by Joe Belding

A brief 'history'. This is the MS-06SA Arctic Zaku II. During the end of the One Year War in 0079, the MS-14 Gelgoog began replcing the Zakus in larger numbers. A few 'special' Zakus were moved from the front lines and modified for various special climates and missions. Standard Zakus were used in the Arctic, but they suffered from the extreme weather and ice. They tended to be slightly clumsy, poor electronic capabilities, and had a distinct heat signature that the Federation exploited. The answers came in The Artic Zaku. It was given higher gain antenae to provide better communication and radar during Arctic storms and higher levels of Minovsky Particles. Additional ice cleats were added to the elbows, knees, and feet for better traction on ice fields. Extra armor doubled as thermal insulation, while also masking it's heat emmisions. A Grenade launcher was added to the 120mm cannon that would eventually be standard on future guns such as the MMP-80.

This is my 1/60 Bandai PG Zaku II MS-06S. It was built pretty much straight from the box. However I changed the eye to look meaner, added antenae behind the head, added extra armor on the chest and skirt, a couple of ice cleats on the feet, elbows and knees, a few extra vents, sharpened the heat axe, changed the axe's mount to be more flush to the skirt armor, and last, I added a grenade launcher to the 120mm gun.

Building this model was fun. It's big, heavy and highly detailed. It was also on sale for $30.00 when I bought it. It's one of those kits that normally goes for +$120.00, and I thought I'd never own one. By far this was one of my best buys and most bang for the buck kits. It comes with a bright LED that I painted neon pink then clear coated. (You'll need to buy a couple of watch batteries though.) Now instead of a glaring red eye, I have a glowing pink mono eye that I much more prefer, and looks more accurate.

There's gotta be about 500 parts to this kit. It took me about 11 hours to build, which when you consider this is a snap kit, it's a very impressive number. Several small screws, springs, and contacts along with P-cap, and ABS parts help give this kit a wide range of motion and detail. It even comes with chrome pstons at various points on the arms and legs that lend a distinct metallic touch. I decided that hiding some of the more prominent seams was more important to me than the internal detailing, so I glued then sanded and puttied a few of them away.

I painted it overall white and used a Russian blue to break up the monotonous white. Decals were Zeon and various warnings from Models4U and others from my parts box. The name on the shoulder shield is 'Canis Lupus Arctos' (Arctic Wolf) and howling wolf decal from the SM animal sheet, and a borrowed claw print from Warhammer 40,000 make up my 'nose' art.

A nice blanket of snow provided the background shots for a couple of pictures. I was so eager to use the snow and get my entry in that I didn't do much weathering.

Image: Left side

Image: Right side

Image: Rear view