Straight build
Kit
Reviews
▶ RMS-106 Hi-Zack
▶ RX-178 Gundam Mk-II (Titans)
▶ RMS-099 Rick Dias ~ Char's Custom
▶ MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam
4 plated kits in a set!
Group photo with the normal versions.
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Overall Impressions
This was a Char Hobby 2004 limited release — the Zeta Gundam Coating Version Set, a 4-kit set (feels like one of those home shopping channel bundle deals ^^;). It seems like they printed quite a few copies, since you could find them around pretty easily. Of course, as time goes on, limited editions get harder and harder to come by... Anyway, this set consists of four HGUC kits — the Hi-Zack, Mk-II Titans, Quattro (Char's) custom Rick Dias, and Zeta Gundam — each with plated coating applied.
Since there are a lot of photos, I've put them on individual pages, and I'll write the overall impressions here. Each kit is simply the plated version of the existing normal release, so for more detailed info and photos on each kit, please refer to the individual kit reviews.
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1. RMS-106 Hi-Zack (View normal version review) Overall, the coating quality is decent and the reflectivity is quite high. That said, the body color probably should have come out a bit darker — it ended up being coated to a similar shade as the arms and legs (they are a little different, but not by much), which gives the whole thing a somewhat flat look. On top of that, the Hi-Zack itself doesn't have much in the way of extra weapons and the articulation isn't great either, so it was already one of the lower-rated kits among the early HGUC lineup — and that shows here too, making it feel like the weakest of the four in this coating set. Still, the Hi-Zack, which already looked a bit rough around the edges, does get a definite boost in presence once the coating is on. ^^;
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2.
RX-178 Gundam Mk-II (Titans) (View normal Since the base kit itself is well-regarded, it already has solid fundamentals going for it. The coating is a very deep blue that's almost black, and the shine is excellent — it just oozes charisma. The only downside is that the coating is so dark that the silhouette can look a bit muddled, but in person, the gloss just flows off it beautifully. All the photos of the Mak-Tu Titans coating in this review have been processed with a first-pass correction using the Kodak V603's "Perfect Touch" feature. The actual kit is a bit darker in color, but since I ran everything through this initial correction to better show the overall contrast and silhouette in the review photos, things came out a bit brighter than real life — just keep that in mind. In short, the real thing is a little darker, and the color you see in the group shot above is closer to the actual color. ^^
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3.
RMS-099 Rick Dias ~ Char's Custom (View normal The best-looking of the four plated kits in terms of sheer shine. Not only is the coating quality great, but the vibrant, glossy nature of red gives the whole thing a mirror-like feel — this is a premium plated kit. No matter how you shoot it, it just photographs beautifully! ^^ That said, the base kit's articulation isn't great and there are a few spots that don't hold together very securely, so the kit itself can't score super high marks. More than anything, the appeal here is being able to own a shiny, plated Char's custom kit in 1/144 scale. It's got a great presence, and just standing there on display, it radiates cool without you having to do a thing.
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4.
MSZ-006 Zeta
Gundam (View normal Personally, I'd say the crown jewel of this coating set is none other than the Black Zeta. This is a kit where every single runner (except the joint parts) has been coated in the same black, completely ignoring the system injection color separation. When you think about how the other kits in the set use coating colors that roughly match their original color schemes, this is a pretty bold — almost brash — move. The end result is a uniquely striking Black Zeta, and since the base kit quality is pretty solid too, this is a plated version that earns high marks. The one thing to note is that, as is typical with deep-colored coatings, you can see some rainbow-like iridescent patterns on the surface depending on the viewing angle — but honestly, that just makes it look even cooler somehow. ;; Like the Mak-Tu Titans coating version, the Black Zeta is coated in such a deep, dark color that it's really tough to capture in photos. The shine is great, but the color is so dark that with a basic point-and-shoot camera, all the detail just disappears and it tends to come out as a solid black blob. So for this review, I applied the same special first-pass correction as I did with the Mak-Tu to bring out the silhouette — meaning the actual kit is darker in color than what you see in the photos. Either way, the Black Zeta is absolutely dripping with charisma. |
As mentioned above, the photos of the Mak-Tu Titans coating and Black Zeta coating have gone through a special first-pass correction, followed by a second round of editing in Photoshop. Both are very darkly plated kits, which makes them a real challenge to photograph. They're super shiny but also very dark, so the camera struggles to nail the exposure and color correction — under artificial lighting (rather than natural light), they tend to come out way too dark. That's why I used the "Perfect Touch" built-in correction engine on the Kodak V603 for the first pass. The photos ended up brighter than the real thing because of this, but it does help convey the detail, silhouette, and overall feel more clearly. Just keep in mind that both kits are a bit darker in person than they appear in the review photos.
Below is an example to give you a sense of how much difference that first-pass correction actually makes.
The photo on the left was shot with the camera and then edited in Photoshop, while the one on the right had the Kodak Perfect Touch in-camera first-pass correction applied before any Photoshop work. You can see the difference in brightness, contrast, and sense of volume — the shape reads better on the right, but the left is closer to the actual color.
Anyway, each of these four plated kits has its own distinct personality, and even on their own, they each give off enough of a "something special" vibe compared to the normal versions. Shiny plated kits in HGUC scale are rare to begin with, so the collector's value is that much higher. The initial release price of around ¥13,000 seemed steep at first, but when you consider you're getting four plated kits of this quality, it's absolutely worth it. Among all the various limited releases out there, this one really feels like it punches above its weight in terms of value for money! :-)
HGUC Zeta Gundam Coating Version Set
2004 (Char Hobby 2004 Limited Edition)
AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.
