Sujiborido File Tool Review

By Michael Benolkin

Review

When this pair of tools popped up, I was curious as to what they might be useful for. You know how it goes, you wander through the tool section of your favorite hardware store looking at tools that solve problems you never knew you might experience. So it goes with hobby tools as well. These interesting files are mounted into interesting hand grips that provide better control of your work, but the literature for these two were all in Japanese.

After some online research, some examples were provided for 'leveling' or 'smoothing' surfaces which did little to give me a clue. Instead, I took my research to the bench. I've got a pair of Abrams tanks on the bench and the hulls have the usual heavy sprue stub remnants remaining on the edges. I've read where some folks use a fine saw to remove parts from sprue trees, but I prefer my sprue cutters. Regardless of how close I cut the parts, there was still remnants of the stubs on the edges which will interfere with fit.

In the past, I'd grab my usual hobby file and take several passes at the stub remnants, but I usually wind up with an inadvertent notch or scar in the edge where the file had worked. This time, I took the Sujiborido file lengthwise along the edges of the hull parts, carefully working along each facet. The file indeed leveled the surface without digging into the rest of the edge, and the job was finished far faster than the usual trial-and-error of other files. When I glued the hull parts together, there were no scars or remnants to condend with.

By the time I removed the stubs off of two sets of hull and turret shell parts, there was some plastic built-up in the file grooves. As advertised, a brush cleared out the grooves and they are ready for the next steps.

Each file is 2.8 inches long, 0.8 inches wide, and 0.6 inches high (72mm x 21mm x 16mm)  including the top-mounted handle. The handle atop the files makes control of the file far better than the usual end-handled file or sanding stick. There are two different files, a medium coarseness and a heavy coarseness. Each are useful for working with styrene, wood, resin, or other materials and are made from a good quality steel that will retain the sharp edges of each rasp for longer than the typical hobby file.

On the downside, you get what you pay for and these files are a bit pricey at $36 USD (including free shipping) each. Nevertheless, I am sold on these files and they will be part of all of my future builds.

You can find the Sujiborido Files (within the US) at HobbyZone USA (here).

My thanks to HobbyZone USA for this review sample.