OLD First Gundam 1/60 Dom

Release 1981.12

Price ¥2,500

BANDAI BANDAI Japan product info

The box is much bigger than the 1/60 First Gundam.

It's even bigger than Bandai's large ¥4,000-class boxes.

OLD 1/60 Dom - Parts packed with volume, just like you'd expect from a Dom. (1/4)

OLD 1/60 Dom - Parts packed with volume, just like you'd expect from a Dom. (2/4)

Parts packed with volume, just like you'd expect from a Dom.

Parts diagram

Manual

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Large verniers are sculpted into the soles of the feet.

This kit also supports a light-up effect using separately sold bulbs.

Stickers and metal parts included for the mono-eye light-up effect.

Light-up test using a battery.

OLD 1/60 Dom - The battery box is stored inside the waist. To swap batteries, the upper and lower body are designed to separa

The battery box is stored inside the waist. To swap batteries, the upper and lower body are designed to separate and reconnect without glue.

Mono-eye light-up effect.

A lot more polycaps are used compared to the 1/60 Gundam/Zaku.

Polycaps are used in all the internal arm and leg joints.

The shoulders use an old-style ring-and-hook glued ball joint.

The bazooka-holding hand needs to be glued together while attached to the bazooka.

Both the front and rear sections of the bazooka rotate.

1/60 pilot figure.

OLD 1/60 Dom - The articulation is a bit awkward. The elbows bend about 100 degrees, but the knees barely move at all... On t

The articulation is a bit awkward. The elbows bend about 100 degrees, but the knees barely move at all... On the other hand, the hip joints bend backward surprisingly far..;;;

The waist does move side to side, but the joint is pretty loose..

There's a gimmick that lets the shoulders swing forward and backward.

OLD 1/60 Dom - The ankles move in all directions, so even when the legs are spread apart, the feet can stay flat on the groun

The ankles move in all directions, so even when the legs are spread apart, the feet can stay flat on the ground.

Bazooka action

Heat saber action

Two-handed heat saber action

Together with the 1/144 and 1/100 Dom. The color separation keeps getting better.

Together with the 1/60 Char's Zaku.

Together with the soldier figure that came with the 1/60 mass-production Zaku.

Together with the HY2M Rick Dom.

The HY2M is obviously in a whole different league quality-wise, but the old 1/60 still looks pretty decent ^^

Following the old 1/60 Gundam and Zaku, the Dom was also released in 1/60 scale. As you can see, the color separation is pretty decent — similar to the 1/60 Zaku — though unfortunately the red section on the head wasn't separated out.

First off, the Dom's signature chunky body shape is well captured with these voluminous parts. That's why it comes in a box that's even bigger than Bandai's large ¥4,000-class boxes. It's an oddly sized box that's no longer used these days, but it really is impressively huge.

A lot more polycaps are used compared to the 1/60 Gundam/Zaku, but unfortunately the joint strength isn't as solid as those kits. Everything feels a bit loose overall — probably because the polycaps just weren't quite up to the task of supporting a big frame like the Dom's. The articulation is also a bit hit-or-miss: the knees barely move while the hips swing way back. The ankle forward-and-back range is pretty limited too, so getting dynamic leg poses isn't easy. That said, the ankles do move in a cross pattern in all four directions, which means the feet stay planted even when the legs are spread wide — so that's a plus. (See review photos)

Like the 1/60 Zaku, the light-up gimmick is included here too, but you still have to buy the bulb separately. Personally I think the light-up effect looks a bit better than the Zaku's. The battery box is stored between the upper and lower body when separated. There's no separate switch, so the light turns on as soon as you put the battery in — but thankfully the upper and lower body can be separated and reconnected without glue, so you can swap batteries in and out whenever you need to.

The bazooka is assembled together with its dedicated hand, which gives it a natural look, but like most old kits, the rear end of the bazooka gets in the way and really limits the poses you can pull off. The heat saber is handled well enough, and you can even do a two-handed grip pose if you want.

To sum it up, this is an old kit whose main appeal is being able to build an impressively large Dom for just ¥2,500. The polycaps are a bit underpowered for such a big body so the joints do feel loose, but it's not really a big deal when you're just displaying it standing still. Since the 1/60 HY2M Dom is both expensive and hard to find, this kit seems like a perfectly reasonable substitute when you want a big Dom on your shelf :-)
[ Updated at 2016.5.12 ]

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.