ZGMF-X56S/θ Destiny Impulse Gundam

I inititally had the intention to build a kit with my best effort for submission to the local Gundam Seed Modelling Competition 2006. Despite knowing that my own skill is not up to competition standard, I would really love to have my work on display as a selected participant. Hence I decide to build something different from my regular NG 1/144 work.

The concept of my work came from the Dengeki Hobby Japan magazine, May issue. In the magazine, it featured a real charming kit-bash of a 1/100 Force Impulse Gundam with scratch-bulit Destiny backpack. The backpack is modded to incorporate 2x beam rifles that can be deployed like that of Freedom in High M.A.T. mode. Apart from the rifles, the backpack also accomodates for 2x Sword Im[pulse Sabres. Apart from the backpack, the next modded feature is presence of 2x gauntlets on the forearm, which one of it can emit a force shield. Thus, this masterpiece was named Destiny Impulse (ZGMF-X56S/ θ).

At the point of time when I was deciding what to build, 'Auchtung! Japan Hobby' or 'Naka' was having its final bout of sale with any quantity of kits at 50% discount. So I decided that it will be a good idea to grab some kits to 'bash'. I grabbed a HG 1/144 Force Impulse and some HG 1/144 Zaku Warriors. However, I have yet had any inspiration with the Zaku Warriors. The HG Force Impulse shall be the kit for me to bash. Thanks to Desmond, who gave me what I needed for this project, the remains of a NG 1/144 Destiny Gundam.

The materials to embark me on this project.
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I started work on it for about a month ago. It is not that I put in that much effort, but I really haven't got time to sit down and do it. I started off with cutting all the parts. Then I started with some paint mixing to obtain the purple tones of the Destiny Impulse (DI) and applied it to an unprimed torso. Then, I modded my own version of the gauntlet with the shoulder pack of the Destiny. it looks like a simple fit-and-stick job but it took me sometime filing down excess parts from both the gauntlet and arm. I started carefully selecting the parts to be cemented while leaving out the rest to facilitate painting. A pre-assembly of the was done to get a preview of the structure. A comparison between the raw assembled DI and the NG 1/144 Destiny. Still I prefer the Destiny suit rather than the impulse. I just could not bring myself to like the Impulse and no words can describe that. That is also the reason that I had not sacrifice my sleep to work on this kit. Furthermore, I have plenty of time until deadline.

The fundamental work.
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The raw assembly
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How does it stand up to comparison with the NG 144 Destiny?
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In previous pictures, the backpack was held by blue-tack. I decided to mod the backpack blaster piece to fit into the polycap on the Core Splendor instead of the original idea of sticking with super glue. I tried sticking a trimmed tree spine into the PC slot. It was a very tight fit, so I did some filing till I get a snug fit.Later, I drilled a hole into the cemented blaster piece and stick the spine in place with super glue. Cementing was done to seal the gap and sanded down. At the meantime, Tamiya Putty was used to fill some gaps in the wing blades, thanks to neXus for the putty.

Modding the backpack.
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Painting takes place with all the appropiate parts painted accordingly. Colors used were Mr. Hobby Purple, Mr. Hobby Off White, Vallejo Flat White, Vallejo Flat Yellow, Vallejo Sky Blue and Vallejo Aquamarine. Primer was not used throughout. The actual outcome looks slightly different from the photographed image. It seems more bluish on photograph than violet. Although i have tried many settings on the camera, but still I cannot remedy this problem. I have decided not to change the color scheme of the Destiny weapons to black, which was my original plan. I took my time with the painting as I was anticipating the Metro sale on Good Friday. I needed to get a NG 1/144 Sword Impulse for its sabres. The moment I got them, priming was done as the parts were completely black. Mr Hobby White Surfacer 1000 was used to prime the surface and paints used were Vallejo Off White, Vallejo Aquamarine and Mr Aqueous Hobby Color Fluorescent Pink.

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Black panel lines were applied with Tamiya black enamel diluted with Ronsol as a wash and COPIC 0.05 black marker. Decals were then applied. The decals were sourced from Samuel's Destiny Gundam 1/144 decal, generic 1/100 WAVE decal and ManWah decal generic 1/144 decal. Top coating was then done using the industrial satin finishing coat spray which I had been using. A disaster took place. Firstly, I was too close on the shoulder that it coagulated at the corners. Next, I could see the original base color emerging, especially the light violet over the red parts. I kind of expected that it might happen because the finishing spray tend to do that. I believe that this is attributed by 2 reasons. One, the finishing coat was too strong. Second, I did not prime before painting, 'cos no fading happened to my Impulse sabres. Hence, I repainted over the faded colors again and sanded down the coagulated coats. Then, I reapplied the top-coat again sparingly.

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There you have it. My own version of the ZGMF-X56S/θ Destiny Impulse Gundam with ZAS (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty Advanced System or ZAFT A.S.). However, for submission to the competition is before complete. I still have to make a customized stand prior submission. I am still deciding between a diorama in space or a Gunpla stand with name.

More pictures are available at Mecha:base.
(click on below image to link to gallery directly)
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Comments

Shaun said…
damn nice.
Laurens said…
i must see it to believe it...