Features:

  • Easy to snap together, no glue required.
  • Molded in separate colors, no paint required.
  • High level of detail.
  • Advanced MS Joint System replicates the mechanical skeleton
  • Features of a MG and PG kit at lower price!
This kit takes an Intermediate Skill level to complete.

This RX-78-2 model is not hard to assemble, but it has many small parts associated with it that require tweezers for assembly. This model is impressive. Bandai are injection-molding geniuses. Worth every penny spent. Glue is optional, but I felt a few of the outer armor parts needed a pin-drop of glue to ensure that they did not fall off when the final figure is being handled. Expect 15 hours build time if you want this model built 'correct'.

"Real Grade: Excitement Embodied"? Definitely.

This was the third kit I ever built, my first model that wasn't a High Grade, and also my first Real Grade. I've heard plenty of good things about this kit, but I knew I had to see it for myself. I was mainly looking around for the best rendition of RX-78-2 around for the best price, and this Real Grade version meets that requirement perfectly. In fact, I think a little over $30 is a steal for something with such an exceptional level of quality, attention to detail, and a healthy number of parts akin to Master Grades. Now that quick intro is over with, time to get on to the fun stuff (oh joy :3 )! The package came in a pretty big Amazon box. Much bigger than my expectation. I was puzzled at why would it be packaged in such a large box for such a small kit, but upon opening the packaging, I was surprised by how large the kit's box actually is. The box itself reeks of quality in comparison to past models. No actual cardboard is visible on the outside of the box. Black underside, a nice & detailed shot of RX-78's head plus a CGI of the whole Gundam on the front, and side illustrations of the various features of the product (though written in Japanese, easy to understand what the illustrations are trying to convey). Upon opening the box, you will be pleasantly welcomed to TEN (that's right, TEN) runners/plates containing a whopping total of (if memory serves me correctly), 276 individual parts. Wow. Talk about a healthy and hefty amount of time spent enjoying the building process of the kit. And it sure did deliver in that regard. Looking at RX-78-2 by itself on the cover of the box, you expect the colors of the plates to be white, blue, some red, some yellow, black/grey, and pink for the beam sabers. That is exactly what you get, right? Not necessarily, because upon closer look at the plates/runners, you will see that there are MULTIPLE shades of color. Past models of this Gundam has been just solid white all throughout, but in this kit you'll see that there are pure white pieces, light grey pieces, light brown pieces, blue pieces, light blue pieces, red pieces, maroon pieces, and yellow pieces all spread throughout. The inner frame parts aren't even all just plain gray either, it comes in two shades. One dark grey and one lighter grey. Simply put, the colors are spot on and definitely do justice in giving RX-78 a realistic touch and feel to it, contrary to past models that are more accurate to the anime but thus naturally come off as more cartoony. I really like how the instructions show a summary illustration of which part you are currently working on, and certain parts of the pictures highlighted for emphasis. Following the directions were very simple and a joy to go through. Now for the build. I actually ended up buying this same kit twice. The first kit was a "practice" run through, I'd say, since it was a rushed build using just standard scissors (bad idea, I know). Even then, the end result was nothing short of amazing. This is a kit that you don't need to paint, as individual panels of the armor come in different shades of color to add detail before you even have to add it yourself. If you do have to paint, it would likely to just mask all the nub marks (especially if you don't have side cutters like I did at first). Even then, Bandai does a fantastic job in placing attachment points at discrete locations so that nub marks are hardly visible on the kit. You begin with the feet and work your way up. As soon as you complete the feet, you'll pretty much get an early sense of satisfaction seeing how much articulation it actually has. I continued to become more and more impressed the more parts I finished, especially the legs. Individual armor pieces move along with the legs and arms and don't remain static, giving the kit a sense of having realistic armor mechanisms. Articulation is just gorgeous. It's as if you're dealing with something that's pretty darn accurate to the human skeletal system. Thus, you can recreate essentially every iconic pose from Mobile Suit Gundam right down to the exact angle. The inner frame of this kit is a work of beauty, though not as complex as perfect grade (naturally), still VERY impressive for something of this price. No screws or glue were necessary (thank goodness!). Everything was a snap fit. You really only need side cutters, tweezers for applying decals, a hobby knife & Gundam markers (to clean up nub marks). The end result was exactly as I expected it to be: simply beautiful. If I had to nitpick, I would say that the tiny pieces gave some difficult in assembling certain parts (such as the core fighter), and the kit itself is unfortunately small. But again, you get what you pay for, AND THEN SOME. The side skirt armor and thrusters on the backpack do come loose easily, but that's easily fixed with a bit of adhesives. I recommend this as a good starting point for anyone getting into building Gundam model kits.

Best Gundam I've Bought so Far

To put it simply, this is the best Gundam I've bought thus far. Granted I've yet to explore any scale larger than 1/144, so I can't speak for any higher grades. But that aside, I was beyond impressed with the finished product. The detail is extravagant and I haven't even applied any decals yet, the multiple shades of white especially give the figure a more "realistic Gundam" look to it, as I understand it was based on the life sized statue in Japan. On the up-side, this Gundam has near perfect articulation, very precise detail, and one of the only times I've heard of there being a functioning core block system in an RX-78-2 Gundam. The only downsides I can say are a few fragile parts that fall off easy, and the shield is just a little heavy, so the torso has a tendency to lean to the left when holding the shield.

