Series: High Grade Universal Century (HGUC) 1/144
Title: MS-05B Zaku I
Release Date: 05/2006
Suggested Price: ¥ 1000
No. of Parts: 114 + 24 polycaps
Plastic colors: blue, green, gray
Gimmicks: multiple weapon set ups and various hands, polycap in hip section to imitate animation ‘shoulder charge' with stand (sold separately), monoeye swivels

Introduction

Contributor: Clem-Master-Janitor
Date: August 14, 2007

Time for a kit I've waited almost six years to get a hold of, the Zaku I.  After seeing the MG version, I wondered what was keeping Bandai all this time from getting this early MS down to HG form. Was it worth all these years of waiting?

Head

An amazing innovation that's finally found its way into HG land, the eye swivels. You center it and a peg located below the ‘chin' of the Zaku allows you to move the eye left or right. No need to pick a pose and stick with it, now you can change it up with your weapons setup on a whim. I'm lovin' this up. You'll need a small toothpick or tweezers edge to adjust the eye. It moves very smooth, just make sure you center it properly or else you'll have a Zaku only capable of looking at one side. Also included is a commander head piece to make your Zaku a leader instead of a standard grunt.

Torso

The torso of this kit has two sections reminiscent of the Gundam's design with the lower body piece kind of floating free to allow for that stretched look. Both shoulder pegs swivel, giving the arms extra movements. Good detail for an HG kit and a nice bonus is included. I've never seen this option on the MG version of the Zaku, but you can pop a section of armor just on the right side of the Zaku's head, revealing a slot. Insert the optional bazooka shoulder rest and energy cable piece and you have some type of charged up bazooka pose! It sits nice and won't bounce out even if you decide not to paint the kit.  

Arms

Both arms can fold up and touch their own shoulders. This gives the option of making a Zaku style football shoulder throw that you can beat down your opponent MS. It's a pain in the ass to figure the magic assembly to make painting easier, but the gray is simple enough to hand paint after airbrushing. If you've put together any of the Hazel Gundam variants, you'll be familiar with this layout.

The hands of this kit are great. They're more detailed and smaller than the normal HGUC kit and they work great. This is due to not using the ABS plastic that makes up the joints for making the hands. No warping or popping out of place like the Hazel or the Powered GM. Instead, this is made of the same blue plastic as the body. It's solid, pops apart quickly to swap weapons, and holds them all nicely. Only bad part there isn't a dedicated hand for the heat hawk. As of such, the axe tends to fall out of the hand and drop the blade into the fingers. Not exactly a fearsome warrior look.

Legs

Legs are standard fare for the newer Zakus. The ankles have a series of extra polycaps allowing for more action based poses and stepping movements. The skirt armor all moves around the legs nicely. Even the peg for the heat hawk storage integrates nicely. There is a bit of conflict with the heat hawk and the bazooka storage but only if you go with certain angles and poses. Experiment to find your perfect setup of all the weapons. Using all these weapons and using the ready to launch and rock with all guns blazing look works nicely.  

Weapons and Accessories

Many weapons are included, a special type Zaku bazooka, the Zaku I style Zaku machine gun, the heat hawk and storage area. Extra hands are included for holding the bazooka and an open left hand curved to either hold the bazooka or place fist in hand as it lays its shoulder into the enemy pose. Secondhand Bandai decals are also available to detail the hell out of the kit, but you have to use your imagination on where they go or do some research.  

The bazooka panel is a tight fit and integrates well into to shoulder, as I mentioned earlier. The slide that conceals the ‘sold separately' flight stand polycap is a bit big but easy to remove and is hidden well between the legs. You could just as easily leave it off.

Conclusion

Awesome kit. No doubts about it. If you love One Year War Zeonic designs, this is one of the best. With its little additions that jump ahead of its MG brother and all the after market customizations, you can really take this model places. And if you have a Zaku II in need of some extra firepower, hook it up with the Zaku I's bazooka for added bad-assery like the back of the Zaku I's box suggests. If you're new to the Gundam model genre, this is also a great kit to start with as you have only the heat hawk requiring paint. Add in a very low price for the amount of little options add up to a perfect kit.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

<<back to Gundam