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Abandon Base Diorama »

Story »

The battle was fierce, but in the end, retreat was the only option. A quartet of GMs from the Persephone, a Salamis Class Medium Cruiser, was dispatched to the asteroid base to assist the escaping personnel, but they too became victims of the Zeon's relentless assault.

The pilot of unit 02 barely managed to survive the large caliber fire sustained by his mobile suit. The damage was enough to disable the GM, but thankfully not enough to cause an explosion. Having popped his hatch, he made way to a nearby shuttle escaping from the base.

About the Diorama »

This was the first diorama that I've ever completed. Yay for me! I have several still waiting for me to get back to them. As I do with every kit, I tried some new techniques and learned a thing or two while refining skills that I've learned from previous kits. A few of the new techniques for me on this kit are using and controlling celluclay for the asteroid and wiring LEDs using a 4060 CMOS chip to control the blinking rate. The wiring I learned from an article at the Starship Modeler website.

I also learned to mix enough "hardener" into my 5 minute epoxy. Originally the GM was to float upon 1 brass tube. However, either due to the epoxy not having enough "hardener" or the weight of the kit, the bond didn't hold and the GM rolled to the side. Another small brass rod was added to stabilize the GM.

The only kit used in this diorama was the Master Grade GM Type C. It's the same kit that I used for the Cloud 09. I damaged the shield and rear torso and made the left leg appear to be blown off. Inside these damaged areas I added flashing yellow LEDs to simulate sparks from the damage. The head sparks the same way but with 3 green LEDs. I also modified the shape of the foot to a more "ka-like" look since the original foot shape was a little on the stubby side.

The escaping shuttle was scratch built using styrene and various option parts. It was my first fully scratchbuild piece and could easilly stand as it's own piece outside the diorama.

The little figures in space suits (a.k.a. normal suits) were from several Master Grade kits. Every one comes with a figure however not all are in space suits.

The color schemes and decals were custom designed by me. I am selling the Decal set used on the Salamis Based GM so contact me if you're interested.

Kit Info »

Completed » 05.07.2004
Manufacturer » Bandai
Scale » 1/100 Bandai
Grade » Master Grade

Awards »

09.09.2004 » My Abandon Base Diorama won First Place and Most Popular in Category at the HobbyFan 2004 Gundam Contest in the "All That Gundam" category.

10.2004 » Best in Diorama Class & Blue Ribbon in the Fall 2004 Hobby Town USA Regional Show - Robinson, (Pittsburgh) PA