HG RX-178 Gundam Mk-II (21st Century Real Type Vers.) – A Review
As you might guess from the kits here - both reviewed and listed in my Backlog – I have a thing for the later Gundam series and my dips into the Universal Century designs in High Grade and above are rare. Well, this seems to be the year where I beat that wrap as this is the second UC Era kit in as many builds.
Bonus: It’s in my colors so I didn’t have to paint a thing!
Without further ado, here’s my review of the HG RX-178 Gundam Mk-II (21st Century Real Type Vers.).
Like I mentioned earlier, I rarely dip into the UC Era suits. This is partly a design thing, as I like the more modern mobile suits more than most of their earlier counterparts. Another reason is many of the older mobile suits are very brightly colored. The OG Gundam is mostly white with bright reds, blues and a school bus yellow. I cut my modeling teeth with military planes and car models and Batman vehicles so… I kinda’ drift more toward stuff like the Deathscythe or the Over Flag – stuff with a lot of black and golds and accents of white – or the alternate colored stuff like the Gundam G-3 with it’s grays reminiscent of a battleship’s paint.
This version of the Mk.II, a design which I actually like better in the more classic Gundam White than the Titans Blue/Black from the series, hits Just right. It’s gray is a bit bluer than I was expecting but the dark blues, gloss black, and metallics are right up my alley and Very close to what I’d have picked for myself.
The build is fairly straightforward. It’s a modern print of the Mk.II so it has the range of motion one would expect for a gunpla model made in the last 10 years. It has a nice mix of both polycaps and plastic joints – a topic I have to do a write-up on later – so you get that ease of movement only polycaps can give in some areas and that stiffer plastic on plastic movement in others. This mix means it can absolutely hold a pose without too much sagging or snapping over time.
One word of caution: The Eyes are deceiving! It’s a little clear green piece all on its lonesome. The sticker sheet is super light (always a plus in my book) but it comes with an option – the good ol’ massive eye sticker you’d find in most Gundam kits OR! Two shiny chrome stickers to add the plastic behind the eyes. I guess the idea is the clear eyes would act as light tubes and the chrome would bounce it back out the front so they “Glow”.
The reality is the actual eyes are too small to pull it off properly and set back too far to catch enough light to make even the classic shiny eye sticker visible. I even painted black around the molded eyes to try and help the look. Needless to say, I ended up popping the whole head apart to remove the paint and add the classic eye sticker.
It's great for those with LED skills but something to watch out for if you're like me and don't wire their kits up like that (yet).
I enjoyed this build but I do have some reservations at recommending it to folks. At least… I don’t think I can recommend this version of the Mk.II to folks.
This is a fun kit, no doubt. It’s in a neat “Realistic” color scheme that, for me, made it a must buy. The thing I have to caution folks about are nub marks. The particular formulae of plastics used seem more brittle and prone to marking than the standard Gundam plastics. These are easily handled with a bit of touch up sanding but, unless you have the right tools, you’ll always see some of the nubs.
Same thing goes for the metallics used. They look great to me but it’s still a metallic flake filled plastic and you will see natural swirls that come from the injection molding process. This is a harder fix that would require paint.
In fact, you could fix both problems with paint.
At that point, you could save your money on this special edition P-Bandai kit and repaint a standard Mk.II to match it. To go this route – getting a P-Bandai limited edition kit that tends to sell out quickly Just for the color scheme – is one of those things you Really have to want to do. Even the neat Real Type waterslide decals that this comes with are something I’m sure you could source if you were so inclined.
For me, this kit was totally worth the P-Bandai Tax. I’m not sure When I’ll add the extra markings but I’d like to add those on in the future. When I do, you know I'll post a little photo shoot here.
At the moment, I’m just digging how nice this came out and trying not to dwell on the mistake with the eyes again.
