This May Not Be Canon, But That is One Big Cannon!

 Part 1: Episode 48

Welcome back, Readers!  Now that summer is over, it's time for serious modeling again!  During this time, I had been watching various Gundam series and working on various other model projects but finishing nothing.  During a break between projects, I realized I haven't built a mobile suit model in quite a while, so I began to look for a suitable subject.  Besides anime series, I also have many Japanese model magazines (although they are more like books...).   An issue of Hobby Japan (#210), from November 1986,  features special North Africa themed models.  The section simply titled "Rommel" had the custom-built models of the Dwadge, Desert Zakus, a Zaku Tanker and a figure of Rommel himself.  (This article was also included in a special "ZZ Gundam" edition of Hobby Japan).  Next I watched Episode 25, "The Face of Rommel" (the source of the magazines' feature), for more background. At the end of the episode, I thought, "What if Rommel had survived Judau's attack?"  Full of rage, he sets about rebuilding his mobile suit from whatever he can find in the desert and other sources, with the ultimate goal of luring that bratty kid back to the desert and exacting revenge in his now ultimate weapon:

In the original episode, Commander 'Desert' Rommel is hiding in a village somewhere in North Africa (no wonder I like this episode...) with his 'Zeon Remnants', a handful of soldiers from the One Year War of 0079.  It's now 0088 and he gets word there are Gundams crossing the desert.  He musters his corps; Ensign Niki, (who has a wife and son), Ensign Calahan, and 11 other soldiers and pilots.  The battle that follows results in the Rommel Corps total defeat.  A loss of all 6 Desert Zakus, and Rommel himself in his custom Dwadge, all by just a bunch of spotty kids in a Shiki, Z-Gundam, ZZ-Gundam and MegaRider.  (Rommel was defeated by 14 year old Judau Ashta in the Zeta Gundam).  The remnants of the Zeon remnants now include only 7 soldiers and a Zaku Tanker.  The episode ends with a grieving widow sobbing over her now dead husband Niki's grave.  End of Desert Rommel, or is it...?

She weeps over her husband's grave, but there is no body.  On the third night after the battle, she sees a figure approaching slowly from the desert.   She doesn't run; could it be her Niki returning?  But as the  shape enters the light, it is in fact Commander Rommel!  He is limping on a broken left leg, badly burned on his left side & head, a broken arm held against his chest, and missing his left eye.  "Take me to my men at once!" he demands.  She helps him back to the Zaku Tanker where he is treated for his wounds in the medical bay.  His painful recovery takes almost a year, but eventually he is fit, and only has to contend with some burn scarring and the loss of an eye.  He calls his men together, only 7 remaining souls now who have been waiting patiently.  "We are going to avenge our fallen comrades and eliminate those brats who took my eye!  Sieg Zeon!"   The response is not so energetic as before; the remnants where hoping for a normal life and leave the war behind.  But they are Zeon after all, and must do their commanders bidding.

Rommel's plan is to rebuild his Dwadge  by salvaging anything he can from the desert and the scrapyard just outside of town.  They set out in the tanker and scour the sands, searching for the wreckage left over from the battle.  One day, they are out many kilometers past familiar territory.  Over a dune they see it half buried in the sand.  An MS-06K Zaku Cannon, probably from the early days of the invasion in the One Year War.  They approach cautiously...

It's been out here for almost ten years, and is pretty banged up.  Nothing is salvageable due to exposure from the elements.  Rommel instead orders to leave it be.  The Zeon Remnants Remnants make a cross from some rusted metal as a marker to the unknown soldier.  The tanker moves on.  Eventually they have collected bits and pieces from all the six destroyed Desert Zaku's (making a cross at each site), and a good chunk of the Dwadge.  Back at the scrapyard, work has already begun on the new mobile suit.  It is hard work in the heat with only a handful of men and limited resources; even Niki's son helps as vengeance is on his mind too.  (Don't tell him...).  It takes another six years, but at the end of it all, a large, formidable mobile suit stands ready for battle!  Behold the MS-09RR Junkyard Dwadge!

It is now UC 0095.  It has taken longer than expected to rebuild Rommel's Dwadge, but hopefully his adversary is still alive somewhere.  During the reconstruction, spies were sent to neighboring towns and cities to find any information they could on the Z Gundam pilot.  Also lots of time spent on the radio between other Zeon factions.  Eventually they get a name, Judau Ashta.  He is now 21 and working around Jupiter somewhere.  Rommel records a message and transmits it 24/7.

