Collection 14: HGUC Mobile Suit Gundam MS-05 Zaku I Model Kit Black Tristar Version

This classic mobile suit is a rather simple model kit. Simple design! Simple plating! Simple engineering! Simple color division! To spice up the kit a little, I applied the RG Zaku II decals onto it. Those chrome silver RG decals applied on this kit works even better than on the RG Zaku. It is because the black armor really makes the shinny chrome silver pops.

The second modification I did was I made my own mono eye out of some extra beam saber part that I had from other kit. The original kit only provided sticker for the mono eye, and the eye area is only a plain surface.

The feature of this kit is the shoulders. The way Bandai design the joints of the shoulders allow it to have a great range of forward movement, which enables it to do the classic dash attack pose.

Although the kit has simple plating, surprisingly it has a wide range of weaponry, included machine gun, bazooka, heat hawk, sturm faust, and knuckle shield etc. It is very impressive. However, the weapons led to a weak point of this kit.

The connection points for the weapons are very weak. The weapon-holding-hands cannot hold any weapon tightly. The shield handle connected to the shield is also very loose, it is constantly dropping. Another weak point is the gate marks and the parting lines are very obvious on this kit.

In conclusion, it is a ok HG kit! It will require some work to make this kit looks good.