Written by 8:32 pm My Builds

Completed : Nitto 1/20 PKA ausf. G ‘Gustav’


Kit Info
Brand: Nitto Nr. SF3D Series 5
Scale: 1/20
Media: Multimedia (injection plastic, brass,
rubber, lead and copper)
Markings: Wave PKA Konrad

The Subject
The new armored fighting suit of the Shutoral Forces, the PKA.G in opposition to the new weapon of the Mercenery troops, the Super AFS had more strengthened mobility and armored defensive power to a series of PKA.H and was armed with a laser gun we could see in a series of AFS of Mercenery troops in the left hand. Increase of the engine output reinforced walking system in order to cope with increase in weight made the form of the PKA.G quite different from a series of H. A little reconstruction of the body of the PK.41 made it possible to fly installing the PKA.G in it like a series of H and the XPK.43 for the exclusive use of the PKA.G took the first flight at the end of 2885.

Info from the back of the box

The Kit
This kit was part of the original wave of releases by Nitto in 1984 when Maschinen Krieger was still called ‘SF3D Original’.

This is a multimedia kit. Besides the 90 or so styrene parts it comes with a piece of brass mesh, 2 metal springs, 2 brass rods, 2 pieces of copper wire, 1 piece of black wire and 2 lead weights for the feet. Options on the kit includes having the face plate opened or closed and 2 different pilot heads. The limbs are attached via polycaps so some posing is possible. The kit also comes with a Panzerfaust.

The Build
This kit is pure 1980s vintage. Cement is required everywhere and while there are polycaps the kit can’t be posed in any meaningful way. Unlike modern versions of Ma.K kits, this Gustav doesn’t come with rubber joint covers (which actually present their own problems). The joints are instead the old school 2 plastic halves clamping over a polycap. I ended up making joint covers with epoxy putty. This also helped with the kit keeping a pose. I also had enough leftover epoxy putty to fashion some cushioning for the pilot seat. There’s provision for an LED (not included) in the chest but I closed it up with a minus mold.

General fitting is OK but the legs flop around even with the polycaps in place. The brass rods slot through the springs and these, when bent properly, lets me fix the leg pose. I left out the lead weights for the feet since I’ll be drilling holes to pin the kit to the base.

Oh and the kit can’t hold the included Panzerfaust. Pity.

Colors & Markings
The pilot needed to be painted and fit inside the kit first. As a testament to how lousy I am with figure painting, I only managed to get a decent result after 4 tries. Luckily I was using acrylic paint so it was easy to strip and redo.

I went with a simple color scheme of dark gray with red bands this time. The markings are from the Wave PKA Konrad kit as the one from the box is yellowed, brittle and unusable.

Finishing
Weathering is kept simple with my usual rounds of oil paint dot blending, panel wash, fading and pin washes. In this case, I went with a light gray and brown so they show up over the dark gray color scheme. Chipping and mild drybrushing was done with light gray and dark brown acrylic paint. Once mounted onto the base, I also added dust on the bottom half of the Gustav.

Basing
The base is kept simple like my previous Rally Pawn build. In this case, it’s a grass field instead of the lunar surface. Once attached, I don’t like how the kit looks like it’s hovering instead of standing with some weight on the ground. It’s something to fix in the next one.

Even though the kit is vintage, the build didn’t actually take too long but it was interrupted by a few weeks of traveling and general malaise after getting back. In any case, I like the result although I really need to work on figure painting. In fact, that’s the part that took the longest time in this build. Otherwise, even scratchbuilding the joint covers was quite easy.

Build Log
> Part 1 : Construction
> Part 2 : Painting & FInishing

Number 8 of 2018

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