Gunpla Build - High Grade Zaku III Custom (Photos)

Here it is folks - the Always Bulky Zaku III:

I know the “Always Bulky” thing is more of a Kakarot197 meme than anything, but there is a lot of truth to it. For comparison, it towers over the Zaku I:

And it even manages to come close to matching the height of the Messer, a mobile suit that comes from an even later era of the Universal Century when MS were arguably at their largest.

So yeah, it’s big. But the more important question is “does it look good?” I’d say “yes, within context”.

There’s no doubt that this is a Zaku, but there’s something about it that’s more … gaudy than its predecessors. Under different circumstances I might not like that, but I think it works here because that’s perfectly in line with the overall aesthetics of Neo Zeon. I appreciate when a design is informed by the trends of its setting, and so I’m okay with turning the Zaku into such a hulking, ornamental monstrosity.

Seamlines and Stuff

Maybe it’s just me, but while the kit’s many seamlines aren’t invisible, I feel like they’re largely hidden on the finished model. And at this point, that’s good enough for me.

Action Poses

Unfortunately, because this is such an old model, it’s articulation is not that great, and it can’t mount to an Action Base. That limits the kinds of Action Poses this thing can do - it’s one of those “stand around and look pretty” kinds of models. But here’s what I was able to cobble together.

You would think that with such a long side grip, it’d be easy to hold the rifle in two hands. It’s certainly possible, but I wouldn’t quite call it easy. I could just barely get it to hold on:

Thankfully, because it’s such a large MS, one handed poses look perfectly natural:

And because this is a rare kit with a left trigger finger hand, you know I had to put it to use:

I couldn’t come up with a good swinging pose with the Beam Saber, but it looks pretty badass just standing with it:

Now technically speaking, it’s supposed to remove the Beam Saber handle from its front skirt armor, but the ones that are actually embedded in this model’s skirts can’t be removed.

Speaking of which, here it is firing its holstered Beam Sabers as beam cannons:

I think it looks pretty awkward - almost like it’s holding on to the front of a sled or something. But it’s an option if you’re interested.

Conclusion

These old kits are limited in a lot of ways, and weird in others, but there’s not doubt that with enough love and TLC you can still make them look pretty great. This was a good build, and it should be a great shelf piece going forward.