1/48 Mega Scale Zaku Diorama " Dead Turtle " modeled by Don Suratos akaDC23

Mega Scale Zaku Diorama Dead Turtle modeled by Don Suratos akaDC23photo

Just finished this piece today. I wanted to finish something quick to start the year on a productive good note. This was my old sponsored 1/48 Zaku kit I got from Greattoysonline.com way back. I originally plan to use this for a huge hangar diorama, but I just cannot find enough materials ( 1mm rods and tubes ) to work on that project.

I was working on a few commissioned works during the December holidays ( MG Zeta Karaba and MG Z'gok ) but I really felt like rushing and painting something quick to start the year with a conpleted work. So I ended up finishing this quick painting project.

As you can see, I wanted to paint it as soon as possible thus I failed to detail the other parts to match the detailing of the head and shoulder armors. I did manage to add a gazillion of rivet work all over the kit to somehow give it a consistent look. The rivets used were cheap sewing pins which is not as easy to install ( you need tweezers ) as it looks. I also failed to add battle damage to the amputated right leg as I really wanted to paint already.

Although I feel I could have done more modifications and worked with this kit for another week, at least I had so much fun painting this with my old stock of Vallejo paints and washes before the holidays end and before I report back to my dayjob.

The kit was primed with Vallejo Grey Surface Primer, Vallejo Rust colored Model Colors, some Vallejo Game Colors and Vallejo Model Airs. The kit was weathered with Vallejo washes, inks and pigments and the kit was sealed with Vallejo Satin Varnish! Dang I love my non-toxic Acrylic paints ( lol )!

I really like the flat look of the Vallejo Satin Varnish. It has a very subtle sheen rather than a really chalky flat look! You just need to mix around 10% of Vallejo airbrush thinner to make the varnish more suitable for airbrush use.

I learned and re-learned a lot of weathering techniques with this build. Much like the modifications, I could paint this for another week, but felt the kit has served its purpose already.. now moving on to my other projects.

Hope you like this post ( will edit this post and add gazillion of photos soon ).

Thanks as always for dropping by! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)