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 10, ep. 67 - and now something (almost) different 2

Metamorphosis week 10, ep. 67 - and now something (almost) different 3

Metamorphosis week 10, ep. 67 - and now something (almost) different 4

Metamorphosis week 10, ep. 67 - and now something (almost) different 5

Metamorphosis week 10, ep. 67 - and now something (almost) different 6

Sci-Fi

72 days ago

Cristian Carlone

@cristiancarlone | Sci-Fi

Metamorphosis week 10, ep. 67 - and now something (almost) different

Ciao! Today’s post has nothing to do with the project for the GWCC.

I wanted to show an older project of mine, a small diorama with another Zaku II from the 0083 series and a destroyed building.

It was a lot of fun creating this scene. The street lamps, bullet casings, part of the rubble, the graffiti and ripped poster on the building wall were all scratch built.

I have a small YouTube channel where I showcase some of my builds. I do not post too ofter but if you like to take a peek, this is the link:
https://youtube.com/@natalebabbo-gunplaanddioramas?si=gDAFXaKFjBKEzk5H

HF
Hanabi Figures69 days ago
Oh, this one looks awesome!
- CC
  Cristian Carlone69 days ago
  Replying to Hanabi Figures
  @hanabifigures, thank you so much! It was a fun project and I’m very happy about it.
FF
Fadi Fadel71 days ago
Wonderful work and beautiful imagination
- CC
  Cristian Carlone71 days ago
  Replying to Fadi Fadel
  @fadifadel, thank you so much for your appreciation!
AQ
Arvin Quezada71 days ago
Nicely done on that diorama that wteck building is great
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  Cristian Carlone71 days ago
  Replying to Arvin Quezada
  @arvinquezada, thank you so much! This compliment coming from an amazing modeler and gunpla champion as you are means a lot to me!
LM
Lorenzo Malatesta72 days ago
Davvero molto bello
- CC
  Cristian Carlone72 days ago
  Replying to Lorenzo Malatesta
  @lorenzomalatesta, grazie di cuore! Buon ferragosto ⛱
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gekoch72 days ago
Thanks I did not know that, those are (late) 40's American antiaircraft caliber for their auto guns.
- CC
  Cristian Carlone72 days ago
  Replying to gekoch
  @gekoch, you are welcome! According to all the sources on line I found, the 120 mm is the Zaku machine gun standard caliber. I did not know it was also the U.S. WWII AA standard. You provided me with a new fact! Thanks.🙏
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  gekoch71 days ago
  Replying to Cristian Carlone
  @cristiancarlone They had two AA Calibers for two similar guns 75mm and 120mm , Twin automatic feeders on either side of the breach. Both Radar controlled.
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  gekoch71 days ago
  Replying to Cristian Carlone
  @cristiancarlone there used to be a kit of them in the 50's and 60's. Look on line.
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  Cristian Carlone71 days ago
  Replying to gekoch
  @gekoch, cool fact! Thank you for sharing it.
- CC
  Cristian Carlone71 days ago
  Replying to gekoch
  @gekoch, I will! I love vintage kits.
CC
Cristian Carlone72 days ago
@gekoch, great question! These are the 120 mm standard Zaku ii machine gun casing.
CC
Cristian Carlone72 days ago
@karlscalemodeling, thank you very much!
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Cristian Carlone72 days ago
@dougmulle, thanks! These are the casings are easy to make. Proper diameter styrene rod and a drill a small hollow on one end. Paint it brass with a dot of black inside the hollow.
CC
Cristian Carlone72 days ago
@omarfrancia, thank you! I’m happy you like the whole atmosphere.

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