We left the Sazabi with the frame painted, but with only a couple of armour pieces that need to be assembled into the frame completed. These pieces also served as a test for the three shades of red I was going to use:
- dark red = Alclad gloss black -> Createx pearl red -> Tamiya clear red
- medium red = Alclad gloss black -> Alclad chrome -> Tamiya clear red
- bright red = Alclad gloss black -> Alclad pale gold -> Tamiya clear red
The first step for all the armour pieces is Alclad black gloss undercoat, and I started with the chrome. I’d had a fair bit of practise with the chrome through doing the frame, and for the armour it all went on very well and very evenly.
To get the Tamiya clear red looking good, I went for doing a light coat first. Although the clear red goes on very well, on top of the Alclad it can have some adhesion issues, and a thin coat will help the next coat stick really well.
And once the last coat of clear red is on, it looks fantastic.
On the helmet, you can see what happens when the first coat of the clear red goes on too thickly and doesn’t stick right. It sort-of pulls and tears as it dries. Fortunately another couple of light layers tidied everything up nicely.
Masking the vents and details on the waist section. 
Once the masking is off, I added in some Tamiya smoke just to add depth to the details, and it really helps.
Here’s lots of pieces getting Future Finish top coat ahead of decals.
And some of the nicest decals are going on the guns. I let them dry and then top coat them again to fix them in place. The guns will get a final flat coat right at the end of the build.
The arm pieces have small indented details, so I decanted a small amount of paint from a silver Gundam marker and used my tiniest paint brush to drop some paint in. Once dry, I added a touch of depth with a small drop of Tamiya smoke.
And for the panel lines, I used my white oil paint wash.
Starting assembly – feet first! 
Now onto some completed sections.
And all sub-sections getting a good top coat of Future Finish for extra shine and protection before assembly.
For comparison, here’s the new Sazabi next to my original.
GWBC 2015????
the color for the 2nd sazabi looks nicer but somehow looks skinner than the original
I think that’s because it’s not posed, and all the expanding parts are un-expanded. Once you do the transform, it does add bulk to the suit. On my original one I have the knees bent too, which reduces the height. Happy you liked the paint job. It’s interesting to see how the slight difference in paints looks in comparison.