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HG 1/144 MSZ-010 ZZ Gundam
Series: High Grade (HG) 1/144
Contributor: Clem-Master-Janitor Date: December 6, 2006 As my first real interest in building sci-fi model kits, the Gundam kits were the first to have an appeal with their limitless poses, interesting designs, and simplistic assembly. Having seen only 1/144 models from Gundam Wing, I found the 1991 ‘HG' kits at my favorite dealer an interesting buy. They were, after all, more detailed, bigger in the transformation department, and very unique to the area in which I live. I bought three of these kits (the ‘HG' 1/144 Gundam MK II, 1/144 Zeta Gundam, and the ZZ Gundam). Of all three, only the ZZ Gundam has withstood the test of time.
The head of the ZZ Gundam is a five piece set up with the high mega cannon being molded in both red and yellow while the two pieces making up the head are off white. A thick gray neck piece links the two head parts together, allowing movement of the head up and down but no side to side turn of the neck. The chin is not molded in red, which is an odd thing considering the selling point of the kit is the parts are all molded together with colors injected into single pieces to reduce paining, like the high mega cannon and the antenna (one piece with two colors). The eyes are a transparent fluorescent green that is highly reactive in a night light and also adds a bit of life to the piece. Panel lines are great for those interested in bringing out the full details of the face and head. A single gray polycap makes up the neck with a lone peg to mount the head quickly to the upper shoulders. This also allows you to pop off the head for transformation into G-Fortress mode or Core Top.
The ZZ Gundam has a chest plate that folds up on a twin hinge system at the upper body exhaust vents. It feels flimsy but holds up remarkably well under stress. I'd advise not placing a great deal of stress on the kit as the plastic from the early 90s isn't the same grade as the later 90s. It's still superior to many of the 1/144 kits Bandai molded, but again, I'd avoid testing what it's fully capable of withstanding if you want to still transform it. The pieces of the chest are all color molded so, if you want, you can avoid painting it. The neck guard armor is molded with yellow while bonded to a blue base. The front chest vents are yellow and molded to the blue front chest plate. The back armor is a single blue chunk that connects all the way to the hips, rendering the torso immobile. All the major transformation pieces for the backpack are mounted through here, hence, it is the sturdiest part of them all. Underneath the chest armor is the FXA-07GB Core Fighter, a entity in itself. It fits snuggly in place when folded up and mounts nicely to the Core Base and G-Fortress when transformed. It's molded in red, white, and blue with a gray polycap piece that runs between the upper and lower halves of the main fuselage to allow the two thruster engines to extend and retract depending on what mode you have the kit in. The designers must have figured no one would want to display the ZZ Gundam in its various transformation modes since the Core Fighter is molded in single colors except for the front intakes, they‘re yellow and connected to the blue halves of the fuselage. If you want detail, you have to paint it. A lot of little details can be brought out in the Core Fighter if you want to take the time. One grievance arrives with the Core Fighter, the tail wing is a separate part that rides on a single rod that is molded into the upper half of the Core Fighter. Its ‘U' shape attachment sits just fine, but when you go to switch it out of ‘core' mode and into ‘Core Fighter' mode, it pops off with no reasoning. It slides on just as easily, but it's an annoying problem. Another grievance, the front armor piece that protects the pilot of the Core Fighter when in ZZ Gundam mode doesn't quite fit right, resulting in the upper chest armor sometimes looking pushed up. You have to push down hard sometimes to get it to just fit right and it can be a hassle when it wants to pop out whenever some one looks at it. This problem vanished when I painted it, but the years I had it unpainted made it a common problem. The backpack is another interesting part. It's actually attached to the lower half but has pegs to stabilize it on the back. No missile silos to play with here, which is a bummer. Both hyper beam sabers attach to polycap storage pieces that are mounted within the backpack. They hold the pieces independently, so it can make finding the perfectly symmetrical appearance very difficult when you're trying to achieve a pose (if that's what you're going for). The pop off easily for when you want to pose the kit with a saber, but I ask, “Why?” More on that later. Otherwise the whole pack is molded in a darker blue. Lots of detailing work if you're willing to take the time. Otherwise it is passable if you leave it as is when assembled.