Judau Ashta

Meet me at (a set of coordinates in North Africa)

Rommel

And so he waits.  A few months pass, and then a simple reply over the radio:

I'm coming....

Judea is piloting an older Core Booster and is now approaching Earth.  He remembers the battle of 0088 and recognizes the location.  He descends over Africa and out in the middle of the desert, a small town appears.  He has arrived.

Judau circles the area searching for Rommel.  No one is answering his transmissions, and the air is heavy in Minovsky particles.  But Rommel is nearby watching the skies, partially buried in the sand, and sees the fighter fly overhead with his good eye.  Almost there....

Without warning, Rommel lets loose a volley of projectiles from his custom 430mm 'Brat Buster'!  But being a New Type, Ashta dodges the surprise attack easily and continues circling.  His Core Booster only has one weapon, and Judau does not want to use it.  This war has gone on far too long.  (It's at this point, Dear Readers, where I'm afraid you'll have to use your imagination to fill in the rest of this altercation, as I didn't do any photographs of the battle).

Try as he might, Rommel can't shoot him down.  The missiles, the big cannon, the 120mm, Judau evades them all.  "Fight me you coward!" screams Rommel as his Dwadge skims madly across the sand in pursuit.  "I don't want to fight you," pleads Judau, "I just want to talk!"  This goes on for several more minutes, until Rommel sees the core booster suddenly spiral in and land a kilometer away in the desert.  Is it a trap?  When he arrives at the landing zone, Judau is out of his fighter and on the sand, exposed and unarmed, with his arms raised.

"Last time we fought, I called you rash", says Judau.  "I gave you the opportunity to walk away, but you didn't.  You left me no choice!  We can now make amends and you can have a new life away from all this.  No one has to die today!"  How can he fire on an unarmed man.  He is still a kid despite the war, but he does talk too much...

"You and your meddling kids took everything from me!  My men, my home, my honour!" rebukes Rommel.  It would be so easy to blast his ass and shut him up for good.  "Talk is what lost us the war when those cowards surrendered our forces 15 years ago!"  

(And now, Dear Readers, I'm going to ask you for another favor.   I can't decide how I want to end the story, so I will let you decide from the options I present to you now!)

Option 01:

There is a long silence; nothing happens.  The quiet of the desert is broken by a loud click and the pilot's hatch on the Dwadge opens.  Rommel descends to the desert.  He limps over to Judau, and stands 10 meters from him.  They glare at each other for a time, then Rommel speaks.  "I can never forgive you; I will always hate you for who you are and what you did to my Corps.  I salute you today for your bravery, but if we ever meet again, I will not hesitate to kill you!"  Judau smiles and returns the salute.  "I can only say I am truly sorry for what I did and hope someday you can find peace."  The two warriors eye each other for a little while longer and then they both turn and head back to their machines.  Rommel watches from the Dwadge as Judau disappears into the sky.  Without his vengeance and rage, what is an old soldier left to do...?

Option 02:

There is a long silence; nothing happens.  The quiet of the desert is broken by a loud click.  Judau is horrified; that sound was the main cannon activating!!!  He doesn't even have time to lower his arms before Rommel fires the large gun.  Rommel screams in rage as he empties the magazine.  Before him now is a large crater and smoking wreckage where a Core Booster and a naive & idealistic individual stood only minutes ago.  He begins to sob.  What has his rage accomplished.  Is he a coward for shooting an unarmed man?  Is there any honour left in me?  Rommel stares at his handiwork for hours until the sun sets behind the dunes.  He then returns back to the town.  But one thing he does not realize is that the towns people and his remaining men have been watching all this from afar.  Perhaps there will be one more casualty today...

The End - Roll the Credits!

Part 2: Junkyard Dwadge, Core Booster, and a Rusty Hulk in the Sand!

Junkyard Dwadge

This project was never meant to be another production, but as per usual, the concept and scope went out of control.   Since it was going to be built from all sorts of bits & pieces salvaged from across the local desert, (Frankenstein style), I utilized the original 1/144 MS-09G Dwadge from 1986.  I also had an even older original MSV Desert DOM in 1/100.  No HG or snap kits here folks; just good old 20th century modeling!

