At last I have officiallycompleted my RG model RX-178 Mk. II!!! So jumping right in, I have to say the experience itself is enough of a reason to buy this model. Surprisingly compared to other grades I build like HG, which I usually build to paint, or modify, SD, my guinea pigs for whatever new things I want to try, and MG, which I buy mostly for straight builds, the Real Grade is something I don't know where to place in my categories of fun. As I first tried painting on my first gundam model, the No Grade, 1/100 scale Blitz Gundam, my focus for enjoyment of building gundam models moved on from admiring the finished model, to painting the model and the process of building the model itself. So, when I build HG models now, I actually aim to at the very least paint a little (which now seems to end up in completely hand painting the entire model), and for MGs I aim to complete it without using stickers (I usually paint the eyes, the newer MGs now require almost no painting.
However, the main reason why I think that I cannot place RG in a proper category is because it fits in between 2 of these. The small size makes me feel like painting it, but then just putting it together actually made me enjoy the process more! And panel-lining RG models, it extremely tiring and frustrating sometimes, because all the small details mean that the panel-lines should be very fine not thick. And if you are using an eraser to thin the lines for each detail on a single part, you are going to spend a really long time in this. I spent about almost an hour panel-lining the shield of this model...
So on to the model!!
The thing I really like about this model is, they actually give you magazines for the Mk. II's rifle, if you can notice two of them latched on the shield. All in all they provided 4 magazines for the rifle (1 for the rifle, the others are fitted on the shield and on the hip, if I'm not mistaken) and 2 magazines for the bazooka (1 for the bazooka and the other to be latched on the hip as well).
The eyes and sensors on the head as well as on the chest are molded with clear plastic, as I did not use the stickers for the eyes are sensors as I thought they looked cooler without them, and I always like it when they mold them in clear plastic. The sensors on the hear really shine but the eyes don't. The sensors on the weapons however, don't get the clear parts, and have stickers to replace them, which I don't really like cause now I have to use stickers...
Detailing on the foot, the foot's base while made of 3 separate parts are only movable at 2 points, the 3rd is for show I guess.
The thrusters and backpack. Unfortunately, the thrusters for this model particularly, is very loose, and you easily pop them out while trying to put the model in a pose, and apparently, I'm not the only one with this problem, as my friend who has purchased the exact same model says the thrusters for his model are just as loose.
The shield, much to my surprise is extendable, I thought it was just going to be like any other shield. For this, my friend had problems with it being very easy to extend, it would fall off by itself if put up right, but mine has no such problem, thankfully~
The beam rifle, and as you can see, the 2 extra magazines that fit on the shield, I didn't take out the the extra 4th magazine. I'm also happy that they included separate hands for the rifle. While I enjoy the movable joint hands, I still like a dedicated grip one, which is being shown in the second picture. They do include the movable-finger type hands as well, all in all 4 different type of hands, 1 open, 2 gripped, 2 with movable fingers and 1 gripped for holding the beam rifle and bazooka.
The bazooka in all its glory!! Its much smaller and, you could say streamlined compared to the original RX-78's or maybe because this is RG? Hmmmm....
The removable magazine, as I mentioned earlier.
And comparing it to the original MG RX-78-2 again, this model holds the bazooka much better. I remembered I had problems getting the MG to hold it, nice to see they made it better here.
The headset... thingy. Forgive me for I did not watch this series, but I actually don't really care much for this, it does make the model look like he is wearing a headset, but severely limits the head articulation, as limited as it is already.
And as you can see with RG, no compromises on the detailing, a lot more actually which I missed out cause I was trying to think of whether or not to panel-line them. But the parts which I thought would not be visible with the armour on apparently are very clearly visible...
All in all, I enjoyed putting it together (forgive me if I put this out too much, but I really DID have fun!!!) but the inner skeleton of the RG model, not sure whether its just my particular model or this model, seems to be quite fragile. I cringed at trying to bend the legs the first time as they were so thin and looked so fragile. The skeleton for the arms especially, I realized that as I tried to pose the left arm (the arm with the shield) in a particular way, it would start drooping as the weight of the shield might be too much for it. Most of the joints for this model are nice and tight, and hold up in almost any pose, exceptions for this are the hip, waist (which is made out of 2 joints, so posing him to be standing straight was a real pain) and the shoulders. So most of my time trying to pose him was spent on fixing back his hip and waist, and then having to put the thrusters back on as they pop out.
I do apologize for the long delay, and as you might know it is Ramadhan!! So I try to not build too much or update during this period, but as this is the end of this post, THAT IS ALL FINISH!!!
Farid
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