I should probably try watching Gundam: The Witch from Mercury again. I think I just didn't get into the habit after watching four episodes. Sometimes, some media can be perfectly fine, and just not click with you. Still, I have a lot of respect for a series that tries to shake up the Gundam formula, and upsets a lot of gatekeeping neckbeards and bigots as it goes. I mention this because, at time of writing, I have not seen any of the episodes that feature today's subject. Rather, I picked it up for the most shallow of reasons. I was at a convention, and I thought it looked cool. I'm sure I'm not the only person to have done that. In my defence, something that G-Witch is objectively great at is providing varied and distinctive mecha designs. There's a lot of military manufacturers in that setting, and each has a strong character and corporate brand. The odds are, you'll find something that tickles your fancy.
The Dilanza Sol is a product of Jeturk Heavy Machinery, the third Dilanza kit variant released, and the forth kit from that stable. There's a certain degree of Zaku II influence to their work, as the stock colour is green, and there's a pink version, but I don't want to oversell it. Jeturk tends towards big chonky boys with dual shoulder shields on flexible mounts, with integrated weapon storage. The phrase "tried & true" is used in the instructions, that seems reasonable. Jeturk does have a lot of creativity in its AI-based prototype the Darilbalde, but the Dilanza series seems a no-nonsense, no-frills weapon. The Sol variant is notable as for being not so much an improved version, as the undiluted version, the stock Dilanza seen before hand being purposefully limited for use in the school where the anime is set. So, the Dilanza Sol is the black coloured tacticool version to the regular versions "monkey model". Interesting. This sort of detail is what fascinates me about mecha design and world building.
As a build, I was pleasantly surprised with the Dilanza Sol. It features no polycaps, a modest sticker sheet, and no redundant parts. While a design such as this one has no real expectation of super-posability or anything, there is an ab crunch and toe joints for subtle but welcome movement. There's also a nice pair of weapons, a gun with a barrel extension plus beam bayonet, and the melee use beam torch. Both use a sliding rail to store in the shields, and have a dedicated beam effect. You can get some good poses with these weapons, with the shields not only having two axis of motion but well-designed joints so there is no obvious weight or balance issue. There are however some cut corners and missed opportunities though. The gun's magazine for example is removable and can also stow in the shields, but as there's just one, there's little reason to. Its skirt armour is also hollowed out on the inside, and nor do you have extra hands. The kit has basically all it needs, a few things which are a touch luxurious, but would have been exceptional had it addressed one of those minor flaws.
As a build I kept this fairly conventional, trying to minimise cut marks and such but then I started getting ideas when it came to weathering. Black is a funny colour to weather, as its already subdued and tends to contrast sharply with things. But, you know, it's the 21st century, and the odds were good there was a solution to look up. As such, I attempted some light dry-brushing of various greys, before a selective application of Agrax Earthshade in the recesses. I also picked out the visor and missile silos with a bit of brushwork. The overall effect isn't bad at all, but it's very subtle in places, and only really works on the grey bits. Does this count as "edge highlighting"? As a technique, this is promising. I'm less happy with the visor, but it's good enough.
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Job’s a good ‘un.
