Gundam Artifact: Zaku III

Uncertain, Unwilling, And Empty.

Over the last year or two, we have been experimenting with Flames of Orion, a mech combat game designed by Steve (sovthofheaven). Last month, we finally converted and painted a model for the game, Dark Spirit, a mech that Greg has used in various forms for most of his time playing the game. The game recently completed a successful Kickstarter, prompting me to consider creating a small group of mechs to play in future games. Years back, I assembled a Gundam Artifact Rick Dias model, which is at a scale suitable for Flames of Orion, and I decided I could assemble a few more to make a Combat Unit for the game. This led me to assemble a Zaku III from their Phase 2 line of models!

Gundam Artifact: Rick Dias

A True-Scale Space Marine next to a Gundam Artifact Rick Dias.

Last year I got back into the Gunpla hobby, building a few 1/144 scale Bandai Gundam kits, like the RX-78-2, a Gouf, and a Zaku II from the Gundam Universal Century timeline. It was a fun change of pace from Games Workshop models, due to Bandai’s different design philosophy. Unlike the majority of GW models, Gundam model kits can be built without glue, while maintaining a vast amount of articulation and, best of all, do not need to be painted (but many still do). While most Gundam models are quite a bit larger than a single Games Workshop figure, with the smaller High Grade (1/144 scale) models being roughly 6 inches tall, Bandai recently introduced its smallest line of scale models: the Gundam Artifact line. This new line really excited me, because they are only slightly larger than the standard Games Workshop model. I purchased the first model from the set, the Rick Dias (from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam), and wanted to let people know about the build process.