OLD First Gundam 1/550 Big-Zam

Release 1981.9

Price ¥400

BANDAI BANDAI Japan product info

Runners

Parts diagram

Manual

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Detail shots

Interestingly, the parts below the knee and the knee joints are designed to be glued together with cement.

OLD 1/550 Big-Zam - The claws are separate parts so you could use them as detachable pieces, but the fit is too loose so you'

The claws are separate parts so you could use them as detachable pieces, but the fit is too loose so you'll need to glue them down.

Leg articulation is about this much.

The leg spread angle. (Composite photo taken from 2 shots for comparison)

The mega particle cannons on the front can move slightly up and down.

OLD 1/550 Big-Zam - Other than that walking pose, there aren't really any other poses you can pull off.. ^^;; (1/4)

OLD 1/550 Big-Zam - Other than that walking pose, there aren't really any other poses you can pull off.. ^^;; (2/4)

Other than that walking pose, there aren't really any other poses you can pull off.. ^^;;

Together with the 1/400 Gundam Collection Big-Zam. The quality difference is night and day.

Together with a cute SD Gundam~ (The trap is that they're surprisingly similar in size and style..)

The old-school first Gunpla lineup included a 1/550 scale for large mobile armors, and the very first release in that lineup was the Big-Zam. It's a MA (Mobile Armor) that takes the form of a spacecraft with legs but no arms, attacking enemies with the mega particle cannons on its front and the claws at its feet.

First off, for a budget kit at 400 yen, it actually has decent color separation between the upper body and leg sections. Being a small kit, though, you barely get any sense of the massive, imposing presence it has in the show. In fact, as you can see in the comparison photos above, it looks so similar to the SD Big-Zam that you'd think the only difference is the leg length.

Given the nature of the unit, the legs are really the only things that move — though surprisingly, the front mega particle cannons can also tilt up and down. The hip and knee joints have a pretty decent range of motion compared to other Gunpla of the same era, but the hip joints feel a bit loose, which makes it a little nerve-wracking just to stand it up. As for the claws at the feet, they can be used as detachable pieces, but the fit is weak so it's probably best to just glue them in place (the manual actually has you glue them anyway).

The biggest significance of this kit is that it was the very first plastic model of the Big-Zam — the iconic Mobile Armor of the One Year War — and given how well-known the unit is, there's definitely no shortage of fans interested in it. A higher-quality 1/400 Gundam Collection version did come out in 2005, though that one felt more like an assembly-type figure. Either way, the molded colors and overall quality can't hide the fact that this is very much an old-school kit — but honestly, that's part of what makes it so charming. :-)
[ Updated at 2016.5.15 ]

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.