Gunpla Build - Master Grade Gundam 3.0 (Accessories)

17 Jul 25 01:16 UTC

I kept thinking to myself, “This should be a nice, straightforward, short build post. I’ve built Gramps so many times before - what else could there possibly be to say?”

Answer: a lot, actually. Because it’s fun to compare it to those other builds - especially the Real Grade model, which is essentially this thing’s sibling.

But before we get into that, let’s start with those runners:

Looks like a pretty standard spread to me. I do have a few minor observations:

  • That sticker sheet is huge, like a Real Grade’s on steroids.
  • Usually the A Runner is big and filled with multiple colors of parts. But on this kit it’s fairly small, and most (all?) of the parts are for the Core Fighter. Instead, it’s the E Runner that has all the colored parts for the mobile suit

Now, how does this compare to its Real Grade sibling? I’m not trying to turn this into a competition or anything. I’m genuinely curious as to how two different grades, at two different scales, go about assembling two nearly identical looking models.

According to the instruction manual, the Real Grade uses only ten runners, roughly half as few as this Master Grade:

I feel obligated to add a few caveats to this comparison:

  • The MG has a separate runner for its beam effect parts, but on the RG they’re attached to the A Runner
  • The MG has a separate runner for its hands
  • I discovered that at least one of the runners in this box is recycled from an older Master Grade
  • The Real Grade uses that pre-built inner frame, so it’s entire frame fits on a single runner

So for the sake of argument, let’s strip away four runners from the MG. That would make the comparison 15 versus 10.

…. you know what, that doesn’t really make it any better. The Master Grade just has a lot more parts, period.

Let’s get cracking on the build.

Comparisons to Real Grade (or “Recycled Parts? In MY Master Grade 3.0? It’s more likely than you think”)

Throughout this post, you are going to notice that the weapons on this model aren’t quite the same as the ones on the Real Grade. As it turns out, there is a reason for that.

Since the Real Grade Grandaddy was the very first Real Grade, naturally all of its parts are brand new and original. But it turns out that that is not the case for this Master Grade. While it looks like the body itself is all original, it reuses a couple of runners from an older kit to create its weapons.

I’m not entirely sure which older kit though, as my phone’s translation app simply says “MG RX78-2”. Whether that means the parts are literally from the original 1.0, or some later MG I cannot say. Suffice to say that if you see some differences in coloring or surface detail, there’s your explanation.

Shield

Just like on the Real Grade, the red area around the screw holes are a slightly different tone of red than the rest of the shield. To do that, we get this whole big red part that fits on the inside:

And under that, we get this little T-shaped part:

What in the world could that be? It turns out that it’s actually a cover for the shield’s viewport. See, here it is closed up:

I have never seen this on any Grandaddy Gundam shield, but it’s a really cool feature.

I also want to note that the two screws are formed by plugging in these two grey parts:

The Master Grade Origin Gundam does something similar, but it uses a single part. I have no idea why they decided to use two here.

Anyway, that’s about it for assembly. Now I get to tell about my near disaster. As I was topcoating the shield, it fell off the alligator clip and clattered onto the floor. The (only partially applied) clear coat got dirty and smudged, and the waterslide decals were ruined.

But rather than panic, I got to work. I very slowly removed all of the clear coat, using a combination of Q-tips, rubbing alcohol, soap, water, and scrapers. Once it was all gone, I dried it off, re-did the panel lines, and replaced the now-destroyed waterslides with the equivalent stickers from the box. Here now is the finished product:

It’s not my ideal scenario, having lost the waterslide decals and all, but this could have turned out way, way worse.

Comparisons

So here we go, our first head to head comparison. Remember though, the Master Grade is reusing some old parts, so this isn’t going to be a perfect match.

Let’s start on the backside:

The surface details are nearly identical, and in both cases the arm mount can slide up and down the track (rather than the track being purely decorative like on High Grades). But now let’s go over the differences.

  • On the Real Grade, the cover for the viewport is simply a detail molded into the plastic. But hey, at least it’s there!
  • On the Master Grade, those little circles in the center are purely decorative, while on the Real Grade it’s the place where the red plastic connects to the white plastic. If you really wanted to I guess you could paint it white, but who is really going to notice?
  • The Real Grade doesn’t have any parts for the screws, since instead they’re molded into the plastic.
  • There are a couple of surface details that are only on the MG, but again, reused part.
  • The Master Grade version lacks the little tabs that you can use to store the Beam Sabers in the shield.