Besides the two basic kits, there was going to be a lot of other mecha parts thrown in.  Armour & tank greeblies, left overs bits from other mecha kits, assorted plastic shapes, and salvage from previous models built many years ago all found their way into the mobile suit.  It took several weeks of scrounging and trial & error, until a final model was partially assembled on the workbench.

The primary mecha is a hybrid of the two kits.  I wanted a very chunky mobile suit with recognizable and unfamiliar parts.  Remember it is built from whatever was found in the desert, and other bits & pieces from the village junkyard (which unfortunately was not seen in the original episode, but trust me, it's there...).  I did end up 3D printing one part though, the head.  I found the kit versions too bulbous, so I did some modifications to a Thingiverse file of a Dom Tropen.  It looks much better.
  

Long term visitors to this site should recognize some familiar well used parts.  Two eggs; a Zaini and classic Kinder Egg.  Plus 3 toothbrush covers which make up the back pack.  That black 'skirt' under the orange egg is actually part of a dead computer mouse.  The yellow shoulder is from a cheap dollar store toy dump truck.  

That blue rectangle (which holds spare weapons and a missile launcher), was made from two 'Zoids' utility knife cases.  (In the story they are old ammo crates).  With all the parts ready to go, it was prime time.

Choosing a colour scheme slowed me down a bit.  Since it is built from junkyard parts, I was going to go with a very rusty appearance all round, but thought it too extreme in the end.  Next I repainted it in my favourite desert yellow, but I felt I was stuck in a rut, so went instead with various degrees of medium & dark green, muted red accents and rust effects.  I think I chose wisely...

The greens and the various tones of rust work well together, with the added shades of gun metals & metallics on the weaponry.  Lately I have also been using brass and bronze for accents, and of course for the ammo belt.

As per usual, I neglected to keep a record of the painting and weathering processes.  Nothing really new here, just the same old paints (mostly acrylics), dry brushing, pastels & pigments, and various washes.  

I had to glue the model to a wooden base because it is so heavy and off-balance I can't stand up on its own.

The 430mm rapid-fire cannon "Brat Buster" was made from various tank parts and the giant bazooka from the 1/100 kit.  There is also a pen for the muzzle.  The ammo chain is something I had in the parts box, and there is a 120mm machine gun slung under the barrel.  

Other weapons include a standard giant bazooka, beam sabre, and missile launcher attached to the large shield.  Spare ammo for the 120mm can be seen inside the shield in some angles.  Inside the knees are smoke grenades and crackers. You notice those tank treads on the mech and shield?  I got that idea from "Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance" Episode 3 'Junkyard'.  (The town scrapyard had some busted up Magella tanks, so tread links were salvaged and welded on for extra armour).  

The intakes on the lower legs for the ground hovering engines is more akin to a Dom Tropen (from 0083), but in an issue of 'Gundam Mechanics' I saw where a basic MS-09 had been retro fit.  (Makes sense as the Tropen predates the Dwadge.  That's the problem with prequels, sequels, and side stories).  The final feature was the phrase "Sieg Zeon" on the rear skirt.  Nothing like nostalgia!

And that is the story of the Junkyard Dawg; sorry, Junkyard Dwadge!  (See what I did there...?).  I had planned on doing a Desert Zaku rebuild/salvage as well to back up Commander Rommel, but opted instead to simplify things.  

Zaku Wreckage 

To build the second model, I used a very old Zaku kit (from the original 0079 series), which was in the 'Second Life' box, the afore mentioned collection of kits built way back in the '80s.  Making this was a nice change.  After I posed it, I used a Dremel and distressed the #$@% out of it!  It was hot glued to a slab of foam core as it was to be buried in the sand for the photo shoot.  The model was then ready for priming.

Now I could go crazy with rust!  Various tones of reds and browns using the sponge method, applying pigments & pastels, and then a quick black wash.  

Some of you keen-eyed mecha fans out there may recognize the influence for this model.  It is based on the wreckage of Combat Armour Dougram, from another '80s mecha series "Fang of the Sun Dougram".  It is a nod to the mechanical designer on both Gundam 0079 and Dougram, Kunio Okawara.  

Judau's Core Booster

The main point of this fake episode was the rematch between Ashta and Rommel.  I had to decide what kind of machine Judau would choose for this confrontation.  Should it be in the Z Gundam as before, or a different advanced/current mobile suit, as this battle is taking place 7 years later in UC 0095?   I opted for a peaceful approach (as Judau is not coming to fight, only to apologize...), and settled on a Core Booster, albeit an older model, with minimal weaponry.  Luckily I had the original Bandai 1/144 Core Booster from 0079 in the warehouse...

