I eventually brought
another, and no, I didn't time myself this time. Yes, it's the
Portanova. The Zaku 2 to the Alto's GM. Or possibly the Desert Zaku,
given colours. And yes, this one is also a great kit.
In the name of modularity, the Portanova goes together in a largely identical fashion to the Alto. Brilliantly, in other words. Be mindful of the feet, I managed to mark one, but that was my fault. A Portanova does favour slightly bulkier and rounded parts versus the Alto's skinny angles, but you'll notice the B joint sprue is the same, so the only barrier is colour. This also means that posability is in exactly the same goldilocks zone as the Alto, just with subtle differences arising from external design. Most notably, the chest/ab joint has more freedom, but with a regrettable tendency to pop out in the extremes. Another modest variation is Roy Roy storage, this kit not having a dedicated butt port, although there's more ports on the back in general. Meanwhile, the swordhilt remains a weakness, but this version is squared towards the top, so it's easier to wedge in place. Also, I need to get better at photoing these things, the mustard yellow was a wee issue.
While obviously a Zeon inspired kit, the Portanova does manage to have its own character. The armour plates on the legs for example meet and separate with movement, suggesting that a standing pose is more resistant to attack. Similarly, while the gun looks rather sci-fi, an angled slot on the forearm accepts its stock for a more stable firing pose. Its more hightech up close than the monoeye might suggest. Another thing that struck me while assembling this was a kind of 3rd hand orkiness. The discs and hemispheres put me in mind of tankbusta boms and mekboy gubbins, something which I'm sure is entirely coincidental. Both the Orkz of WH40K and the Zeonic factions of Gundam draw on German military motifs, so it's not a surprise that a not-Zaku might be like this. This of course prompted some experimentation. Due to the scale difference, its not especially practical to give this Ork weapons, but I did find this old knife from a Frame arms model. Bit of filing later, and the stabber fits.
I opted to use a Gundam Marker this time for detailing, which generally produced good results. The calves however defied both marker and inkwash, the detail being rather soft. Mephiston Red and Nuln Oil was used to tart up the Roy Roy. I also got a weapon set at roughly to same time as this kit, but I decided to drop it from this article. Its the case that half of it was for the Alto, and I broke the other half. I didn't want that to colour this write up on the Portanova unduly, hence its omission. I'll come back to that, and other option kits, in a future article.
In the name of modularity, the Portanova goes together in a largely identical fashion to the Alto. Brilliantly, in other words. Be mindful of the feet, I managed to mark one, but that was my fault. A Portanova does favour slightly bulkier and rounded parts versus the Alto's skinny angles, but you'll notice the B joint sprue is the same, so the only barrier is colour. This also means that posability is in exactly the same goldilocks zone as the Alto, just with subtle differences arising from external design. Most notably, the chest/ab joint has more freedom, but with a regrettable tendency to pop out in the extremes. Another modest variation is Roy Roy storage, this kit not having a dedicated butt port, although there's more ports on the back in general. Meanwhile, the swordhilt remains a weakness, but this version is squared towards the top, so it's easier to wedge in place. Also, I need to get better at photoing these things, the mustard yellow was a wee issue.
While obviously a Zeon inspired kit, the Portanova does manage to have its own character. The armour plates on the legs for example meet and separate with movement, suggesting that a standing pose is more resistant to attack. Similarly, while the gun looks rather sci-fi, an angled slot on the forearm accepts its stock for a more stable firing pose. Its more hightech up close than the monoeye might suggest. Another thing that struck me while assembling this was a kind of 3rd hand orkiness. The discs and hemispheres put me in mind of tankbusta boms and mekboy gubbins, something which I'm sure is entirely coincidental. Both the Orkz of WH40K and the Zeonic factions of Gundam draw on German military motifs, so it's not a surprise that a not-Zaku might be like this. This of course prompted some experimentation. Due to the scale difference, its not especially practical to give this Ork weapons, but I did find this old knife from a Frame arms model. Bit of filing later, and the stabber fits.
I opted to use a Gundam Marker this time for detailing, which generally produced good results. The calves however defied both marker and inkwash, the detail being rather soft. Mephiston Red and Nuln Oil was used to tart up the Roy Roy. I also got a weapon set at roughly to same time as this kit, but I decided to drop it from this article. Its the case that half of it was for the Alto, and I broke the other half. I didn't want that to colour this write up on the Portanova unduly, hence its omission. I'll come back to that, and other option kits, in a future article.
To reiterate: very much
worth your time.
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