Kit Review

Straight build + Panel lining

Size comparison with a cigarette pack — the universal standard for scale reference.

HGUC Zaku III Custom - You can clearly see the gate marks on the pepper part weren't cleaned up very well. (-_-;) Given the p

You can clearly see the gate marks on the pepper part weren't cleaned up very well. (-_-;)
Given the plastic color, it's kind of hard to remove just the marks cleanly.. (No excuses though!)

The massive rear skirt.

It's got a lot of volume from the side too.

Articulation is... not great T_T That's as far as it goes.

Oddly enough though, the ankles rotate a full 360 degrees — kind of wild...

Striking a pose~

The real highlight of this kit is the sheer presence of that skirt..

HGUC Zaku III Custom - Size comparison between kit #1 (Guncannon) and kit #2. Since the design spec is around 23m, it's got q

Size comparison between kit #1 (Guncannon) and kit #2. Since the design spec is around 23m, it's got quite a bit more volume than other 1/144 kits.

HGUC Zaku III Custom - Comparison with the MG Zaku II F and Zaku II F2. No matter how big an HGUC gets, it still looks a bit

Comparison with the MG Zaku II F and Zaku II F2. No matter how big an HGUC gets, it still looks a bit small next to a 1/100 MG.
That said, it's definitely on the larger side for a 1/144.

Straight build photo before panel lining

The 3rd HGUC is another kit that was a bit of a surprise — the Zaku III Custom. You'd think the regular Zaku III would come out first and then the custom variant, but the order got flipped for some reason... hmm.

Anyway, true to its design spec of 23m, it's quite tall and has a solid presence even in 1/144 scale. The massive rear skirt in particular has a kind of commanding presence you don't often see in other kits. The green molded color looks a tiny bit cheap... but overall the color accuracy is excellent, as you'd expect from an HGUC.

Articulation is pretty limited. Maybe it's those big chunky legs, but the range of motion is quite narrow. Interestingly, the ankles swivel around in all directions, which does help you get some angles when posing... but I'd still give the articulation a C. Oh, the waist does rotate quite a bit too — but with stiff legs and only the waist and ankles moving, it ends up in a kind of awkward state.^^; Also, probably because it's big and has a lot of parts hanging off it, some pieces don't stay on well and keep falling off. The verniers inside the skirt and the leg verniers were especially prone to this.

Now, this kit... at first glance it might look clean enough, but the step lines (panel gaps) are actually pretty noticeable. Sure, it's better than older kits, but for an HGUC the seam lines are a bit too prominent and the step differences show up quite a bit — so if you're planning to clean up seam lines before painting, be prepared for some extra work. If you look closely at the photos, you'll notice the step lines show up pretty consistently across almost every part. T_T

The seam line and step issues do bring the quality down a notch relative to other HGUCs — but that's only when comparing within the HGUC lineup. Next to older-style kits it's still a much better build, and the sheer size for the scale gives it a satisfying presence regardless.^^;

HGUC Zaku III Custom | 1999.8 | ¥1,800

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.