I just clicked a link.Yeah, I know, we all do that. It’s just that the subject made me think of how we have progressed over the decades. This is a very interesting model, I would think, But, personally I would rather have the real thing for sure.
It’s a snack for me. But, I know a lot of college students that lived on the stuff just to get through school. But, c’mon now. A Model of a Cup-A-Noodles? Armaggeden must be getting close.We are selling models of food to the model building community now?
I see it as just the opposite. Some kit makers seek new products that are off the wall, and reap the benefits when they become popular. Bandai is obviously not afraid to take calculated risks, and the Japanese in general have a penchant for the unusual.
Besides TB, Cup Noodle is a pop icon! Lots of people outside the modeling community will identify with it. And that’s just the hook Bandai is counting on. Plus it is snap fit and pre-colored, so even novices can put it together.
But personally I hate the stuff. Heck, it doesn’t even taste like ramen! There are WAY better instant noodles to be found in Japan.
As soon as I saw that I ordeded the kit. Love it. I got my wife a cup of noodles t-shirt for her birthday. Right up there with toon tanks and egg planes.
What to us are strange ideas for models have been produced in Japan for decades. I used to see things like this on the shelves in toy stores whenever I went to grab some models in Okinawa. I always wondered who would buy a model of a paper bag with legs, arms, and a face.
I like it. No one is going to confuse a P-47 or Camero sitting on the table with the real thing (at least I hope not) but if built well someone might think this were real. A bit of an interesting challenge.
If anyone wants to enter one of these in Japanese GB X next year I certainly won’t complain.
This is a “Danboard”, by Daisuke Nakabayashi I believe, taken at the 2018 IPMS Nationals.
Here are some examples of other off-the-wall stuff from Japan.
DIY fake spaghetti, with a whole store devoted to the stuff:
Folk monsters, bugs, and other things:
Coke machine!
Here is a cute little decal station that a friend gave me. It works, but is tiny!
Not a kit, but I had to include this:
This was a flyer for a multi-player arcade game in Yokohama. The tag line reads “More fun than riding a cow!” Playing the game, the mechs kind of steer-ed (oh a pun) like cows. In the USA, our advertising approach would look more like the game Hero’s Duty from Wreck-It Ralph. In Japan? Cow.
Boring. Many years ago, 17 or so, while I was being the head judge at a Sci-fi convention contest, we had a long discussion on what we do with Lego type space ship models. Kids liked to build them, no glue, filing seams or painting those. We decided to let them enter as display only. That worked, then after a couple of years they became less popular, and they went away. I’m sure Lego found a home some where else, like Disney World.
i spent two years in Japan In the early to mid 1960s. I was a hospital corpsman at the U.S. Naval hospital at Yokosuka, which had been the primary Japanese naval base during the Second World War. Eating in Japanese restaurants off base on liberty or leave was routine. Most of the restaurants my friends and I went to displayed, at the entrance, realistic, full scale models of the dishes they served.
Soon after I arrived, my friend Bob Newcimer and I rented bikes and did a tour of Yokosuka and some of the surrounding communities. Around noon, we stopped for lunch at a small restaurant, but didn’t pay atention to its display of model food. Instead, we just pointed to items on the Japanese text only menu, thinking we would immerse ourselves in Japanese culture. I got a delicious bowl of soup made with fish, prawns, and noodles. Bob got a cheeseburger.
The spaghetti kit is more involved than the Cup Noodle:
It requires artistry and a deft touch to make it look good. I think regular modelers would find it challenging. The included paper plate and wooden utensil have to go though.
Regarding the Cup Noodle, I think the point is that it is a fun easy to build novelty item that has a broader appeal than the stuff we normally buy. I don’t think many people would think to enter it into a model contest. Lego in a model contest? Wow. I did see some die cast cars entered once…
Many years ago as a young teen, I submitted a Baywatch lifeguard truck for my project at the county fair. Everything but the truck body was painted, because it was molded in a yellow plastic, and I honestly thought was the best tone of yellow anyway to match the show’s vehicles. It was fully decaled and had a gloss coat applied.
The county 4-H model leader pulled me off to the side after judging and advised me that if a model isn’t fully painted, it isn’t fully completed per the show rules. I have never repeated that mistake!
I can imagine his reaction to a LEGO kit being submitted! I still keep in touch, maybe I will ask.
I dunno, the spaghetti sounds like it’d be a challenge to paint and get it to look like the real thing. Esp the tomato sauce. It’d be an interesting change of pace from the usual.
The spaghetti sauce is some kind of thick gel that you heat up before applying. The pasta is made of a wax, so you have to put it in hot water to soften them, just like the real thing!
I’m still trying to figure out how to conceal the metal support for the fork. I also have to go to the thrift store for a proper plate. I had an idea to buy a faux chrome plated fancy looking plastic fork, if there is such a thing.
It’s a different kind of modeling - no Eduard PE or resin correction sets to help out! [:P]