Now let’s flip them over:

In terms of their shape and surface detail, they’re a perfect match. The only difference is that the screws aren’t color separated on the Real Grade.

But in terms of the markings and decals, they’re a bit different. The Real Grade doesn’t have the big, vertically aligned markings that you see on the Master Grade.

Also, for some reason the Master Grade instruction manual doesn’t tell you to use all of markings. In fact, it only tells you to use two of them:

And on top of that there are no promo photos in the manual that show the front of the shield. Basically, unless you’re already familiar with how the Real Grade shield looks, you might not figure out what the extra markings are for, or where they’re supposed to go.

It’s just weird …

Beam Rifle

Here’s a photo of the Real Grade Beam Rifle. Note that I’m pointing to an area that’s made out of lighter grey plastic:

That’s not the case on the Master Grade. That section of the rifle is another recycled part, so it’s dark grey like the rest of the gun:

But hey, that’s nothing a little paint can’t fix. A little mix of grey and gunmetal, and now it looks much better:

I love this version of the Beam Rifle. I love how the grey area (the part I painted) exposes some of the guts of the weapon. Not only does it make it look more like a real piece of machinery, but it also kind of makes it look unfinished, as if there was some unsolved cooling issue or something that prevented them from properly protecting those internals.

Some more traditional looking beam rifles from my old High Grades, where there are no exposed internals whatsoever

Comparisons

Here it is next to the Real Grade version:

As you can see, the decals are identical this time, though there are a few interesting differences:

  • Surface details. The Real Grade has a few extra lines running along the body of the rifle.
  • Color. The Real Grade’s is much darker, almost black. It’s not traditional, but I kind of like it.
  • On the Real Grade, the center of the scope is black instead of yellow, which I actually don’t like as much:

Ultimately they both look great, but I think I like the Master Grade version just a hair better.

Now let’s compare it to the Master Grade Origin version, which is intentionally supposed to look much more old school:

We don’t get to see all those internal guts on the Origin version, though it has a little bit of extra surface detail in that general area.

I’m also shocked at just how much longer the Origin version is. It’s almost more reminiscent of the Guncannon’s rifle in that regard.

And of course, there’s that weird scope on the Origin model, with the yellow sticker hiding behind a clear plastic lens:

They both have their charms, but I prefer the 3.0 version for sure.

Hyper Bazooka

I have no work in progress photos of this one, but it’s a fairly simple construction:

Just like with all the bigger and/or higher quality models, there are no seamlines here. All the tubes are fully formed and ready for assembly.

Comparisons

With the Real Grade:

This is where the use of recycled parts on the Master Grade really hurts. On the RG, you can actually see through the ammo pack to look at the missiles inside. It’s a detail I’ve never seen on any other Hyper Bazooka, and I think it’s super cool. But on the MG we get the usual boring surface detail.

A few more observations:

  • Once again, the RG has some extra lines running down the weapon. I don’t actually like them, as they look more like seamlines than surface detail.
  • The RG version is a different color, more of a light grey than white.
  • The decals are identical again.

As far as I know, the shape of the missiles as seen from the backside is unique among these two models

Now the comparison to the Origin version:

Quite different, isn’t it? It’s a different color (cream rather than white), with a different shaped ammo box, and most interestingly, it has the same scope as the Beam Rifle, which isn’t normally a thing on the Hyper Bazooka:

Note how the missiles do not look the same from the back

Once again, I like the 3.0 version the best. I still love the ammo box on the Real Grade, but the other surface details bring it down.

Beam Sabers

So these were a bit of a mess. Somehow, someway, I managed to rip a huge chunk of plastic out of both of these beam sabers, in the exact same place. I don’t know if there was something particularly weird about that sprue, or if I snipped too close, or whatever. All I know is that each was left with a noticeable scar.

You can’t see them in this photo, but you will definitely see them on the finished model, as they’re unavoidable

One of them was shallow enough that I left it alone, but for the other I busted out my (as of yet unopened) tube of Tamiya Putty to fill in the crack. It looks … kinda better.

Anyway as you can see, these are made out of two different colors of plastic, and there is quite a bit of surface detail.

For the sake of comparison, here are two traditional looking beam sabers that came off of one of the 3.0’s old recycled runners

I don’t think the extra detail is bad, but I also don’t know if it really brings to the table.