I did not want to build it stock (at this point I don't think I'm capable of doing so anyway...).  After a search on the internet for variations on the subject,  I settled on the FF-X7-Bst II Core Booster II Interceptor (quite a mouthful) from "Gundam:  MS IGLOO", yet another prequel series.  Basically built right out of the box with minimal modifications.  Just added some extra fins, tanks large & small, and a few greeblies here and there.  Only a few evenings work and it was ready for prime time.

Not much different to show with the primer.  A few more evenings of paint, mostly by brush.  I wanted to stick to mostly light greys and blue tones, as red had been used a lot in the other two previous models, but I still managed to sneak it nonetheless!

Red oxide for the large propellant tanks, Space Shuttle style!  All the boosters came from the original kit and the leftovers parts from the two DOM kits used for the Dwadge.  Painted them in dark metallic grey.

Only one gun on this ship, as it's supposed to be a peaceful confrontation, or so Judau thinks....  The final stage in finishing were some light washes to bring out the details and the streaking was made using pigments and pastels.  

The remaining piece was a figure of Judau in space suit (which you can see in the official episode photos above).  It was made using a British N scale figure, which is 1/148 scale.  Very convenient!

Part Three: Epilogue

So, did you choose wisely, or did you choose poorly?  (Don't tell me...)  In closing, it was a fun project and I was able to use up some more models in the inventory and parts box.  I'll try not to wait another five months for the next post, whatever that will be.  Last pic of the day, a behind the scenes of how I did the photos for the main story.  Yep, that's real sand!

Have a Better One, Readers!

Space: 2022 - Episode Four

 

This post is first in a new feature whereas a specific episode will be showcased for a distinct reason, either for a guest miniature, story arc turning point, or in this case, the addition of a new cast member (and new miniature!), which will change the dynamic of the stories from this point on.  So stand by for a plethora of plot contrivances, Deus Ex Machina, and merciless rewrites of Year Two episodes!

As you may remember, we left the PHOENIX and battered crew in deep space after the unfortunate encounter with a proton storm (it's not safe out here...).  Badly damaged and limping through space, VICTOR detects an alien planet nearby.  The ship heads for the new planet with hopes of finding materials and minerals (especially titanium) to make repairs to the ship.

Bill Fraser and Co-pilot Ray Torens head down in Dove 01 and encounter an inhospitable planet with volcanoes and quakes, but no life.  As luck would have it, large quantities of titanium are detected, and Dove 01 heads back to the ship for more equipment and some navvies to do the heavy lifting.  Suddenly, a large ball of green light appears and engulfs the ship, reverses and returns to the planet.  Guess it wasn't uninhabited after all!

Alan initiates Red Alert and all weapons are charged.  How can anything live down there?  Suddenly, a loud booming voice breaks the silence.  "Commander Carter!".  The volume is lowered on the speakers and a large bearded man appears on the main screen.  It is Mentor Blessed, the sole inhabitant of the planet "Psychon".  After some discussion,  an exchange will take place in orbit.  First returning the first two pilots,  and then negotiating for the minerals required.  Alan commands Dove 02, with Koenig along for support, Helena for any medical needs, and Science Officer Picard (no relation..) for mineral advice.  But no one has seen the lioness behind him.  The big cat transforms into a young woman; she is a shape shifter and Mentor's daughter!  Back on the PHOENIX, the five board the Dove and set off for the planet.  In near orbit, a ship appears...

VICTOR scans the ship, but there are no life signs aboard.  It's a trap!  Mentor's ship, using magnetic energy, begins to drag the Dove down to the surface.  Alan hits the boosters but no effect.  As G forces increase, Alan tries a short burst of the Queller drive and they escape.  Safety is short lived as Mentor's ship has turned into a glowing green energy ball and engulfs the Dove as before.  The green ball descends and lands amongst some volcanoes.  But as the light dissipates, the captives realise they are in a kind of spaceship graveyard, made up of assorted Year One ships turned upside down.  They also see Dove 01 on the other side of the crater.  

