HGUC 1/144 Principality of Zeon Mass Production Mobile Suit Ace Commander Custom MS-05B "Zaku I" (Late War Type)
Back to the classics with this older Zaku I build. This 2006 kit isn't the oldest version of the Zaku I from the HGUC line, but it certaintly shows its age. The MS-05B is the version of this mobile suit used towards the end of the One Year War, during the events of the original gundam anime, and is a refit of the original Zeonic suit (the MS-05A) meant to hold its own with newer suits like the Zaku II and Gelgoog.
Being from 2006, there's limited colour separation, but being a design from the original 1979 series, the suit itself doesn't really have that much in terms of colour variation in the first place, so there's not really much to correct. I did re-do the booster nozzles in red (although you can't exactly see it at all in the final pictures), and I also decided to add some extra colour by giving the suit a red pauldron and yellow command fin.
I used one of the multipurpose waterslide decal sheets from Bandai to add a few markings as well. I kept it light, to match the simplicity of the build, and I think it turned out fairly well. The decals are a little thin and fragile, but they're super vibrant too. I find that white decals can sometimes be a little see-through and disappear on darker colours, but they really pop on this kit. There were a nice assortment of markings, including some numbers, rank markings, and even thin lines that you can cut and wrap around round parts (although this was really tricky to pull off). There's even a set of hit markers depicting downed Federation ships, which I just had to include. This build has the Zeon rank marking for a captain.
I also did a decent amount of weathering on this kit, mostly just a bit of sponge chipping, drybrushing, and silver pigment powder to give the raised edges a worn metal look. I've outlined my process in this post, and pretty much kept to that process, except I chose not to add any surface damage this time. I think weathering helps to add a lot of visual interest to simpler kits, especially older ones, and also provides an oppurtunity to hide any stress marks or nubs that are often a little more prominent on older kits.
For an older kit, this comes with a surprising amount of extras. There's two pistol grip right hands, one for the bazooka with an angled joint, and one for the older-style zaku machine gun with a normal ball joint, as well as pretty faithful recreations of both weapons. There's also the requisite two open fist parts, and an open left hand piece which is designed to fit the right hand inside it, recreating the iconic shoulder barge pose from the anime.
Unfortunately, just like many of the kits from the 00s, the articulation is significantly limited, especially in terms of hip and thigh rotation, and it's difficult to force the kit into the dynamic poses that were present in the anime.
The kit also comes with a swappable head panel to allow you to build the kit with or without the command fin, as well as a removeable shoulder reinforcement designed to allow the suit to safely fire its bazooka (given the lack of shoulder shield that the Zaku II has). It has just enough articulation to hold the bazooka over the shoulder.
There's also the spike shield - a repurposed Zaku-II shoulder shield turned knuckleduster, which has storage for a "sturmfaust" (a mobile suit sized panzerfaust, which is a type of ww2 recoilless rifle) - and a heat hawk which slides into a holster on the side skirt. Along with a fold-down part on the rear-skirt for the bazooka, this means unlike many other kits, you can store almost all the extras on the kit itself.
Despite its limitations, this kit was a lot of fun to put together and customise. I just wish it had had a little more articulation, because it was a pain to pose.
