OLD First Gundam 1/144 Zeong

Release 1981.3

Price ¥600

BANDAI BANDAI Japan product info

Runners

Parts diagram

Manual

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Verniers on the underside of the skirt.

The skirt section is a single solid part, packaged separately without a runner.

A backdrop paper for the stand and 4 wire rods are included.

OLD 1/144 Zeong - The wire rods do hold the body up in the air, but they're too thin and the hold is too weak, so the body wo

The wire rods do hold the body up in the air, but they're too thin and the hold is too weak, so the body wobbles all over the place. On top of that, the back of the skirt touches the backdrop paper and causes the whole thing to tilt forward.

Inside the neck, there's a gimmick using a wire rod that lets you extend and retract the neck.

Inside both arms, wire rods are also used so you can recreate the forearm-launching scene.

OLD 1/144 Zeong - The shoulder articulation uses the same fixed pin + outer ring glue-on method as the 1/144 First Gundam/Zak

The shoulder articulation uses the same fixed pin + outer ring glue-on method as the 1/144 First Gundam/Zaku.

The only part that actually moves is the forearm section.

OLD 1/144 Zeong - To detach the head, you first lift it up as shown, pull the stopper at the bottom outward, then rotate it 9

To detach the head, you first lift it up as shown, pull the stopper at the bottom outward, then rotate it 90 degrees and hook the stopper over the neck to lock it in place.

This lets you lock the neck in the extended position, but it still wobbles and rattles around..

If you just pull the arms straight out~ and prop them up, they'll hold their position well enough.

OLD 1/144 Zeong - Pose with the neck and both arms fully extended. (1/4)

OLD 1/144 Zeong - Pose with the neck and both arms fully extended. (2/4)

Pose with the neck and both arms fully extended.

OLD 1/144 Zeong - It already tilts forward because of the rear skirt, and with the arms extended too, it's on the verge of to

It already tilts forward because of the rear skirt, and with the arms extended too, it's on the verge of toppling over completely.

OLD 1/144 Zeong - On top of that, when the forearms are plugged back into the arms, the hold is so weak that they just slide

On top of that, when the forearms are plugged back into the arms, the hold is so weak that they just slide right down like that.

So in my case, I wrapped some tape around the inside of the forearm to get a tighter fit.

Together with the HGUC Zeong. Even being an old kit, the color separation is pretty decent — not bad at all~

Together with the 1/144 Gundam.

In the middle of a run of small 300-yen Gunpla kits, March 1981 saw the release of the large 600-yen MA, the Zeong, in 1/144 scale. Up until then, 1/144 scale kits had been coming out in a single molded color, but the 1/144 Zeong actually features two molded colors with surprisingly decent color separation — making it one of the better-looking straight builds among the old kits.^^

Since the Zeong is basically a mobile suit with no legs (well, there is the Perfect Zeong, but still..), a stand is essential, and this kit uses a method where wire rods are inserted into the stand to hold up the body. But as you can see from the photos above, the wire rods are way too thin and the hold is too iffy, so the body wobbles badly in the air.. It can barely hold itself up at an angle, let alone stand straight, and to make things worse, the backdrop paper that's supposed to look cool interferes with the back of the skirt and keeps pushing the body forward. Even for an old kit, it's a pretty baffling design... T_T

One of the Zeong's signature features is the extending neck and forearms, and the kit is designed to allow extension using wire rods. However, just like the stand, the hold after extending isn't great. Both the neck and arms wobble loosely and barely stay in position, and on top of that, the center of gravity shifts forward so much that even the wire rods holding it to the stand can't take it, and the whole thing ends up toppling over constantly.

Also, when the forearms are plugged back in without being extended, the connection parts are so weak that the arms keep drooping downward. (See the review photos.) In the end, I had to wrap tape around the connection points just to get them to stay in place.

Overall, this kit really shows the enthusiasm of the early Gunpla developers, but the lack of design experience and technical know-how resulted in a kit that's inconvenient in a lot of ways. The attempt to recreate the design is admirable, but without some repairs and modifications, it's honestly a pain just to keep it standing properly — a bit of a problem child, really...

That said, it's the accumulation of all these efforts in color separation and gimmick recreation that eventually led to the Gunpla technology we have today, so even the frustrating parts feel kind of impressive in their own way. Either way, among the very earliest old kits, this one has pretty solid color separation, and while the end result is what it is, the ambition behind it is commendable — it's safe to say this is one of the more landmark Gunpla kits in its own right. :-)[ Updated at 2016.1.8 ]

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.