Kit Review

Straight build
+ panel lining

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

HGUC EWAC Zack - The back of the head throws off the center of gravity something fierce, but if you just lean the body forwar

The back of the head throws off the center of gravity something fierce,
but if you just lean the body forward a little, it holds up just fine.

Upper body

HGUC EWAC Zack - The head. Design-wise, the face isn't exactly... pretty. Looks like an old man. Reminds me of that old-man r

The head.
Design-wise, the face isn't exactly... pretty. Looks like an old man.
Totally reminds me of that old-man robot from Transformers 2.. ^^;

A long pin has appeared on the crotch.

The arms.
Compared to the original Hi-Zack, only the shoulders have changed.

The EWAC Zack's distinctive backpack.

There's a support on the backpack that keeps the head from tilting backward.

The legs are identical to the original Hi-Zack.

The detail below the head is a bit sparse.

HGUC EWAC Zack - There's a pin underneath the head for rotating the mono-eye. To adjust the mono-eye, you have to remove the

There's a pin underneath the head for rotating the mono-eye.
To adjust the mono-eye, you have to remove the head, which is a bit of a hassle.

HGUC EWAC Zack - The round radar-like part on top of the head can rotate using a locking pin. The thing is, that pin tends to

The round radar-like part on top of the head can rotate using a locking pin.
The thing is, that pin tends to come loose pretty easily..
When the head is attached to the body, the backpack's support keeps it from falling out,
but when you remove the head to adjust the mono-eye, it has a habit of slipping out and rolling away, so watch out.

HGUC EWAC Zack - And the old Hi-Zack had the same issue.. probably because it's the same structure, but the cover pieces on e

And the old Hi-Zack had the same issue.. probably because it's the same structure,
the cover pieces on either side of the backpack come off easily.
Goes to show that even among HGUC kits, an older kit is still an older kit..

HGUC EWAC Zack - The weapons are carried over straight from the Hi-Zack.. with zero color separation, they feel a bit lacking

The weapons are carried over straight from the Hi-Zack..
With zero color separation, they feel a bit lacking.
Then again, the EWAC Zack looks more natural just standing there without any weapons anyway.

Armed mode.

HGUC EWAC Zack - Looking at the leftover parts, you can tell what changed from the Hi-Zack. Interestingly, for the backpack p

Looking at the leftover parts, you can tell what changed from the Hi-Zack.
Interestingly, for the backpack parts, only the outer side was cleverly swapped out for EWAC Zack-specific pieces.
A cost-conscious(?) design choice.

Articulation is just so-so..
Probably because it's based on an older kit.

Power pose!

Shooting action

HGUC EWAC Zack - Two-handed shooting (1/3)

Two-handed shooting

HGUC EWAC Zack - Flight action using Action Base 2 (1/4)

HGUC EWAC Zack - Flight action using Action Base 2 (2/4)

Flight action using Action Base 2

Comparison with the original Hi-Zack.

First off, the head itself is completely different..

The backpack and shoulder armor have been changed.
Everything else stays the same..

HGUC Hi-Zack series.

Straight build

The suddenly revived HGUC ZZ lineup has now gone so far as to pull out even the EWAC Zack. Sure, it's essentially a kit built on recycled old molds, but for some reason the EWAC Zack feels more welcome than a similar rehash like the Sturm Dias. Thinking about why that might be, I'd guess it's because it stirs up nostalgia in old-school fans who built the Academy version of the EWAC Zack back in the day...

This kit, much like the Sturm Dias, makes use of most of the molds from the Hi-Zack, which is one of the older kits in the HGUC lineup. To be precise, nearly all of the Hi-Zack's runners are included with just the molded color changed, plus an additional runner for the new parts. The first thing that jumps out at you, though, is that they added just a single extra runner and bumped the price up by a whopping ¥600. After a 9-year wait for a re-release, going from ¥1000 to ¥1600 for one extra runner is a bit much..

Of course, if you factor in inflation you could argue it's justified... but setting the price aside, there's still something to be said for the fact that it got released at all. It's probably not the kind of item expected to sell in huge numbers, which might explain the pricing. (In other words, those who want it will buy it..) When you think back to the EX series, this actually seems like a pretty good deal.

Anyway, the EWAC Zack is written in English as "EWAC Zack," but it's generally just been called "EWAC Zack" all along. EWAC is a military term standing for Electronic Warfare Aircraft Commander. In plain terms, it's something like an electronic warfare airborne command platform — basically a type of electronic warfare detection equipment used for radar surveillance, much like an airborne early warning aircraft with a big round dish on top.

Personally, I actually studied radar — and specifically the military side of things — so I could go on about this for a while, but to put it simply: that round piece isn't actually a radar itself, it's called a radome, which is a plastic cover designed to protect the antenna inside from bird droppings and weather. (Radio waves can't pass through metal.) Typically these use what's called a PPI (Plan Position Indicator) — you've probably seen it in movies, where a rotating bar sweeps around a circular monitor screen going beep... beep... scanning in all directions. Inside that round dome, a rotating antenna spins around performing 360-degree surveillance. Aegis ships also have round radomes, but those use a phased array antenna — a fixed beam-scanning radar with hundreds of antennas arranged in a 2D grid, rather than a rotating one...

Oh, of course that's how real-world EWAC systems work — nobody knows what's actually inside the radome in the Gundam universe, not even the daughter-in-law. The designer probably just borrowed the round shape and left it at that. On top of that, the idea of a mobile suit flying around in space carrying a radar wrapped in plastic seems like it'd be completely useless in a fight. (One graze and it'd shatter~)

But when you think about it... in the Gundam universe where Minovsky particles render radio waves useless, why would you even need radar!?! That's a perfectly reasonable question, and there's actually a complicated backstory behind it. If you're curious about what that's all about, here's a link to a well-organized post by Zakurerfor your reference.

I've gone on a bit long about the lore, but the kit itself carries over all the strengths and weaknesses of the original HGUC Hi-Zack. Being an early HGUC release, it's definitely on the older side — seam lines show up pretty clearly, and articulation is just average. Fortunately, the polycaps aren't particularly loose, so even with that massive back of the head, if you shift the body's center of gravity slightly forward it stands up solidly. I'd say the biggest selling point of this kit is that "it doesn't topple over backward."

With the body molded in a light sky blue, the rifle and hands — which have no color separation — look pretty awkward by comparison.. But by design, this is a kit that suits just standing there with both fists clenched rather than holding a weapon, so the armaments are really just accessories.

Structurally it definitely has that old-kit feel.. but the proportions are actually pretty decent for a 1/144 scale kit. The face looks like some kind of old-man Transformer, but in a way, that kind of "unrefined" quality could be exactly what gives a minor item like the EWAC Zack its own personality.

Either way, that radome head alone is enough to make it stand out and leave an impression. In terms of pure quality it can't compete with newer kits, but it's more than enough to bring back a wave of nostalgia for old-school fans :-)

HGUC EWAC Zack | 2009.6 | ¥1,600

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.