal as a base, then Alclad aluminium with some Tamiya smoke on top to darken it down. On the central section I hand painted in the gold pipes with Tamiya clear red at the ends. For the under-skirt details, I hand painted in more gold, Tamiya clear red and Tamiya clear orange. I really like how the Alclad copper works on these pieces. Assembling the arms, I’m really enjoying how well the colours go together. I’ll later have to disassemble these arm sections because I forgot a polycap. Fortunately they come apart reasonably easily.The torso assembled you can see how well the dark gunmetal+smoke combination goes against the other colours. Adding the thrusters, It’s nice to see the aluminium details. Getting the shoulders assembled. Shoulders + torso. I love the hands! I used gunmetal for the frame, keeping it dark to contrast nicely against the dark grey of the armour and Alclad chrome of the finger sections. The hint of Alclad copper really helps here. I was impressed to see the degree of parts separation on these arm sections. Having the cylinders and end caps different pieces made it easy to keep the metallic theme going while adding interest and detail. The large thrusters that go under the skirt have lots of detail too. I’m mostly using Alclad polished aluminium and adding hand painted details with Tamiya clear red. Semi assembled, I can see this is going to be a fun looking kit!I’m loving the details here under the skirt. Arms complete – perhaps some of the best looking Gundam arms I’ve seen! More hand painted details – this time adding in some gold where the pipes join into the aluminium. It’s so nice how these large thrusters come in multiple parts so you can easily paint the details.Three drops of Tamiya clear red in the centres of the smaller thrusters does the trick!
Zeong is nearly complete and I’m looking forward to final assembly once everything is nice and dry.
When you say ‘gunmetal + Tamiya smoke’ did you mix them pre airbrushing or layer on smoke after already airbrushing metal? The result looks great.
Love all the little details on this kit, not something I’d expect for such an old one.
For the gunemetal + smoke I first put down the gunmetal, and when dry a layer of the smoke.
I was surprised by the details too given the age. It was a fun kit to build.