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Really great stand actually. It does work with my 1/100 kits, holds them up well and is really easy to use compared to the older action bases. There are screws in the build, but just follow the instructions given and you should be fine, you don't need a screwdriver because Bandai molded these hexagonal keys . It may not hold up really big, heavy models up very high, but it will at least hold them. It's not prone to breaking like other clear ACB's out there because Bandai smartened up and decided to make the plastic thicker this time giving it more strength and stability. I don't know if I would heartily say it'll work for every 1/100, but it will work with the majority of them, and certainly more fun to pose models with. However the center hold on the base plate of the stand is really loose for some reason, but the other holes are nice and tight like they should be, so the center hole must've been screwed up at the factory because it is so loose to the point where the base plate will drop off of the stand arm if you pick it up without supporting the bottom of the base plate. Despite that the rest of the stand is really great, except for the fact that the adapters included are only for peg holes, there are no "cradle" style adapters like those that would've come with the ACB 1 or ACB 5. But I think this stand is more fun to use, quicker to build, and stronger to a degree than the other actions bases out there. I highly recommend it for 1/144 and also 1/100 kits, but try not to use it with extremely heavy or large models as that could weaken the base. I've had my RG Hi Nu with the EffectsWIngs hyper mega launcher on the stand on my shelf for about a month, and the base has not loosened up or become broken because of the H-Nu's weight. Give this base a chance, it's really quite good!

Yes, it is a limited kit still. However, Bandai is selling these overseas as a semi-regular release. I do not know if they will reprint & continue to sell overseas, but for now, it is not limited just to P Bandai.

Absolutely. Just make sure to use the right paints over the photoetch parts, or to carefully top coat the model after applying decals so they don't peel away.

Color-wise, black. It'll stand out the most. Now for specific paint type, it would be the simplest to use a water-based liner, you can make this by thinning out hobby store craft paint acrylics (like Delta Creative, Folk Art, Apple Barrel, any of those will work) with purely water and some dish soap should work well on this model.

I would assume using a water-based topcoat like Mr Super Clear or any of the Tamiya spray can enamels or acrylic-hybrid jar clear coats from Tamiya would work. Just anything that isn't a pure lacquer, I'd be concerned that could react with the plating, but that's just superstition. Always test paints, clears, etc. on spare parts before applying them to your model so you don't end up screwing up your model.

Your best bet would be to make a completely water-based panel lining mix. Check out u/Feral404's craft paint panel liner tutorial on the r/Gunpla reddit. Feral's tutorial is straightforward, and makes a water based liner than has zero chance of marring any plastic. Feral recommends wiping away the excess liner wash with your fingers, I would probably use a microfiber cloth to keep it from getting sweaty. If you want to, test using a water-based topcoat clear like Mr Super Clear on some spare gold parts to make sure it doesn't chemically react with your liner or the plated gold of the model.

ZEP Degreaser 505 will work. Dell's Gunpla did a custom repaint of the recent RG Akatsuki, which while it uses chrome plating, should be a similar plating type (at least chemically) to the titanium satin gold on the MG Shiki. Dell had to soak the RG Akatsuki parts twice because the plating had two paint layers, so you may want to do that for the MG Shiki. Just let the parts soak overnight in a plastic Tupperware, and then wash them in the morning if the plating has come off.

I've built the regular IN ERA Thunderbolt, and I can say there are a few areas where parts fit together a little janky. However, there was no need to widen holes, glue, sand etc. My main issue was the head parts on regular Thunderbolt, was just a bit janky. Hoping they improved upon that with this new Thunderbolt 2.0/Manta Ray.

Not really, PVC is the type of plastic that some 3D prints and figures use. This is just a specific primer for PVC figures and other types of items with that plastic. Regular gunpla plastic is polystyrene, and it's likely that the polycap plastic is rubber polyethylene. You may want to try just the regular Odenkan white/black/grey primers made for plastic, as this one is way too expensive just to use on polycaps.

Short answer: No. As far as I can tell between the Official Bandai Decals for the RG Nu, limited images of the sticker sheet included with the Bandai RG nu, and this waterslide decal sheet, teh G-Rework ones do not directly match Bandai's. You may want to mix & match if theres stickers you really like, but if you get multiple waterslide decal sets, you could have more of a selection to choose from. G Rework and Delpi can't directly copy bandai's decals or stickers, either in the design of decal or the layout of the decal sheet, as that could be grounds for a legal attack from bandai.

My estimation would be, if you are priming EVERYTHING with 1 layer of primer, then you could probably get 1-3 complicated MG's out of it, 1-4 simple MG's out of it, and 4-ish HG's. But bear in mind this is an estimation. The reason why is that you can pre-thin this primer (pour jar contents into a DSPIAE paint dropper bottle, fill jar with Mr. Levelling 1 and 1/2 times) use it with the same airbrush needle/nozzle and PSI each time, and have a relatively big dropper bottle of primer ready to go. I would think that since Bandai kits are so well made, most don't usually have surfacer imperfections like car model kits, you'd be doing 1 layer of primer on your kits and then be ready for your base color in no time. Even though the bottle is tiny, it's a lacquer paint, and you can really thin these MR Color paints out. Most people agree with a almost 60 thinner 40 paint for Mr Color, or 1 jar of mr color with 1 1/2 mr color jars amount of Mr Levlling into a paint bottle. Hope this helps, again, just an amatuer estimation.