The arms are molded in single colored pieces since most of the armor on the upper and lower arms transforms. The shoulder plate fold down on two gray polycaps molded in the shape of thrusters. Lower arms have a hollow space to allow the hands to flip into them and expose the thrusters for the Core Top. These thrusters are polycaps molded with details to look like two thrusters and hold the hands nicely. Even the heavy weight of the big double beam rifle doesn't bring the hands or the elbows down. The wing shields of the Core Top move easily, maybe too easily. When transformed, they can get a mind of their own and collapse back down on one another. The elbows are mounted through a single polycap that links the lower arms to the upper, rotating piece of the upper arms. I found when it was not painted, the piece that attaches to the polycap of the elbow from the lower arms would slide off from time to time, but, now that it's painted, the problem has corrected itself. To make the upper arm rotary piece work properly and smoothly, I did have to do some sanding. Parts would jam up and cause the two pieces to separate if you tried too hard to turn them.
Each part is mostly molded in single colors, except for the feet, which are molded in red and white, and the knee spike/stabilizer, which is red and white. Skirt armor is attached to the upper legs while no skirt armor is present on the back hips. A single slide houses the upper body connection within the hips nice and tight. A folding piece of plastic in a ‘V' shape binds the two together in G-Fortress and ZZ Gundam mode while riding on a polycap that links the main body to the backpack's transformation piece. That's right, this one polycap is the only thing holding the big thrusters to the main body. It also brings up a warning about the smaller polycaps of the early 90s: THE POLYCAPS OF THE ‘HG' SERIES ARE FRAGILE AND IF YOU GET ROWDY JUST ONCE, THEY WILL SPLIT IN HALF. It's the only warning I will give since it's the only small polycap you will need to deal with. The legs of the ZZ Gundam are where the kit can become difficult. The upper legs have a rotating piece similar to the arms, allowing each leg to swivel in a 360. This is nice for posing and the transformation system. The problem is the lower half of the legs. Housed inside the legs are a set of slides that allow the feet to, once collapsed, to enter the leg armor housing while the outer track slides around to push back the thrusters for the Core Base to pop out at the bottom. Did that make any sense because it sounds simpler than it looks in the instruction picture? The knee thruster/exhaust piece are connected together through a polycap by a screw. My guess is that the designers realized how be of a pain a painted kit would be to transform without pieces exploding in hand. The screw adds support while you bend the plastic enough to allow it to separate and slide down the track. Meanwhile, on the inside of the legs, two very tight pegs lock the feet in ZZ Gundam mode or thruster mode and can be a pain in the rear to get to release. The plastic piece that is riding the track is not as strong as the armor pieces, so it only adds to the stress while you transform. My advice is to be very careful where you paint so not to add to the pain here. Once you get the hang of things, and a steady hand, you will have no problems doing the transformations. After being transformed in either forms, the legs are very stable and balance the weight load on the back well.
The main weapons this kit comes with is the huge double beam rifle and a single, powered up, hyper beam saber. The double beam rifle is impressive with the two polycaps that allow both barrels to move and swivel independently while a nice transparent green piece in the targeting sensor gives the weapon some added flare. You need to paint the barrels to get the proper color. Also the area where I'm guessing the pilots of the Core Top would sit in the double beam rifle is not painted, so again, you have to paint this black if you want to make the kit look more correct. Now the disappointing hyper beam saber. What a let down. It's just a single white plastic piece. No nice transparent energy blade for this. Who knows why when they went so far to mold such tiny pieces for the eyes and rifle sensor. Just painting it the red/pink color seems cheap and take away from the look of the kit. A small sheet of decals come with the kit, but just toss them. They don't fit in well with the colors and are too thick to blend in.
A few things I should mention before I go on to my final conclusion, the transformed parts of the ZZ Gundam (Core Top, Core Base, and Core Fighter) are all solid in their transformations. In G-Fortress mode, you can hold it up and it won't disintegrate before your eyes. The only bad thing is that the kit needed a stand for displaying the various Core forms because you have to lay it flat on the ground, and though I'm trusting of it, I wouldn't hang it up from fishing wire in free flight simulation. That's just testing Murphy's Law for all it's worth. But those are the only complaints about the transformation forms. Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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