I believe this kit was originally made by Kotobukiya back in the 1990s, the golden age of Japanese resin mecha kits. Now long out of production and kept that way due to the Bandai’s Disney-like IP protectionism, I resorted to recasters to get my grubby mitts on an example.
The kit is based on the Zeta Gundam but differs considerably to the one that appeared in the TV show. It is ganglier and is festooned with gobs and gobs of oodly-noodly detail that I find irresistible.
The first resin mecha kit I built was Kotobukiya’s Super Double Zeta Gundam. It looked incredibly intimidating to build, but aside from the usual caveats that accompany resin kits, it was well molded and didn’t really have any engineering issues except for the weak “smart gun” arm.
But sorting through the Zeta Gundam’s parts and perusing the instructions, I noticed some things that would need attention. I’ll put together a comprehensive list of improvements when I get to building the model.
That kit looks like it will be a great canvas for different painting techniques. I’m not overly familiar with those kits, how tall is it going to be once it’s built up?
I’m not too sure how tall it will be, but a guess is 7 to 8 inches, since it is 1/100 scale.
Resin kits are definitely a canvas for paint and weathering, and they rely heavily on the finish to look presentable. I do plan on dirtying this guy up like a ground pounder mech.
I suppose it’s like the MCU Multiverse, where familiar designs and story lines are very different. The one difference to the MCU is that these things rock really hard, not suck with tired old retread mediocrity.
A lot of these types of MS are from manga. I think the Zeta is from one of Kazuhisa Kondo’s mangas. The model mags, especially B-Club, used to regularly feature them back in the 1990s.
The Super Double Zeta Gundam was in a manga penned by Makoto Kobayashi, the designer of the ZZ. That also ran in B-Club.
A company called Megahouse is planning on releasing plastic kits from Kazuhisa Kondo’s world, so I am super jazzed.
