Given a long enough time to stare at the pose I decided on, I realize that the epoxy puttied leg joint was in fact, quite obvious. Couldn't well leave it alone, I figured I better fix it than to live with it and have the matter annoy me for the rest of the kit's life on my display case.

The epoxy putty part was a simple matter of slapping on some plaplate over it to cover the rough texture. I then fashioned a set of pistons (non-working) using plastic rod and plaplate. Then it's just a simple matter of fixing the piston into place to achieve the final pose.

Check out the picturesbelow for a 'before' and 'after' look.

OK here we go, this is the final pose, more or less. The right foot still can't be planted flat onto the ground though. I think it will look much better that way but I'll need to figure out how to do it properly. Still have 1.5 months to come up with other mods. Should be fun.

Wow... has it been more than a year since I stopped working on this kit? Better late than dead I guess. Anyhow, Maxwinamp from Out There challenged me to finish this one by end of January next year. We're having a 'Duel of the Dias' kinda thing with him building a HGUC Rick Dias too. I intend to fulfill my side of the bargain.

Anyhow work continues adding tiny details here and there. First up, I covered the hollow bits visible in some of the parts: namely the shoulders and the knees. A simple of matter covering with plaplate and throwing in some putty later to smooth things out.

I noticed the mod I did to the foot joint previously is very fragile, so I decided to add a healthy dose of epoxy putty to reinforce the joint. And since this part cannot be seen, I can afford for it to be a bit messy. Hey, as long as it works I could care less it's really rough-looking.

Looking at the pose in the last update, I think I can still work on the kit a bit to achieve a more dynamic look. We'll see how it goes though.

Did some minor covering up of joints. Solution is pretty simple, just plastic sheets cut down to shape. I found the forehead of the Rick Dias lacking so I slapped on some layers of plastic sheets there too. It actually manages to make it look more heavily armored.

I needed the Rick Dias' torso to bend forward so the pose looks more natural so I cut some plastic sheets and created a wedge the torso can sit so it'll 'bend' forward.

And this is more or less the pose I'm sticking with. The left fist is resin that a friend of mine sold to me. The standard one needed to be wielding something to look decent. I'm more or less done with the mods I want. Now I'm just considering whether I should modify the right foot so it will lie flat on the ground.

Did some minor covering up of joints. Solution is pretty simple, just plastic sheets cut down to shape. I found the forehead of the Rick Dias lacking so I slapped on some layers of plastic sheets there too. It actually manages to make it look more heavily armored.

I needed the Rick Dias' torso to bend forward so the pose looks more natural so I cut some plastic sheets and created a wedge the torso can sit so it'll 'bend' forward.

And this is more or less the pose I'm sticking with. The left fist is resin that a friend of mine sold to me. The standard one needed to be wielding something to look decent. I'm more or less done with the mods I want. Now I'm just considering whether I should modify the right foot so it will lie flat on the ground.

The Rick Dias can't really pose well so some modifications need to be done on the legs so it can spread it's legs wider. I cut the right peg and positioned it slanted slightly forward.

The corners of the female portion of the joints are also cut so the legs can pose with the legs open wider. So what I get now is this:

I'll probably need to work on it some more when I get the other parts prepared. But for now, it's already an improvement.

So begins the mods... starting with the skirts. I added 2mm plastic plates to extend them. This will give the Rick Dias a more balanced look since the rear skirts are pretty long.

I decided to add some details to the kit to bulk up the Rick Dias somewhat. A simple attaching of 2 thrusters to a plastic card and inserting to the leg skirts.

I might not be able to paint my kits (since I'm still setting up my new hobby room), but I can still start projects. At least, assembling and modding-wise. So here's my latest project, the RMS-99 Rick Dias from Zeta Gundam. Assembly is pretty straightforward and it builds up into a pretty nice representation of the Mobile Suit.

I saw this pose on the left from a pic taken from a hobby show and I liked it. Unfortunately, the best the kit could do was what's on the right. The one on the left is obviously not the HGUC kit. It looks like I'll need to do quite a bit of modifications. Shouldn't be too much problems.