The MK42 is a manned armored fighting suit from the MachinenKrieger/Blechman series of photos stories that appeared in the April 1985 issue of Model Graphix magazine. Similar in appearance the MK44, the MK42 is an earlier design with a clear front canopy and portholes on either side for pilot visibility.
This build is based on a resin garage kit originally released by Zionel Western Bis. The garage kit was very basic and required a lot of rework. Everything behind the seat back is from spares… none of it will be visible. I replaced some cast resin parts with spares from the Hasegawa MK44 kit like the fuel drum and ammo can. I used a leftover pilot torso from a LLG BlackKnight to replace the rather basic sculpt included in the kit. The arm sleeves were a little anemic so I covered them with a thin layer of epoxy putty and bulked up the arms. Power tubes are from Wave. The various wires are from a drawer full I have on hand. The hip and ankle joints were modified to fit Wave ball joints to make the parts easier to paint and pose. I textured the model with thinned Tamiya grey putty and sculpted welds from Green Stuff epoxy putty.
There are some serious gaps to the torso halves when closed. I painted the interior and pilot prior since they will not be accessible after final assembly.
What do you call an armored suit pilot with no arms and no legs?
Mac.
The ergonomics on this design are ridiculous but I had no interest in going down that rabbit hole to correct. Once fully assembled, it's not noticeable.
Paint and markings have been applied.
The initial paint scheme looked kinda dull. I added the blue splash of color. I need to work on a base next.