Perfect Model for your Gunpla Collection.

This is hands down my favorite model I've ever built. It has a few hundred pieces involved in it's construction, from infrastructure to exoskeleton, to the core fighter stored inside of the torso. Every bit of detail and more in wonderfully sculpted and molded into this 1/144 model. The range of mobility is phenomenal. This is a must buy for all Gunpla fans. Warning: This model will require you to have tools to assemble. Some parts are extremely small in order to articulate the the most infinitesimal detail.

First RG, for better or worse

This was the first model in the Real Grade line, which means a couple of things. On the positive side, Bandai's designers clearly wanted to make an impression and distinguish the Real Grade from the existing High Grade line. So everything is super complex and you can tell a lot of engineering went into starting the Real Grades with a bang. You get a nice complement of weapons, and the inner frame and moving armor panels make this model very satisfying to pose. It'll hold a pose pretty well without too much falling off in the process. The flip side of being first in the RG line is that the designers didn't have the benefit of learning from previous models. Some parts are a little too tiny for their own good and will break easily if you're not careful. The inner frame is already articulated fresh from the runner, which is awesome, but I managed to break the hip section while trying to get the joints to move. (Thankfully a glob of superglue put everything back together). The other thing that disappointed me is that it only comes with two sets of hands - closed fist, and the fiddly articulated hands. There's no dedicated trigger fingers or open hands like in later RG models. The action base mount also leaves something to be desired: it fits too loosely into the model for comfort, and only fits the square tab of an actual Action Base - no peg-hole for cheaper stands. PROS: + Master Grade complexity in High Grade size + Inner frame means high poseability and complex moving armor + Comes with beam rifle, shield, bazooka, and two sets of beam sabers (with and without tabs for hands to grip) + Transformable core fighter can dock with suit, or you can use the provided block to give some more flexibility + Satisfying build process + Lots of stickers for a realistic look CONS: - Parts can break if you're not careful - No dedicated trigger finger, open hand, or saber holder hands - Disappointing action base mount (notice the wire stand in the pictures) - Beam sabers are preposterously long Overall this is a great treatment of the first-ever Gundam and a great start to the Real Grade line. Later RG models have improved on it, but this one still holds up. Definitely a great addition to your collection.

Awesome product. One of the most amazing craftsmanship I have seen.

This is my first Bandai model. It was really intimating at first especially the instructions were in Japanese. But patience and hard work paid off in the end. It is super realistic and the details are amazing. I love the joint system. It is ingenious. It took me about 12 hours in all to complete and I felt a real sense of accomplishment when I was finally done. I was able to do it with only tweezers and a box cutter. But I do think proper tools will help since some of the part are extremely small (size of a quarter of a finger nail). There are probably over 150 pieces in all and over 50 tiny teeny decal stickers. (yes i almost went blind) WARNING: be really careful when you remove some of the pieces. I accidentally crushed a few pieces because I was careless. For example when constructing the Head unit.

Excactly like the Nice looking Demonstration model(I Mean REALLY)

My brother age 44(I Think) put this together after started in this past December28th. He just about finished by completely finishing the Gundam and the small ship that is with it,today Jan,4th. Fellow customers;this Gundam looks just like that display model and thats rare to happen. On another note , this gundams small escape ship may get a crack under the canopy (on the side of the nose) if the nose tip is pushed in like the instuctions say you can do(you dont have to.) It looks to be a design deffect. But all is well with it. My brother enjoys this Rx 78 Gundam. End of this review.

Great kit

Decided to use this kit as my first experience building a Gundam model, and I had a great time building it. Took me awhile to build as I went slow, not entirely sure as to what I was doing. Turned out fine, though I believe one piece snapped slightly on me, but I'm sure that was my own fault. A couple of the parts are a bit loose, and one piece of the skirt falls off almost every time I try to move the model. My only major problem with the kit is the stickers, which are way to small for me to easily put on, even with tweezers, though I'm slowly trying. Looks great, even without all the stickers, and I can't wait to get a stand to display it.

A Fantastic Model Kit

Gunpla enthusiasts tend to suggest that beginners start out with High Grade kits, rather than the Real Grade line (which this kit falls under), but this was only my second model ever, and I can say with confidence that I had no trouble building it. While there are quite a few pieces, the instructions are easy to follow, even if you don't understand Japanese. Furthermore, the pieces all snap together, so there is no need for glue (or paint for that matter - the pieces are all colored appropriately). And how about the finished product? If you read up on the Real Grade line, you will learn that it is meant to be something of a hybrid of Bandai's other model kit grades. It has the small size and (relative) cheap price of the High Grade, a high piece count (inspired by the Perfect Grade), and a flexible joint system (taken from the Master Grade). In practice, the Real Grade kits wind up being incredibly detailed and highly poseable. The Gundam in particular comes with quite a few bells and whistles. It has all of its key weapons (beam rifle, bazooka, shield and beam sabers), as well as a separate Core Fighter model which can be used to assemble the Gundam's torso (just like in the original TV show). This level detail was unexpected, but wholly welcome, in such a well priced kit. All in all, I think that anyone new to this hobby would do fine with a Real Grade kit such as this one, and due to the extra level of detail, I'd probably recommend them over a High Grade kit. The bit of extra effort is worth it when you see the finished product.

Get it

It could be done in a day or so, depending what you plan on doing with it. This was my first gundam model. Did ran into some issues but nothing too hard to resolve

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