HG 1/144 Z'Gok E - "Imaginary Sky"

I'm so proud to share this set of images of my first ever finished model and GBWC entry, "Imaginary Sky" - featuring a HG 1/144 Z'Gok E. Believe it or not, but this is actually my all time favorite MS, so naturally he had to be my first finished kit. This model isn't perfect, but I am pretty proud of him and I certainly learned a lot. I'll talk about my process and concept behind this model later in this post, but for now, here are a handful of photos I took with my light tent:





The title "Imaginary Sky" comes from my favorite song off of the War in the Pocket OST. I imagine he is looking up into the faux sky of a colony at the end of the One Year War. I chose a custom arctic color scheme for him, helping to camouflage him in the snowy diorama scene.



This was also my first diorama base and I tried to keep it simple. I purchased the wooden base at Michael's and painted it with acrylic paints. The ice effects were made with Liquitex Heavy Gloss Gel, which goes on opaque, but dries clear in thinner layers. Testing the consistency of it, you can get some pretty neat effects with it that are similar to the water effects used by modelers.




I finished the base off with a few coats of the heavy gel before giving it a generous coating of regular gloss, which I hand painted on. I used the layer of gloss as an adhesive to which I then dusted the whole thing with modeling snow I found at a model train store.



I have to thank my boyfriend, Jordan (00gundamreviewsv2), for teaching me the basics of modeling and airbrushing and also for that extra push I needed to complete this model on time. He took home Best Small Scale for his diorama this year too! Check it out here on his blog.

I have so much more respect for the gunpla community now that I'm actively building. The amount of work that goes into these guys is just incredible!