Kurushima 1/5.5 Yasumi Cheerleader First Look
By Tom Grossman
| Date of Review | December 2005 | Manufacturer | Kurushima |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | Yasumi Cheerleader | Scale | 1/5.5 |
| Kit Number | 217 | Primary Media | Resin |
| Pros | Very clean castings. Excellent fit and detail | Cons | |
| Skill Level | Intermediate | MSRP (yen) | ¥15,000, (Approx $126.13 USD) |
First Look
I knew I had to have this kit when I saw it in a Japanese hobby magazine at Wonderfest in May. Thanks to Scott at HobbyLink Japan, I have one of my own! Please forgive the presence of pins and the absence of the few, small pour spouts on the parts in the picture. When my kit arrived in the mail, I could not resist and started right in on her! At least this way, I can enjoy the seeing the kit put together until I get around to painting her up!
This is another excellent example of garage kit engineering by the talented folks at Kurushima. Yasumi comes decked out in her cheerleader outfit. The story goes that Yasumi’s boss at the bake shop sponsors a baseball team. The team wasn’t doing well and one of the cheerleaders fell ill. Yasumi stepped in and things got better! With spirit and looks like this behind them, how could they not do well?
The sculpt by Keiko was thoughtfully engineered into 11 pieces. These are exceptionally clean with minimal mold lines and virtually no flash. The few small pour spouts were cleverly placed in unobtrusive areas and easily removed. In keeping with the high quality of other Kurushima kits, joints are placed at natural break lines. The fit is excellent! Very little if any filling will be needed to make this kit look great!
No expense was spared for detail. The delicate rendering of the ruffles on her bottoms is remarkable. The detail on the shoes is phenomenal! The laces are very well rendered. The uppers have lots of contemporary athletic shoe detail. The soles are even treaded. Her team logo is rendered on her shirt in lightly engraved lines just as an actual cheerleader embroidered logo would look at this scale. There is an obvious attention to detail and quality in this piece..
Having fallen to eagerness when my order arrived in the mail, I discovered that the unglued, pinned up kit will stand on its own. Now that’s a talented rendering of a dynamic pose! None the less, a base is highly recommended and up to the modeler to provide. Be creative here! At 1/5.5 scale, the assembled kit stands over 13” all. The color instructions are dedicated to a painting guide as the assembly is very straight forward.