Today, I was thinking of discussing the Mig23 of North Korea and the F-15/F-16 of South Korea, but since the topic seemed too gruesome, so I’ve trashed the idea.
Hello everyone, Tomeko here.
Today, I’ll be introducing an item that will help with your plastic model kit building.
- Shirimochi A
A bar of soap......or so it may look, but don’t be fooled.
When you open it, it just seems like a rectangular object,
rather than a pad made of silicon...
But it is slightly soft.
I tried squishing it.
I guess if you hardened a rice cake with jelly, it would feel something like this.
Since its silicon, I was personally looking forward to something like the
Tokyo Dolls, but sadly it wasn’t as soft, nor peachy and smooth like the Tokyo Doll. How
unfortunate.
Anyway, on the back of the packaging, it says:
Useful as a cutting mat for detailed crafting,
or
paint tray for quick small jobs.
Looks like it can’t be a replacement of the Tokyo Doll... (so stubborn)
Alright,
Let’s test this Shirimochi already!
Here is a part I’ve snipped off from the frame with a side cutter.
I’ll be cleaning the cut edges with a craft knife.
Uryaaaa!
......stabbed the pad... 0.0
Ummm... this is obvious, but...... it is silicon, so if you put too much force into it, the blade will sink into the pad. Of course, it’s a slab of silicon, so its expected...
But as it is soft, it does absorb the shock properly, so the tiny bits that had been cut off stay on the pad instead of flying all over the place.
I guess its proper use would be to prevent loss of parts when working on tiny parts, I guess.
And my Shirimochi has successfully become damaged straight after purchase...
Let’s try paint and glue this time.
We will be using the Gundam Color (Mr.Color) and Tamiya Cement for the experiment.
Left: Mr Color, Right: Tamiya Cement
I’ve just slapping on each material roughly and leave abandoned...
Sorry for the Tamiya Cement being difficult to see, as the material is transparent.
And letting it dry overnight......
Slipping it off.
And peeling off the paint too.
Just move the paint off as shown above, and it will come off clean and the Shirimochi is back to its original state.
So this might be great for times when you only want to use a little bit of paint.
Also, I’ve secretly tried superglue as well, and it did basically come off alright.
The only issue with it was that it whitened the pad very slightly...
It’s not like the pad got badly damaged by it, so it would probably be alright as long as you don’t over-do it...... I think.
So yeah, here is the Shirimochi that ended up as a test subject.
Personally, the greatest shock to me was that the craft knife blade sank in so easily.
As it is soft, its suitable for the fine detailed jobs, but when you buy something and it becomes damaged straight away, you can’t help but feel a little sad.
But anyway, I think this will be very useful for plastic model kits of Dragons and the likes, kits with small parts.
And I would say it will be very handy as a paint tray for small coloring jobs too.
Paint easily comes off once it dries, and the color doesn’t shift onto it or anything, so it will stay clean.
Oh and for the initial production batch, there will be this Filmic Gauge thingy included.
(The clear plastic sheet with black markings in the image)
You can bend it quite a bit, so it may be treasured depending on how you use it.
Looks like something you would see in drafting supplies and sorts.
Anyway, that will be it for today!
Thanks for reading, see you next time.
By Tomeko (Anyone skilled enough to carve figures out of these Shirimochi?)