Today’s Gunpla sat in a “To sell on Ebay” pile for the longest time. Then I got back into the swing of things thanks to Build Fighter and decided to build it. This is a long forgotten little Super Deformed by the name of Tokimaru Zero 3, who bares a striking resemblance to the Zeta Gundam. Let’s get started shall we.

I started by using a pair of nippers to cut the piece from the runner. After all pieces were cut from the runner, I slowly assembled them a piece at time using a combination of a nail file and Exacto Knife to clean the burs off.

Originally once the parts were clean, I applied the decals to it and found that I still have difficulty with the stickers. My wife pointed out that special tweezers are usually used to help make sure that the decals come off cleaning and are applied to the model without the glue losing strength or having to peal them off and reapply. I’ll work on obtaining a pair before my next build. I was originally gonna stop it there but decided to make a major change. 

I experimented with a fine tip marker as I found it helps to accentuate the details of the model. Unfortunately, despite the fact that it SAID that it was a fine tip marker it was far too big for some of the lines that I wanted to make and resulted in some smudging here and there on the model. When this was dry I decided to cover it with a matte coating and call it done. 

RESULTS: 

Its okay but I did learn a few things.

One: Any metallic pieces should not be submitted to a matte spraying. If you do it results in splatter. You can’t really tell from the photo but the helmet crest looks like a windshield that hit a lot of bugs on a hot summer day. Not a good effect unless I was going for weather, but even then, no.

Two: Really need to work on painting. The line drawing aside, the parts I did give a little bit of black paint to look poor. I think its that I have to work on making sure my brush strokes are more even and that I’m not clumping my paint as I brush.

Third: Acetone Nail Polish remover is a last step move and should be treated as such. As I was painting the chest part black, a little of it went too far and I tried to use a Q-tip with Nail Polish remover on it to get it off. A very noticeable mark appeared on the painted plastic. Had I not already determined that this model was a practice piece I would have been very frustrated with myself.

Wasn’t half bad of a build, especially for a figure that I originally had planned to sell because I didn’t want him. I do need work on my details skills. Of course this is why I’m writing this up at all. To evaluate my work and make sure that I am doing all that I can to ensure that I making the best Gundam models possible.

Personal rating: C (and I’m probably being generous)