MG Zaku II F2 EFSF Ver. Part 8

Zaku of the rings
It's time to complete MG Zaku II F2 EFSF Ver. by adding on all the armor parts to its inner frame completed in the previous posting. ^^


The inner frame components are separated. The arms are not shown, obviously since the there's no separable inner frame component when they are assembled in Part 6. ^^;


Armor parts of the right leg.


The one-piece leg armor that covers the front section and the entire "bell-bottom" is a very awesome design. ^^


The partially completed right leg - the conductive pipe is yet to be included.


(Left) The "necklace" of rings for the conductive pipe which was kept in storage since Part 1. ^^
(Right) While they all look the same, there are actually two types of design for the 10 rings.


Done for the right leg's conductive pipe.
The length of the pipe is just right to fit the 10 rings. ^^



The right leg is completed.



Knee bend shown in Part 6 with just the inner frame isn't affected by the new added armor parts.


There's no linked movement between the knee cover and its joint, so it has to be adjusted manually. ^^;
The stretched conductive pipe due to the knee bend is painfully obvious there. ^^; Metal springs were included with the first MG Zaku II to address this problem. They are also in MG Zaku II Ver. 2.0, so it's quite the mystery why it was left out for F2. ^^;


Armor parts of the left leg.


The left leg's conductive pipe.



Done for the left leg.



The same knee articulation as the left leg.



Both legs are now "completely" completed. ^^


Another look at the painted thrusters on the side of the leg completed in Part 2.


While the knee bend is not affected by the armor parts, the ankle's articulation has been reduced as its support for the leg's side-to-side and forward/backward movement is now limited by the "bell-bottom". ^^;


Armor parts for the torso.


Extensive line details behind all the skirt armors completed in Part 4. ^^



Unlike MG Zaku II Ver. 2.0, only one side of the chest armor is the cockpit hatch, but as with almost all MG kits, the pilot figure is already "living in darkness" once the body armors are assembled onto the frame. XD


Much like the same component on the legs, there are two types of rings for the backpack-to-abdomen conductive pipes set. The requirement for different ring types with varying quality for each segment makes careful reference to the instruction manual absolutely necessary in assembling this component.


(Left) Grouping of the rings for the different segments.
(Right) Done for one of the pipe sets. As you can see, the pipe not only links the backpack and the body (back to front), the front and side skirt armors are involved as well. Predictably, the entire body module is going to be even more inflexible once the pipe set is up. ^^;


Done for both pipe sets.


The side skirt armor must be put onto the waist frame before the pipe set is attach, since its mid-section has a connector (the "pit stop" part I called it XD) that must snap onto the side skirt armor.


When everything is snapped into position correctly, the two ends of the pipes will fit into their respective slots on the abdomen and back very accurately. ^^


A one-piece armor part for the backpack plus two additional smaller thrusters.
The two plates are used to seal off slots on both sides of the backpack that are meant for additional boosters (available only in the Zeon version).


Another look at the backpack's inner frame, now with the two additional thrusters before most of the details are concealed beneath the armor part.


Done for the backpack.



The torso is completed.


Bottom view of the skirt armors.
The polycaps used to connect the side skirt armors to the waist are rendered completely useless by the conductive pipes. ^^;


All components of the main body.



Only the head remains now. ^^


Armor parts and conductive pipes of the head.


There are two types of rings for the head's conductive pipes set as well, but managing the parts is a lot easier as the rings' distribution is not as complicated as those for the legs and body.


A cap locks the two pipes to the back of the head.


Manual adjustment for the mono-eye camera is needed if you wish to turn it. ^^;


The three small parts to form the helmet's applique armor, which requires plastic cement for assembly are not used at all. I like my Zaku's head to have the same bald and classic feel as all its predecessors and successors XD


Assembled the head onto the neck joint to complete the entire assembly.
More images of this completed MG coming in the next posting. ^^