HGUniversal Century

MS-06 Zaku II & Big Gun

A solid old-school Zaku turned into a sniper's nest by the biggest gun HG has ever bundled in.

MechaGrade Score

3.8/5

Zaku II · 1/144 · 2013

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2013

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a genuinely good deal disguised as a simple reissue.

You get a competent, well-articulated HG Zaku II plus a beam sniper rifle the size of the suit itself, and the combo is worth more than either half sold alone. The Zaku itself shows its age a little next to newer HG engineering, but the Big Gun is the reason I tell people to grab this one.

Best for: Thunderbolt fans and diorama builders who want a dramatic sniper-post display piece without MG money

The full review

What it is

This set pairs the standard HGUC-era Zaku II with the Big Gun, a beam sniper rifle from Gundam Thunderbolt so oversized it needs its own folding tripod to stand up straight. Building the Zaku first feels familiar if you have touched any Zaku kit before: molded color for the main shell, a handful of stickers for the mono eye and trim, and the same ball-jointed shoulder setup that has carried this mold for years. The Big Gun is where the kit earns its keep. Assembling the tripod, the scope, and the long barrel section by section and then locking the whole rig onto its legs feels like building a second, smaller kit, and watching it hold the Zaku's weight without sagging is a genuinely satisfying payoff.

The catch

The Zaku half is not going to wow anyone who has built a Revive-era Zaku or an RG, the range of motion is good for the era but the knees and ankles are simpler than what Bandai puts out now, and the mono eye still comes as a sticker unless you swap in a clear part yourself. The Big Gun's small thruster bells and tripod screws are fiddly, several builders report losing or misplacing them if you rush the step, and the tripod's height adjustment gimmick is neat but not something you will fuss with more than once per pose. At 1/144 scale the whole rig also eats more shelf width than a standard Zaku, so plan your display space around the tripod footprint.

Who it's for

I would point this at Thunderbolt fans first, since the Big Gun is straight out of the Living Dead Division's playbook and looks the part sitting on its tripod next to a Zaku I or Rick Dom. It also works well for anyone building a sniper-post diorama on a budget, since one box gets you the suit and the centerpiece prop for less than a single MG. If your only goal is the best possible base Zaku II with modern articulation, skip this and grab a newer HGUC or Revive release instead, this one is about the gun.

The build story

What the build is actually like, and the engineering worth knowing about.

The Zaku itself is a quick, familiar build if you have touched any Zaku II mold, snap fit runners with clean gate placement and only light nub scarring on visible surfaces. The shoulder uses a ball joint against a polycap socket rather than the old peg-in-socket setup, which noticeably improves how far the arms can swing and rotate compared to the oldest HG Zaku tooling.

The Big Gun is effectively its own mini kit and is where the engineering gets interesting. The tripod legs, screw fittings, and scope assemble into a rig sturdy enough to support the Zaku in a kneeling firing pose without sagging, and the color separation on the barrel and scope housing is handled through molded plastic rather than leaning on stickers. Between the Zaku's full accessory set and the Big Gun's scale, this is a strong part-count and detail value for an HG price point.

Lore & trivia

01The Big Gun appears in Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt as a beam sniper rifle operated from a Zaku II or Rick Dom, built for taking out targets across the debris-filled Thunderbolt Sector.
02This kit is packaged as the Gundam Thunderbolt anime version, tying it to the Living Dead Division, the Zeon squadron of amputee pilots defending the Thunderbolt Sector against the Earth Federation's Moore Brotherhood.
03The set was released in December 2013 at roughly 3,800 yen, bundling a full Zaku II with a complete weapons loadout and the oversized Big Gun accessory in one box.
04Gundam Thunderbolt is set within the Universal Century's One Year War, running in parallel with the original 0079 timeline rather than as a separate continuity.