Sure, you’ve made instant ramen before, but never like this.

There are a lot of different brands of instant ramen out there, but the undeniable standard in cup noodles is, well, Cup Noodle. Nissin’s flagship product is essentially the model for all instant ramen, but today we’re putting together a model of Cup Noodle.

Last spring we spent a nostalgic afternoon building together an ultra-detailed replica of the first PlayStation, part of toymaker Bandai’s Best Hit Chronicle model series. The newest entry in the Best Hit Chronicle lineup is now out, and it’s a 1:1-scale model of a cup of Cup Noodle, including its noodles and toppings.

It’s a bold choice of model muse. Most kits let you build vehicles, robots, or other angular, mechanical things, but this is the first build-it-yourself food model we’ve heard of.

Looking at the parts, you might think you’re going to be putting together a clock or train, what with all those gear-like ring-shaped pieces. Trust us, though, this really is going to turn into a Cup Noodle.

Just like with the PlayStation model, you don’t need any glue or other adhesives. Pliers are handy for cleanly removing components from their frame, but once you’ve got them out, everything is designed to snap together. As for all those rings, there’re there because you actually assemble the cup in segments. The makeup is surprisingly complex, too. For example, you know the red and gold accents on an actual Cup Noodle package?

Those are separate interlocking pieces in the model, and the same goes for the stylized “Cup Noodle” logo.

The warning icons, telling you to be careful not to spill the hot contents of the cup or to put it in the microwave, are also recreated,

Assembly is an engaging process, but also beginner friendly. Many similar-looking pieces are designed with prongs that will only fit the specific part they need to connect with, so that you won’t mistakenly stick two together when they’re supposed to stay separate.

Once the cup is done, it’s time to move on to the ramen itself. The kit comes with a wide array of noodle clusters, but you’re not supposed to toss them in willy-nilly. When you cook Cup Noodles, you end up with more noodles towards the top of the cup than at the bottom, and this is properly reflected in the model’s design (the cup even has a removable “window” section so you can admire the cross-section of the noodles after you’ve finished building the model).

Staying true to actual Cup Noodle, the model provides you with ground meat, egg, shrimp, and green onion toppings. The coolest thing here is that you get translucent stickers to put on the shrimp, in order to give them the mouthwatering sheen of moist, freshly cooked shellfish.

▼ The green onion slices are a plastic sheet that you cut and sprinkle into the cup.

The shape of Cup Noodle’s ground meat is so well-known to instant ramen fans that Bandai 3-D scanned actual pieces of it (and the eggs, too) to create the plastic parts, and the results are extremely impressive.

With the cup and contents put together, the last step is to add the finishing-touch stickers, like the nutrition information label, which fits into a recessed section of the plastic.

Again, the level of detail here is astounding. For instance, that tiny bit of red at the tp of the “U” in “Cup?”

You get a sticker to recreate that.

Now all we have to do is snap on the final piece, and we’re done!

OK, so time for the big question: Which of these is the Best Hit Chronocle Cup Noodle model, and which is a real Cup Noodle?

The correct answer is…
…
…
…
…Best Hit Chronicle on the left, and real Cup Noodle on the right.

Honestly, it’s amazing how close the model is to the real thing. The model even has the Japanese Agricultural Standard certification mark.

From start to finish, the 2,420-yen (US$23) Best Hit Chronicle took us about two hours to assemble, or roughly as long as it would take to make 40 cups of instant ramen at the standard three-minute-a-cup cooking time. But whereas our actual instant ramen disappears about as quickly as we can make it, this special Cup Noodle now gets a place of honor on our office shelf.

Photos ©SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
[ Read in Japanese ]