Mentor tries his word tricks again, and they cannot contact the ship.  A cave is nearby so they disembark and head for entrance.  Meanwhile, Toren's is having his psychic energy extracted into Mentor's computer "Psyche".  He hopes to exploit this energy to rejuvenate the planet.  Meanwhile, Alan and the gang are exploring the caves.  They hear tools and find an area full of various humanoid aliens doing unpaid mining.  Torens appears and starts digging as well.  "Some sort of brain damage", says Helena.  Mentor appears as a hologram, and Picard shoots him, but the energy is reflected back and he is vapourized.  Helena screams.  The green ball of light appears again and the remaining four in the landing party are transported to a cell.

Maya, Mentor's daughter, has a chat with Alan; she is naive as to what her Father is up to, using beings as fodder for his evil machine and exploiting the left overs as labour.  Maya takes Alan to Mentor; he has John, Helena, and Fraser hooked up for psychic energy extraction.  Mentor will spare them all if he agrees to bring down the rest of the crew.  He complies, contacts the ship, and orders the crew to leave the ship;  "Directive 4".  No one on the ship knows what that means.  VICTOR does.  It means destroy the origin of the transmission.  With some protests, Tony agrees and Petrov dispatches a Planetomic bomb (they are not supposed to be carrying these...).

Mentor sees the deception, and destroys the missile.  And in kind, sends a few missiles back at them, but luckily Petrov's marksmanship prevails.  Meanwhile, Maya has been talking with the hostages.  They convince her to go to the mines and see what her Father is really up to.  She reluctantly agrees and sees for herself the results of Mentor's work.   Maya then takes Alan and John to Mentor for a final negotiation.  He will not listen so they begin smashing "Psyche".  Unfortunately, this machine is holding the planet together; Pychon starts breaking apart in spectacular miniature pyrotechnics.  Alan, John, Helena, and Bill make a run for the Doves, but Maya will not leave her Father.  Bill takes 01 and the others escape in 02.  The planet explodes and they return to the ship.  Just before they are about to leave, they hear a cry for help.

It is Maya in a strange alien spaceship, the "Psyche".  "Please, I have nowhere to go..."  Alan gives her permission to come aboard and the ship docks at the main airlock, the docking clamps giving her ship a warm, welcoming embrace.  (They never did get any titanium...).

Current Mission Report:

Ship's Complement (109)

Unwilling VIP Passengers (ep03)(added to roster)(+2)

Crew Deaths (ep04) (-2)

Alien Refugee (ep04)(+1)

Revised Complement (110)

"Space:1999" - Year Two, in this twisted 2022 timeline, is ship based rather than set on a rogue moon, so I had to devised an alternate way to get Maya on board that ship.  I borrowed (OK, stole...) the addition of Hawk (and his Hawk Fighter) to the cast/scenario of "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" - Season Two.  Now that Maya has joined the crew as Science Officer, she will also utilize her ship, the "Psyche" when convenient for the plot.  As to the back story of this ship/miniature, please continue.

Building "Psyche"

I wanted Maya's ship to be radically different from the other primary ships, nothing 1999ish or recognizable.  I rummaged through my kit warehouse and found a suitable model from a totally different source.  The 1/550 HG Bandai kit of the MA-06 Val-Walo, a mobile armour from "Gundam 0083". 

Perfect size and very organic!  Of course I could not build it stock out of the box; I had some modifications in mind already.  Since Maya is a metamorph, I thought it would be a good plot device to have her ship able to change appearance as well.  Not by changing mechanically or by molecular re-arrangement, but by using holographic emitters.  To make the emitters, I remembered a Peter Elson painting I had seen (Perry Rhodan - 30 to Arkon book cover) of a craft encrusted with small domes.  Perfect for those emitters...

Built the kit over a few evenings, re-arranging some of the bits, and adding others.  Not going to over the top, as afterall, it has to be filmed...  Final step was adding on various sizes of domes (those plastic pearl things from the good old dollar store craft section) to complete the job.

It would have been easy to overdo the domes.  Luckily restraint prevailed!  After prime time, a final colour had to be chosen.  It's an alien craft, so (by law, somewhere...), it was painted green.

A basic off-the-shelf olive drab really with some highlights and minimal weathering.  Some metallic accents and a few alien-looking decals (ripped from a Macross kit..) completed the job.

That gap is where the cowling can be removed for docking.  I put some magnets inside the ship as well as in that main docking tube with the claws.  So the ship can be held there when not in use; it is permanently berthed there now.  It can hold two people if need be, but somewhat cramped.  And only Maya can operate the ship as it is controlled by her Psychon mind.  Maya can board the "Psyche" in seconds from the Command Module; just a few quick zero-G yoga moves!

