Cristian Carlone

@cristiancarlone

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Project Summary

This project draws on two passages from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, both describing humans transformed into trees — not as illustration, but as inspiration for a scene in its own right. The discovery of a beautiful piece of bark during a mountain hike with my wife provided the ideal starting point. The kit I chose is a vintage Zaku II in 1/144 scale.

The first of the two passages is from Book I, where the nymph Daphne, fleeing Apollo, begs her father Peneus to change her form:

“….. A filmy rind about her body grows; Her hair to leaves, her arms extend to boughs: The nymph is all into a lawrel gone;…...”

The second passage comes from Book VIII, where the elderly Baucis and Philemon are transformed together at the moment of death — bark sealing their final words to one another:

“Old Baucis is by old Philemon seen Sprouting with sudden leaves of spritely green: ……., And saw his lengthen’d arms a sprouting wood: New roots their fasten’d feet begin to bind, Their bodies stiffen in a rising rind: Then, ere the bark above their shoulders grew,…..”

This diorama imagines a Zaku II, mid-patrol, seized by a sudden and rapid metamorphosis into bark. The cause is deliberately left untold — the scene is concerned only with the fact that it is happening, not why. The mecha shows only minor wear and tear: this is not an abandoned machine reclaimed slowly by time, but an active one undergoing an unexpected transformation.

Its legs have already been absorbed into the tree — only two broken fragments of a leg’s connecting cable remain, snapped off and emerging from the bark. The skirt armor has started its transformation, shards of bark protruding between the skirt gaps. The shield at its side is more advanced in the transformation, the wood having taken over it’s lower part. Vines emerge from the bark and slither along and over the Zaku’s arms and upper body, pinning it down the way roots seal over anything in their path. The shoulders are also covered, like vegetation hands holding it down. The mecha cannot pull free; it is being covered, so the transformation can continue. Still, in a futile attempt, one arm tries to lift what’s left of the body; the other reaches out, its hand open, fingers spread, in a call for help that will go unanswered.

Using natural bark, moss, and lichen, this piece is inspired by Ovid but also pays a small homage to a recurring theme in Tomino’s Gundam saga: nature reclaiming what humanity has taken from it.

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Metamorphosis week 8, ep. 52 - Painted matt

Sci-Fi

87 days ago

Cristian Carlone

@cristiancarlone | Sci-Fi

Metamorphosis week 8, ep. 52 - Painted matt

ciao! A very quick update. Two coats of Kaleidos matt varnished were sprayed with the airbrush on the whole base to seal the work so far.
Next step: modifying the Zaku shield.

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STUDIO93544 days ago
That's a great matte varnish :p
- CC
  Cristian Carlone44 days ago
  Replying to STUDIO935
  @studio935, thank you! It’s a very good matt, not excessively matt to cover nuances on the base coat.
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studionaiya3d86 days ago
i like
- CC
  Cristian Carlone86 days ago
  Replying to studionaiya3d
  @studionaiya3d, thank you for liking it!
AQ
Arvin Quezada87 days ago
How good is the varnish type
- CC
  Cristian Carlone87 days ago
  Replying to Arvin Quezada
  @arvinquezada, it sprays really nice with minimal if none thinner (depending on the airbrush nozzle). Not extremely matt though. I gave it 2 coats to be on the safe side.
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HANGAR7887 days ago
This is looking super good! Love the progress!!
- CC
  Cristian Carlone87 days ago
  Replying to HANGAR78
  @hangar78, thank you. It’s a painfully slow process, but I’m glad you like it!
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gekoch87 days ago
Am just wondering , are there any recovery vehicles for these Mech's?
- CC
  Cristian Carlone87 days ago
  Replying to gekoch
  @gekoch, 😂 that’s a good one! I should think about adding a big tow truck 😆
CC
Cristian Carlone87 days ago
@christopherkoch, thanks a lot. I’ll have more shots of the final results in a later update.
CC
Cristian Carlone87 days ago
@kingbob, thank you for liking it!

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