HGUC 1/144 Brown Southern Cross from Cucuruz Doan’s Island. Amazing custom build by Ayapons45. Full images and complete description for each Zaku
The Southern Cross Corps is an elite unit of the Principality of Zeon’s armed forces that appears in Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island. Reproduce the distinctive armament and camouflage colors of 01 Egba machine, 02 Wald Ren machine, 03 Sanho machine, 04 Selma machine, and 05 Danan machine. I tried displaying it based on a new illustration drawn by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko.
01 Egba machine. I like the camouflage paint to have fluffy boundaries between colors, so I did it with an airbrush without using the included decals (*This applies to all MS from now on). Equipped with a large Zaku machine gun that can attach a heat dagger and a heat sword not found on other MS, it also features a distinctive head blade antenna as a commander aircraft. This is the MS completed in .
02 Wald machine. It was the last of the five to be completed. The anti-ship rifle and Heat Hawk are borrowed from the mass-produced Zaku. I found it interesting that the camouflage pattern was similar to the first Captain’s MS, perhaps because it was an old Vice Captain’s MS. In the photo above, it has a long barrel anti-ship rifle, but I also produced a short barrel anti-ship rifle, Shorty.
03 Sanho machine. This is the 3rd one out of 5 in production order. The main weapon, the Zaku machine gun, is borrowed from the mass-produced Zaku. Initially, I was planning to have Egba’s Zaku machine gun, but when I looked closely at the movie and the setting pictures, I realized that it was a normal Zaku machine gun, so I hurriedly added some additional work to make it have one.
04 Selma machine. It was the fourth in production order. The B2 type Zaku Bazooka is not the one that comes with the kit, but rather the “Gundam Base Limited System Weapon Kit 009”. Perhaps because it is the only female-only MS, I kept the weathering to a minimum. I noticed after painting the camouflage that the Egba, Wald, and Selma machines all have one more color on the inside of their shins.
05 Danan MS. It was second in production order. Like the Sanho machine, the main armament, the Zaku machine gun, was borrowed from the mass-produced Zaku. Also, like in the movie, it is equipped with two Heat Hawks. Compared to the complex camouflage patterns of other MS, I had the impression that it was quite simplified. Even though it was the MS of a new pilot who volunteered, my interpretation is that the lack of camouflage may reflect Zeon’s predicament. Among the Southern Cross Corps, a group of professional soldiers, Danan’s cheerful personality was different and very impressive.
We are the Southern Cross Squad! I tried to gather them together so that I could say something like this. All MS use a 2.5mm SP plate + H-eyes for the mono-eye, a metal nozzle for the school bag, and metal parts + H-eyes for the weapon sight (scope). The paint for the camouflage pattern is Mr. COLOR’s Sandy Brown, Wood Brown, Red Brown, and Khaki Green, and the colors are unified by using paint from the same bottle (*mixed) for all five figures. .
By placing them side by side, you can find differences and commonalities in the camouflage patterns of each MS, and enjoy the unique way of enjoying the three-dimensional models. You can also feel the pilot’s individuality in the long-range, medium-range, and close-combat weapons.
I used Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s illustrations as the image source and displayed them in a circular diorama with a diameter of 30 cm. The scene of a unit charging forward while raising a cloud of sand is recreated using cotton. More than a year has passed since the movie was released in June 2022, and we were finally able to assemble the Southern Cross squad that I had always wanted. I’m overwhelmed with emotion!
Work by あやぽん
aka: Ayapons45 on X