Welcome aboard the PHOENIX, Maya!  We'll see what this little ship can do in later episodes to help combat the scores of alien baddies which, as you all know, are omnipresent in deep space!  You never know, it may turn into a hawk!

Have a better one!

Flammkuchen Freitag!

Yet another project is complete!  This one started out, with all good intentions, to build a mech based on a design from modeler/manga artist/anime creator Makoto Kobayashi.  Long time visitors to this site know of my admiration for this individual.  Check out his other work; there's lots of it out there!

One of his more bizarre designs is a mech first created for Z Gundam, the Baund Doc.  Not your regular anthropomorphic style, this one is almost bird-like with spindly arms all atop a saucer.  There are many variations, and the style evolved into another mech for his "Dragon's Heaven" OVA called a Gampf.

I have wanted to build one for quite some time; there were many false starts and delays over the years.  After the snow globe diversion, I resurrected the concept.  I just had to find the right parts.  Luckily I had in my possession a previously enjoyed Slave 1 model (thanks Joe!), which would make a suitable saucer.  The rest of the parts would be liberated mainly from two other Bandai Gundam kits, a Jamru-Fin (from ZZ Gundam), and a Hygogg (from War in the Pocket).  But I could not bring myself to pick and choose the parts, so instead I scavenged what I needed from the greeblies box; tank parts and other models from way back.  Copious amounts of dollar store bits also made it into the mix.  

So in this jumble of bits and pieces are acrylic shapes, and parts from several kits, mostly some old Dorvack suits and early Gundam models.  So no new models were harmed in this venture!  There are also toy parts and (very weathered) ping pong balls.  Those were used under the saucer.

I kept the underside detail to a minimum as it would only be seen from the sides.  An acrylic scoop was used to house all the upper parts.  (I was surprised to see that other modelers making variations of this mech also used the Slave 1 saucer as their base...)

One final test assembly.  The left forearm (with the claw) is actually a handle for a mini driver, and of course there is the customary Zaini egg. And now it's Prime Time!

The model went through many changes over the weeks.  The original intent was for it to have that massive bulk of tanks under the saucer as in the concept sketches, but after the attempt it looked like crap, so I went more Gampf than Baund-Doc.  First it was going to be spacey, then ground based, then spacey again.  Eventually I settled on a ground based unit, and decided to make it part of the "North Africa: 2042" scenario I started way back in 2015.  As the Tortoise was a British unit, I made this a German machine.  But it is much larger, the Gottesanbeterin!

The model is built to 1/72 scale, and the design has strayed quite far from the original Kobayashi concepts.  It is more Dieselpunk now, and ready for some future desert combat!

The "Gottesanbeterin", or Preying Mantis, is a mech from the fictional "Neues Deutchland".  It skims above the ground (using rediscovered 20th century technology from the "Haunebu" projects), and it rips and tears at enemy armours with the heavy claws.  

With a crew of three, and only the one main gun, this unit relies on other smaller support mechs for defense.  (Not built for this diorama unfortunately, but maybe soon...).  

Painting was done using primarily Krylon Ultra Camouflage rattlers, which are becoming hard to find these days.  Two basic colours for the base coats and then mostly Tamiya acrylics for the accents.  

  As before, I wanted to keep the weathering to a minimum as I doubt this monstrosity would have been (will be?) made using iron and other metals.  I used pastels to accent and put a fine layer of dust on the model.  After a few salvaged decals from other German kits, I layered on some camo netting to help hide it from the other guys...  

So the title of this posting, (Flammkuchen Freitag!), is roughly translated to "Pizza Friday".  End of the week is usually rewarded with pizza, especially around here.  And even in North Africa 21 years from now, nothing has changed.  But how do three hungry fighting men in an armoured mech get pizza way out in the desert?  You have it delivered of course!

I had this 1/72 Kettentrad kit from Hasegawa around for quite some time, so I thought this would make a good delivery van.  Now it takes awhile to get pizza out there; no thirty minutes it's free.  But in the near future the pies are shipped in thermal stasis boxes; as fresh as the day they were made!

My wife told me today, "That is the weirdest model you have ever built..."  And I agree!  So much that I plan to do a proper Baund-Doc someday.  This time the spacey version sporting the tank farm underside.  Here are some more nice blue sky beauty shots:

So remember, there is always time for pizza.  And don't forget the pineapple!  Have a better one, readers!