HGUniversal Century

MS-06F-2 Zaku II F2 (Zeon Version)

The Zaku formula perfected in miniature, no gimmicks needed.

MechaGrade Score

4.1/5

Zaku II · 1/144 · 2010

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2010

Runnersn/a

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

This is what an HGUC Zaku should be.

It takes the shape everyone already loves and quietly fixes every complaint from the older kits, better shoulders, real waist movement, a mono-eye that actually swivels. I built mine expecting a nostalgia piece and ended up with a kit I kept picking back up just to pose. For a 2010 release in a budget line, the engineering holds up shockingly well.

Best for: Zaku collectors and 0083 fans who want the definitive HGUC take without paying MG money

The full review

What it is

This kit depicts the late-war Zaku II variant from Gundam 0083, the one Zeon remnants and the Delaz Fleet leaned on hard because so many were sitting in inventory when the One Year War ended. What I love building it is how unpretentious it is. There is no gimmick weapon, no transforming backpack, just a well proportioned Zaku with ball jointed shoulders, a mono-eye you flip with a little switch under the head, and skirt armor that lifts out of the way so the legs can actually move. It feels like Bandai took twenty years of Zaku lessons and distilled them into one clean, cheap kit. Snapping the shoulder joints together and feeling them hold a raised-arm pose on the first try was the moment I knew this one was going to be good.

The catch

The known weak point is the lower leg cable piece, it is a small connector that likes to pop off the leg during posing or if you handle the knee too roughly, and the fix builders pass around is to twist the stub sideways before you seat it so it locks instead of just resting in the socket. Being a 2010 HG, color separation leans on molded plastic more than most modern kits so the vents and vernier details are simpler than what you get on today's HG line, and the accessory selection, while generous for the price, is mostly grounded in what the anime actually gave the suit rather than any extra surprises. None of it is a dealbreaker, it is the kind of thing you learn once and never think about again.

Who it's for

Buy this if you want a Zaku that poses like a modern kit but costs like a starter kit, or if 0083 is your era of Gundam and you want the Delaz Fleet grunt done right. It is also a genuinely good first HG for someone who has done an Entry Grade or two and wants to feel real articulation for the first time. Skip it only if you specifically want the EFSF colorway instead of Zeon, since Bandai sells both versions separately and the runners are close but not identical in deco. Otherwise this is close to a no-brainer at its price point.

The build story

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

Gate placement is friendly and cleanup is quick, this is still a budget-line HG so nub marks are small and easy to blend with a hobby knife and a little sanding. Parts fit snugly without needing glue, and the shoulder ball joints in particular go together with a satisfying click that tells you they are not going to sag over time the way some older Zaku kits did.

The standout engineering here is the skirt armor, front and side plates lift and swing out of the way so the hip and thigh can rotate further than the silhouette suggests, which is the trick that makes this kit outpose its predecessors. Combined with elbow and knee joints that bend close to ninety degrees, it holds dynamic gun poses without looking stiff. For the price band this sits in, four weapons plus a spare hand set and a switchable mono-eye is real value, not filler.

Lore & trivia

01The F2 Type was a late-production Zaku II revision meant to sharpen the original for anti-mobile-suit combat, with reduced weight and higher thruster output.
02Because so many F2 units were still undelivered inventory when the One Year War ended, they became a mainstay of Zeon remnant forces and the Delaz Fleet in the years after.
03Ace pilot Anavel Gato flew with the Delaz Fleet during Operation Stardust in U.C. 0083, the conflict this kit's suit is most associated with.
04This HGUC release and its EFSF-colored counterpart share the same base kit but are sold as separate boxed versions with different decals and color callouts.