Thanks to the chaps at Gundam Mad for selling me this kit. This article isn't sponsored, but it makes a change from the severely-limited selection of model kits I found while I was on holiday earlier.
Hehehe, I was gonna get round to this kit at some point. I mean, yeah, I technically got my name from the Musha Mk III if the profile picture didn't make it obvious, but that little feller was an SD first, while this is a 1/100 scale Master Grade. I've been itching to give this a go for the longest time, so let's not delay any further!
You immediately get hit with the shiny gold D runner as you open the box. I am greatly pleased at this sight (mainly because the fingerprint-attracting gold is used sparingly, cough-cough-Unicorn Phenex, cough). The I runner is also massive. And by that, I mean, "takes up the same surface area as the cover face of the box" levels of massive.
Body
Don't fret too much about the stress marks on the gold parts on the front - I'm looking ahead in the manual and the immediate next step is to attach some outer armour from the A runner, like so:
Anything else is under-gated, so be ready with the craft knife and they'll look all sweet and shiny.
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| Darn keyboard glow, making it look like there's a green part on the bottom! |
Unlike the rubber cord used for the weapons on Mechagodzilla's arms, there's no 1:1 reference image to determine the exact 35mm needed to cut this mesh cord (at least, that's what Google Lens interprets it as), so be sure to have something on hand to measure. Thankfully I had the squares on my cutting board.
Only bothersome thing is that I'm not certain I have the middle foil sticker on the front on straight, but then again, that's foil stickers for you. I'm sure it won't be noticeable in full context.
Head
The way the eye sticker is angled on the sheet is weird, and I'm not entirely sure I attached it the right way up. It's kinda bothersome, but everything else on the head looks nice.
Arms
There's also these things that go on the arms that's listed under "Upper Body" in the manual before the arms attach to the torso, so let's do those.
Attaching the head is kind of awkward, since the polycap inside the head feels like it moves a little loosely in one direction.
Legs
Ah, so the small silvery J2 runner is for those foot pistons, similar to the ones in the torso of the MG Barbatos.
Easing the mesh cord into the necessary holes is a little fiddly when they inevitably fray at the ends, but it's a lot easier with tweezers.
Blimey, those were probably the most elaborate legs I've ever assembled in my entire time building Gunpla. No joke, I originally intended to assemble the first one in an evening and I ended up staying up really late finishing it. I didn't even crop and upload the photos for it until the next afternoon.
Waist
Be sure the part with the ball joints on it is on the right way round, otherwise the front and back of this part of the waist won't fit together properly. I think it goes without saying at this point that if I'm giving this sort of advice within these build diaries, it's because the manual was really bad at explaining it. It doesn't even use the two little lines to let you know that there's a specific way round it goes.
Well, that was nice to see come together. I'm not so confident in the backflap connection on the waist, but other than that, I'm impressed. There's just a whole load of samurai weaponry to throw in there.
Weapons
There's a bracket to secure the rifle onto the back of the Gundam.
The first of these katanas was annoying to assemble. The actual blade never seemed to fit flush unless I really forced it into the hilt after trimming the corners of the connector. And if that sounds like a lot to take in, I'm fairly sure I also bent it slightly in the process. It's a shame, because I usually like gunpla kits with a shiny katana like the Astray Red Frame.
And now that leaves the decals. The manual provides two separate designs - one based on the original set of decals used on the 1989 version of this kit, and another of Hajime Katoki's own design (at least, that's the impression I get from Google Lensing the headings in the manual). I'm personally going with the original set of decals, since I like the shoulder design more. Sure, there's fewer dry transfers, but the ones it does use look really nice.
And that's the namesake Master Grade Musha Gundam MkII. And honestly, I love this thing. Really bold colour contrast between the dark blues and the shiny gold trim, carefully designed as such so that the only still-visible stress marks aren't really up front. Nothing really I can massively complain about, other than how unexpectedly elaborate the leg assembly was, but even that's a nitpick. I can't even complain about my concern about running out of mesh cord, since after all the assembly, there's still just over 2.5cm left over. A really nice-looking Master Grade that feels like a solid addition to my display shelf.
Stay safe and keep clipping, folks!
The Good
+ Wonderful colour scheme
+ Tons of cool weapons, all of which are storable on the Gundam itself
+ Really chunky and imposing shelf presence
The Bad
- Some of the leg accents aren't undergated enough, so nub marks on them in an out of box build are unavoidable
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