At Aomori's hobby store "American Paradise Namikan Store" (Namikan Maeda, Aomori City, TEL 017-766-7423 ), the winning works of "Plastic Model Contest Summer 2022" are currently on display.

This is the 5th year of the plastic model contest, which is held twice a year in summer and winter. Entries were solicited from July 23rd to August 28th, and 65 entries were received this time. Store manager Takashi Abe said, "We aimed to get children to apply during the summer vacation."

Judging is based on the evaluations of staff and professional modelers. The work selected for the grand prize was made by Mr. Kazuma Watanabe, a company employee living in Hachinohe who made a plastic model of an apple farmer's agricultural vehicle "Bage". Bagué is an agricultural vehicle with the roof removed from a light truck, and is used for transportation and transportation within apple farms.

According to Mr. Watanabe, in order to reproduce the bagge, he cut and processed the actual plastic model and made the lining with plastic board to reproduce the actual car. The diameter of one apple is 4 mm, and the branch part is 0.2 mm. “To make it look like the real thing, I made each ball by hand with polymer clay, and it took me three days just to make the apples,” says Mr. Watanabe. "I'm happy that the plastic model idea I've had for several years has been selected for the grand prize. I want many people to see it."

Abe said, "I wanted to select any of the works for the grand prize, but all the judging staff were surprised by Bage's meticulous attention to detail." "This contest was planned to provide an opportunity for people to make plastic models, and the number of exhibitors has increased each time it has been held, creating exchanges between exhibitors. I would like to continue this contest," he said with enthusiasm.

Business hours are from 10:00 to 21:00. The winning works will be on display until September 25th.