Gouf-ing around

As I was just about at work on Friday morning I received a text message from the wife stating, "今日退院！"

What that means is that she was going to leave the hospital that day. So, while she is at home and I am very happy that she is back, it also limits my gunpla time. Or does it?

You see, she is still very weak and must spend a lot of time in bed resting, which for her means surfing the internet to catch up on the 2 weeks worth of everything that she missed. This also means that I am the primary caregiver for my daughter so I spend all my time with her. Which means, my daughter and I sit at the table and build gunpla. I build the Gouf and she colours the bonus clear parts with a red ink pen.

So, how is the build? Let me show you.

The Head

If you have built any of the Zaku 2.0s or the Sinanju, you have a pretty good idea already how the head assembles. The mono eye moves from side to side as the head rotates. Rather than use the supplied pink sticker or the pink eye decal (Of course I bought the decals!) I used one of my Aurora stickers. I am trying to use up old supplies here, or so I tell myself.

Torso

Again very Zaku like. The black chest piece isn't on in this shot because I painted all the black parts (chest, feet, knees, etc) with the leftover semi-gloss black that I have.

The Skirt

Again it's basically a Zaku 2.0 skirt with some changes. The side armour is actually done differently. If you look at the pic below you can see that a ball and socket joint is used to attach the front skirt armour to the side. One problem I had with the side pieces is that, due to the curvature of the armour and frame parts it is really difficult to line them up properly so they fit together. Both sides caused me some delays when doing this.

Pistons

Having done enough Gunpla now and knowing beforehand that I was going to paint the feet pistons like I always do, I snipped that part of the runner away before I even went near the feet and sprayed it with some leftover Mr. Hobby Silver. Say "No!" to Silver Leaf.

Feet

An hour or so later when the paint has dried I assemble the feet. Here you see only one foot with the armour on. There's a reason for that. Read on.

Backpack

Again with the Mr. Hobby Silver for the internals of the backpack. Silver thrusters = yummy.

Shield

Terribly simple. Only four pieces and that was it. There isn't much else to say here.

Legs

I reiterate the point about it being another Zaku 2.0. In fact, the runners were for the Zaku 2.0 with an extra runner for the Gouf pieces which are different. Thus you end up with half a runner of unused Zaku leg parts. I will add them to my extra parts collection.

Arms

Zaku 2.0. 'Nuff said. The only real difference is how the shoulder armour attaches. That and the big fat hand for the left arm.

And here he is. Fully half-assembled. This seems to be my new thang. I armour half the mecha so I can show what is going on in da inside.



Was it fun, baby? She can say, "ガンダム" now.