3D Dream Arts Pen: Pikachu Full Pokemon Set (2 Pen Set) – Available from HobbyLink Japan
By Cori from Pokemon TCG News
Today we are taking a look at an interesting art set by MegaHouse. The company proposes a Pokemon-themed kit for fans to create their own 3D figurines and accessories from the popular franchise.
The set comes in a colorful box and contains:
- Yellow ink 3D pen
- Clear ink 3D pen
- Magical light
- Ball chain
- Design sheet
- 3D mold
- Decoration sticker sheet
- Trace sheet
- Instruction book (Japanese language)
Called a 3D art kit, this product basically is a UV resin kit. The two pens contain either clear or yellow colored resin which needs UV light (the magical light, which needs 3 AAA batteries that are not included) to be cured. Molds of various shapes and dimensions are provided, as well as small and very well-made stickers.
The kit is also provided with instructions, which are in Japanese but are very easy to follow thanks to the picture overload the company used –always useful even if one is fluent in Japanese.
Although this kit promises to do miracles, or at least some interesting creation with the provided materials, actually testing it doesn’t really meet expectations. I tried to make different creations, but I’m afraid only a couple turned out almost okay.
Resin (Magical Pens)
As I said earlier, these pens are filled with clear and yellow UV resin which can be cured with a UV light. Their design is quite beautiful. The clear resin pen is the best one between the two because the resin it contains actually cures if used in very small portions. The yellow one is very, very hard to cure and I actually wasn’t able to get a decent result with it.
Please note that the mold will become hot when curing resin with the UV light.
Instructions give us direction on which mold we should use, either the clear or colored resin; the former is indicated for smaller pieces like keychains or thin objects. It works quite well on the keychain molds indeed, but for other creations like the the Pokeball the result is a guaranteed to be a complete fail.
However, this is not only due to the resin. I believe that the real problem with this kit is the mold — which I will talk about in a moment.
The resin, both colored and clear, is actually bearable in terms of smell. The instructions clearly state to protect your eyes and hands when working with resin, so always wear gloves and don’t look into the UV lamp. But the resin actually doesn’t smell too badly. The smell isn’t good of course, but it’s bearable.
Mold
As I was saying, the mold is the actual issue of this otherwise well done and funny kit. It is made of hard plastic, which is the worst material one can work with when creating with resin.
I had my experience with UV and bi-component resin in the past, and I always suggest to use a silicone mold when working with resin. For starters, silicone is easiest to unmold as resin doesn’t stick to it after curing; then it guarantees better details and a polished result –not to mention that silicone mold actually makes the resin able to cure.
The provided hard plastic mold does exactly the opposite. Resin doesn’t completely cure in it (unless is a tiny piece and it also is a bit sticky after it hardened) and removing a piece of resin from the mold is very difficult.
With the keychains I cured the resin for a good 20 minutes before to get them out of the mold (with other UV resin I tried 5-6 minutes are enough) and the result was at least decent.
When I tried to make bigger and more complex pieces, like the Pokeball or the canvas, I wasn’t even able to get the resin cured –especially the yellow one. I literally let it cure until the batteries of the UV light were almost finished, but the result was the same: a sad fail.
Accessories
The accessories, like the stickers or even the UV light, are good in my opinion. The stickers are well done and easy to detach from the sheet and the torch seems to make a good amount of light. The ball chain is solid enough and good looking, so I appreciate it.
The instructions have a part that can be cut off to use with the resin creations, which I find very interesting because it’s funny to cut pieces and then put them together.
Conclusion
I’m disappointed because this set could have been a very good one with just a little more attention. If the mold would have been made of silicone, the resin would definitely cure and each of the pieces of the kit could be created.
I ended up making only a couple of keychains after trying the Pikachu figures, the frames/canvas or the Pokeball and I still had fun trying this kit, so I’m sure it would have made a great product if only given some more thought!
Want to give it a try for yourself? Pick one up here:
– 3D Dream Arts Pen: Pikachu Full Pokemon Set (2 Pen Set)
