1/144 Zeta Plus C1
Bandai plastic injection
By Dave Reimer

This model will be a dedicated wave rider mode, so it should be fairly simple to build. Even though this model's transformation systems are really simple, I won't have to worry about trying to make them stiffer and whatnot. I'll just simply glue everything in place ^_^. To the right you can see a progress picture taken on 02-03-02. My original plans was to build two of these models, one in a dedicated wave rider mode and one in a dedicated robot mode, so I could make a little diorama. I would have them side by side, and maybe I'd put my SD Zeta Plus in there too for kicks. I got the idea to do a dedicated wave rider mode from the Model Graphix Gundam Sentinel book, in which there are pictures of various Zeta Plus variations shown in wave rider mode. I'm essentially doing that, but also throwing in some of the modifications in the back of that same book (as well as some personal modifications).

This model will be configured for landing. I will have it on a pole or something so it will look like it is gliding in for the landing or has just dropped it's landing gear. The rear landing gear compartments have been cut out of the rear section of the shield, and the internal parts that hold the landing gear are from a 1/144 Tornado ECR (© Dragon). The landing gear will be from the same kit (I'm still debating whether or not to use the from landing gear or to make my own, though). As of 02-03-02, the front landing gear chamber is not complete, simply because I have not come up with a good way of doing it. I did, however, successfully mold it's compartment onto the bottom of the gun. I was skeptical of doing this at first, but in the end it actually turned out really cool looking. The only thing left to do for the front landing gear would be to carve out the chamber and put the hatch doors on it. Also in this picture, you can see the detail I did to the sensor package. I just cut out part of the blue thing and threw in some wires and pipes. All of this will be painted black, probably.

The wing binders are taken exactly from the Sentinel book, except for the fact that I'm not going to put the traditional fuel tanks on them. To do that, I had to fill in the hole with putty. The tricky part about that is that the holes are right where the wings would rotate. So in the end I had to sand both the inside and the outside of it. Like in the Sentinel book, I carved out that front section of the top part and put some wires and stuff in them. I think I did a good job on them. For the fuel tanks, I'm using the fuel tanks from that same Tornado model. I just think it would be more realistic to have some real-world tanks that hang instead of the tanks that come default. I'm also going to try to squeeze some sidewinder missiles onto the wing binders.

I didn't do much to the body. Mostly, I just sanded some surfaces flat (namely the cockpit). I did add some detail parts to it however. With this picture you couldn't tell at first glance, but I put a fin on the left side of the back piece. I also filled the back of the skirt armors with putty. Other than that I didn't do much else to the body.

Sorry for the bad picture; I took this in the evening. Here are all the parts for one leg (plus the other foot). Every part has been modified except the shin and calf flaps and the upper thigh. for the foot, I cut off the entire back section, the heel if you will. Then I sanded one of the heel halves down so it would be thinner. Next, I glued the new heel further down on the foot (as pictured). I just don't like the idea of the whole foot rotating in, so I made it similar looking to the Zeta Gundam's foot transformation. For the lower leg, I only cut out the outer vent things and made them bigger with plasticard. The lower thigh (the part that rotates), I cut out the back of it so in the leg transformation, it could bend more.