Mg MK ii HD ver

After watching Zeta gundam, one of my favourite gundam designs of all time is now the mk ii. Simple and clean design, less is more, unlike some of the very cluttered gundam designs that seems overdone sometimes.
I bought the AEUG version, and it is the "limited" HD version that was made when the zeta compilation movies was released.

1. Intro:
Model: Mk II HD ver
Size: MG 1/100
Pilot: Kamille Bidan, Emma Sheen and many more.
Boxart:

Sideshot:

The HD version is in a glossy finish, and comes with shiny silver waterslide decals.

 I did not realise that the HD ver did not come with the Argama base....

Manual:

Price: 4000 yen, released in 2005, i wonder how the kit will stack up to my newer kits like 00 raiser and epyon.


2. Parts

I painted clear camera on the head in clear blue, instead of using the stickers.

Did some panel lining in the inner front skirt. Painted the part on the back of the head in clear blue.

I bought mr mark setter specially for this kit's waterslide decals. The decals look bad in the photos, but when I see them in person they look pretty good.

Showing the legs'articulation.

The backpack on the right. I painted the inner side of the thrusters in red, to be true to the anime. The head sensor/ vulcan pod looks good, only complain is they use a green sticker instead of giving us a clear part.

Weapons and accessories. Pretty generic, 1 beam rifle, 1 bazooka, 1 shield, and one extra ammo pack for the bazooka.

The shield had a real winner in terms of its holding mechanism. There are 3 sides on the purple lock that you can mount the shield on easily, making posing extremely easy, and there is no need to twist the hand in any awkward position to get the shield right. However, the two yellow pieces are yellow stickers. Seriously Bandai, you cannot give us 2 more extra yellow parts? At least the stickers are easier to apply, unlike my Mg freedom's beam rifle.

Another problem with the HD ver is the nub marks. Usually i sand nub marks off. But the HD ver does not allow that as excessive sanding will spoil the gloss finish.

2. Details and articulation:

All assembled, i think the mk ii looks better than i expected. The photos do not seem to do the kit justice, as the kit definitely looks better in person.

One interesting thing about the kit is the use of cloth tubing for the leg (behind the knee), and the backpack. The effect is pretty nice, and i wonder why bandai don't do this for more kits.

The silver pistols in the ankle looks awesome. 

With its beam rifle and shield equipped. The photo probably don't show this well, but the seam line in the rifle is too obvious, because the parts are too stiff and hence do not come together well. Usually i do not talk about the build process as different people have different style of building their model kits. But this particular model, the build process is one of the worst thus far. The main culprit, is definitely the HD gloss finish, that makes every single part extremely stiff and hard to put together. 

I started with the right feet of the mg mk ii. I put 2 parts together in the wrong order, and there is absolutely no way of separating the part. I had to cut some parts off in order to salvage the feet. The model still looks fine, as the broken part of the right feet at in the bottom. The shield is another nightmare to assemble, there are multiple connection points that do not fit all together at once. I had to trim some of the parts down to get the shield done. I will definitely not transform the shield at all, although the shield is supposed to be able to slide up and down. 

  Just when i thought all was well and dandy after i combine all the parts together, the right arm gets stuck. I had to remove the arm, partially disassemble the torso to adjust one connection part right. This was frustrating to no end. That being said, i was probably complaining too much, as much of the problems could be solved if i was a better modeler.

4. Poseability

Pics do the talking here.

The hyper bazooka is too small for the mk ii. I painted the inner part of the bazooka in chrome silver.

Even with the head sensor/ vulcan pods on, the head can still move around quite freely.

5. Sturdiness.

Despite the somewhat frustrating build process, the model is extremely sturdy and feels extra solid. Poses are incredibly easy to pull off with some creativity. The bazooka also mounts on the back of the hip well. Normally for my other gundams, i don't like to mount weapons on the waist as the weapons will just fall off. But for this kit the bazooka is held on securely.

In fact, even the rifle and the extra ammo pack can be mounted on the side of the waist. But this is not as secure so i will just stick with the bazooka mount.

6. Conclusion:

A excellent Master grade. But if i have a second chance, i will pick the regular one over this HD ver. For the argama base, and for an easier build.

Details: 7.0/10 The yellow parts on the shield should not be cheap looking stickers.

Articulation: 8.5/10 No complains here. 

Posing: 9.5/10 Poses may not be as badass as kits like Mg epyon, but the ease of changing poses more than makes up for this.

Sturdiness: 10/10 My most sturdy MG yet.

The awesomes:

1. Waterslide decals look good.

2. Easy to change poses.

3. No falling parts.

4. Kamille Bidan is my favourite UC lead.

The bads:

1. Nub marks are hard to clean off due to gloss finish.

2. Stiffness of parts make build process difficult.

3. No argama base.

4. Bazook looks comically small.