There’s a lot to say about this parts layout:

Let’s go over it all. I’m going to split up my thoughts with line breaks, rather than use bulleted lists, because some of them might be longer winded than others.

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We get one whole (big) runner for the display stand.

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We get a length of flexible wire; this is for use with the display base. The kit comes with tiny figurines of crew members in normal suits, and you can plug them into the end of the wire to make it look like they’re floating around doing maintenance on the Mk. II.

We also get a length of fabric piping. This is for use in recreating the fabric-y looking cabling found on its backpack and legs:

The Real Grade Mk II did the exact same thing, and while it’s neat, it’s also kind of a pain. When you cut this fabric, the ends tend to immediately fray, which makes it difficult to fit it into whatever holes it needs to go in.

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The kit comes with three marking sheets. One is a set of foil markings containing the eye stickers, gun sights, etc. One is a set of standard stickers containing various markings. And the last is a set of dry rub decals, which features this kit’s signature markings, logos, insignias, etc.

I plan on making use of as many of the dry rub decals as possible, and maybe tossing in a handful of waterslides I have lying around. I don’t plan on using the regular stickers - my experience with the Real Grade Crossbone scarred me enough that I’m becoming increasingly wary of using more than a handful of regular stickers on any given model.

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Most Gundams are designed with little pistons in their ankles, usually behind the ankle armor. I usually try to paint them metallic, despite the fact that it’s not easy, and I tend to do a poor job of it. But this is the first Gunpla I’ve come across that includes actual chrome plated piston parts, which I’m obviously thrilled about.

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In terms of the sheer number of runners, the Mk II has slightly more than the Master Grade F91, and quite a few more than both the Origin Grandaddy, and even the Zeta Ver Ka.

However, that doesn’t tell the full story. Those three models may have fewer runners, but most of those runners are much bigger than the ones for the Mk II. I’m reasonably confident that in terms of total part count, the Mk II is the simplest of the bunch, which makes sense when you consider that it’s also the oldest.

And yet, I still find it remarkable. The way people online tend to crow about Master Grades, they’d have you believe that the line has been perfect and amazing from the very start. But the truth of the matter is that, just like every other Grade, it has evolved and changed over time.

In retrospect that should have been obvious to me, but there you have it.

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No matter how many MG’s I build, I still sometimes gawk at how large some of the parts are. In this case, I’m particularly amazed at the size of the feet. They’re huge!

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You will notice that a whole bunch of the runners are very purplish-grey. You might be wondering “Is the Mk II’s inner frame really supposed to be that color? Or is it just like that because kits from the early aughts were less than stellar in regards to color accuracy?”

As far as I’m concerned, it’s supposed to be that color. This became particularly obvious to me after recently watching ZZ Gundam:

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Despite being a Master Grade, this kit uses polycaps. I always thought those weren’t a thing with Master Grades, but I guess the older ones still used them.

Alright, that’s enough squawking. Let’s get into the build.

Display Stand

This is nice. The catapault itself can move forward, bringing the heels up as if the mobile suit was preparing to launch:

And the cherry picker thing can move back and forth:

And then there are the figurines. We’ve got two Argama crew, as well as a pilot:

As you can see, I painted my pilot’s normal suit orange, because any Mk II in my house is going to be piloted by Miss Emma. But for now, she’ll just have to wait for the Mk II to be completed.

Weapons

Beam Rifle

Because an energy pack is used, the rifle does not use energy supplied by the main body. It has a mode change function operated by the mobile suit's manipulator. Energy consumption per pack fluctuates depending on the number of shots fired and the power of the beam.

Hyper Bazooka

The magazine is a cartridge type, and you can carry multiple magazines in accordance with the Mk-I standard. The power of the explosive is almost the same as the RX-78, and it is possible to use the barrel to strike in close combat.

Shield

The shield of the RX-178 has an anti-beam coating on the surface, and it can also protect against direct hits. In addition, it is designed adjust its total length, can be used as a striking weapon, and it is equipped with two spare energy packs for the beam rifle.

Shield

The bottom half of the Mk II’s shield is supposed to be on a set of rails, allowing it to slide up and over the top half.

I don’t recall if it ever uses this gimmick on TV, nor am I aware of how many models over the decades have replicated the feature, but I know that it works on this particular Master Grade.

At least, it’s supposed to work, provided that you can get it assembled properly. As it turns out, that’s easier said than done. Let’s take a look at the instructions:

Parts F4, F5, and F9 come together to form the railing system that the shield moves on. But because the two rails need to move up and down, they just rest loosely/hang atop of F9. If you don’t hold them in place with your fingers, they will fall out.

The apparatus then plugs into the top half of the shield:

And then you have to plug each of the individual teeth on each rail into the corresponding holes on the bottom half of the shield, and then pull them up so that the teeth lock into place:

All while keeping those very loose rails from falling apart.

My reaction is best summed up with a meme:

And as it turns out, I’m not the only one to struggle with this assembly, nor am I the only person who solved it by simply gluing it all into place (though not before I damaged the railings pretty bad).

I guess that means my shield can’t do the gimmick, but I can’t say that really bothers me either.

Here now is the fully assembled shield:

A few notes:

• The yellow markings on the top half of the shield are stickers, and maybe it’s just me, but I think they look a bit tacky. Would it really have been hard to make those out of plastic?
• The AEUG logo on the bottom half is a nice dry rub decal. It’s supposed to be placed a bit further down than where I applied it, and every time I look at it I can’t help but feel like it’s a little off.
• The arm mount is huge. I can’t help but feel as if the shield is going to look like it’s placed way too far away from the mobile suit once equipped:

Beam Rifle

This looks nice. It’s got a lot of surface detail, and if you add a few decals it really comes to life.

My only complaint is that there’s a nasty seamline running along the top, though because of the slope of the gun, as well as the presence of some surface detail along the top, that it would be too much trouble to try and remove it.

Similarly, there are seamlines running along each of the rifle’s three energy packs (as well as the missile packs for the bazooka):

I started to try and remove these, until I realized that they’re probably not going to be visible in most (or any) photos, and that it again wasn’t worth it.

Hyper Bazooka

Most bazooka-type weapons seen in Mobile Suit Gundam are monochrome, but not the Hyper Bazooka. Whether it’s the Grandaddy Gundam’s, or the Mk II’s, it’s going to be multicolored.

Yet depending on the age or the Grade of a given Gunpla, the Hyper Bazooka is likely to be molded in a single color (usually grey). That’s always annoying, because it tends to be a difficult weapon to paint.

That’s why I’m always thankful to build one that is made of color separated plastic, which is the case here with this Master Grade.

I think this looks pretty solid. There’s another seamline running along the top, though in this case I don’t think it looks quite as bad as the one on the Beam Rifle.

Vulcan Pod

This has some nice detail and parts separation:

I tried painting in the barrels of the vulcan itself, and ended up unintentionally creating a nice combo of black and silver that gives them a cool 3d effect.

End of Part 1

We’ve already gone on quite a long time, and we’ve only just covered the weapons and accessories. I’m going to break this build up into multiple posts; In part 2, we’ll cover the Mk II itself.