Comparisons

I could have sworn that the Real Grade beam sabers were also made out of multiple parts, but no, they’re a single hunk of plastic:

The surface details are mostly the same, but they’re not identical. Each one has a few things that the other is missing.

I also forgot that the Real Grade came with two sets of Beam Sabers. One is purely decorative for displaying on the mobile suit, while the other one has a small tab in it that plugs into the hands:

In contrast, the Master Grade’s sabers are big enough that the tab is builtin, and simply flips out when needed.

Core Fighter

I don’t have any work in progress photos, but suffice to say that assembly is a bit tricky. Because the Core Fighter has to transform, it’s got all sorts of hinges and slide-y bits, and sometimes the instructions aren’t great about telling you exactly how the different sections are supposed to fit together.

Suffice to say that everything should move around smoothly, and if it doesn’t, don’t force it, or you may break something.

Even the cockpit is on a hinge, so that Amuro can be moved into the proper position when the Core Fighter docks into the Gundam

Which, in fact, happened to me. The wings on this Core Fighter are each on a really tiny, shallow hinge, and one of them kept falling off. I tried to tighten it up with some super glue, but I made it too tight, such that the wing wouldn’t fit on at all. I applied too much force, and well …

If there is any saving grace, it’s that I wasn’t actually planning on using it inside the Gundam, nor do I plan on displaying it such that you’ll be able to see the damage. But I’m still made at myself for making such a mistake. It was sloppy on my part.

(though if I could rant a little toward Bandai, I’m not sure why the wing has such a weak little hinge joint at all. The Real Grade model has a much sturdier one, despite being much smaller. They should have just copied that)

Anyway, here is the finished result:

This is how I plan on displaying it on the shelf, so the damage won’t be seen

The Core Fighter is a simple, dareisay goofy looking little thing, but there are still some opportunities for extra detailing and color correction if you want them.

My attempt at adding some gauges and stuff on the front console

I have a few grievances to air about this thing, beyond just that fragile hinge.

For example, for some reason the landing gear is made out of clear plastic:

Normally they use clear plastic when they want something to look invisible, but I don’t understand why you’d do that with landing gear. If you don’t want anyone to see it, you would just … take it off?

Plus, in one of the few promotional photos I found of the Core Fighter, the wheels are painted. So why not just make them out of dark grey plastic and save us a step?

Here’s my second gripe. The Fighter has working missile launchers, but they an extremely tight, stiff fit. Even before top coating the model, I had a lot of trouble getting them to flip open:

If you look closely you’ll notice there is a second missile tube trying to poke its head out. That’s because it’s supposed to open up even more, but I can’t for the life of me get it to budge. This is the best I can do.

The moral of the story here is that the Core Fighter is small. Small enough that even at 1⁄100 scale it’s still pretty tiny. Which in turn means that it can barely accommodate some of its gimmicks. Sure, technically speaking they managed to pull it off, but not all them work that well.

I consider this a cute little bonus trinket, but that’s it. If you really want a model that does the Core Fighter design justice, you’d be better off with something bigger, like this 1⁄35 scale version.

Comparison

The Real Grade Core Fighter is even smaller, but it also omits some of the gimmicks. For example, it has no working missile launchers, or a working cockpit, or a pilot figure.

And yet it still manages to capture all the same basic surface details, and it can still transform into the Core Block mode for use in the mobile suit. And because the construction is simplified, it somehow feels sturdier.

Granted, I think the Master Grade version looks better, but I think the Real Grade one is more impressive as a technical achievement.

End of Post

With the accessories done, this is a good stopping point. Next post we’ll get started on the Gundam itself.

I’m mostly pleased with what I’ve built so far. Mostly. I’m disappointed that they reused so many old parts. There are some really cool little details on the Real Grade’s weapons that I would have loved to see at Master Grade scale, but I guess that wasn’t in the cards.

I understand the desire to keep costs down and all, but I thought the whole purpose of these 2.0, 3.0, etc updates was to redo the whole thing from the ground up, with the latest and greatest in engineering tech. Reusing old weapon components undercuts that premise.

(And really, how much more would the MSRP really have increased if the kit was 100% new original parts?)

The good news is that the mobile suit itself doesn’t seem to suffer from this same problem, so at least we have that to look forward to.