Like its parent, the Mk. II’s arms are short and blocky. They have a bit more detail to them, but perhaps the most important difference is that they are easier to assemble. OG Gundam’s arms contain a few pieces which are so small it can be difficult to determine which direction they’re supposed to face. Place them the wrong way, however, and it can be challenging to pry them apart and try again. The Mk. II sidesteps this issue; along with the shoulder armor, they may be the easiest section of the model.
Above is the frame for one of the arms. Technically, this is made up of only three pieces, one of which is the armor on the (detachable) hand. Realistically, the main part of the frame consists of several smaller pieces which happen to come pre-assembled on the runner. Despite its low piece count, building this much of the arm takes four steps in the instruction book, mostly due to the amount of twisting, bending, and repositioning you have to perform to get the frame in the correct shape.
Like past models, the front side of the arm contains a shiny gold decal, but thankfully this one is big and meaty, and thus easier to apply without getting lost or damaged. I predict that I will cause it to fade and chip away just by looking at it.
The outside of the arm has some extra detail at the elbow and forearm that distinguishes it a bit from OG Gundam.
Once again, this part of the build was fairly uneventful. I lost no decals, there are no glaring sprue marks, and there wasn’t much to panel line. My only mistake can be seen in this final photo of both arms together. Look at the one at the top, near the wrist. There’s a shallow crevice which I’ve panel lined, that quite frankly shouldn’t exist. Those two pieces are meant to be flush, but aggresive sanding wore them down at the corners. Thankfully it doesn’t look out of place the way it is.
