Build Report Mikasa

Some of the ingredients for construction. 

Let's start by putting the fuselage together 

Prepare everything for the stand. 

These are the very nice model building supports from Pontos. 

Now all possible details are sanded off again and will later be replaced by the etched parts. 

Screws for the stand attached. 

The hull structure is very stable. 

Holes for the crampons 

Now let's open the portholes. 

After researching the few images available, I noticed that the porthole that sits on the model below the anchor hawse did not exist.
This was then closed with a round styrene profile. 

Filled and sanded. 

Another mistake that needs to be corrected. Merit made recesses in the fuselage to accommodate the etched piece gunports from the model in the correct location.
Since I’m using the pontos set here and the hinges of the gunport on the original ship were riveted onto the hull from the outside, I close them with styrene.

 

I’ll be busy with that for a while. 

Continue working on the hull, which will probably take quite some time.
Because after I filled the recesses with styrene profiles, I noticed significant sinkholes that unfortunately had to be thickly filled.
On the right side, I think you can still clearly see the small dent of the sink under the filler. 

Since I had to do a lot of filing and sanding here, I could no longer take the surface structure of the hull into account and removed it. Which isn’t a big deal since I’ll be making them again with styrene. 

After the first sanding process, the worked areas were primed as a check and I am quite happy with the result. 

So, I have created the removed surface structure with my styrene profiles.
It's a little bit wider than the original line, but if it's painted afterwards it should fit. 

And so I continued on the port side and completed the areas around the casemates.
Consequently, all structures of this type on the fuselage are now being replaced by styrene profiles. As can be seen above.
Otherwise it would no longer look consistent. 

Ok, let’s fill the holes that I don’t need due to the etched parts sets. 

Then check with a white primer to make sure everything is sanded smoothly. 

Of course the fuselage seams were also checked. 

 

Then we come to my beloved Styren profiles. 

I use this to imitate the seams of the armor plates. At that time, riveting was still taking place, not welding. However, you can hardly see the rivets under the paint on the original. So that’s enough for me. 

The storage areas for the anchors were sanded smooth, as Pontos also fills everything here with brass. 

Now for a special feast for the eyes. The dinghies from New Zealand have arrived. 

Absolute detail madness. I’m blown away. ? 

Continue with the seams for the armor plates.
This time on the underwater ship.
It takes a bit of effort and nerves. They have to be attached very precisely and parallel.
But it seems to work: 

However, I have to move the torpedo tube opening a little at the stern, so I first closed it with styrene. 

Continue with the profiles. It’s slowly going faster now. 

But there are still a lot.

 

Now, however, I also have to take add-on parts into account, such as roll keels and propulsion.
They will only be attached to the fuselage after all the profiles have been done so that I can sand them properly beforehand. 

I created the vertical joints on the bow and sanded everything well.
Now I had to paint part of the fuselage to see if I didn’t make a mistake with the profiles.
I think you can take it. 

The casemates were also checked again.
Can stay like that. 

At first I wasn’t sure if I liked it because it’s actually shown the wrong way around. 

Done with the profiles. 

Because the flaps would have to create a gap and not an elevation. 

I also sanded down the profiles on the underwater hull a lot 

Of course also in the places that you can hardly see afterwards. 

A privacy screen must be created so that you cannot see the portholes from one side and the other side.
That’s why styrene plates were placed in the middle.
At the bow. 

And at the rear.
The whole thing is flexible so I can move the plate back and forth a little. This is how I get the front 3 inch cannons to fit into their openings. 

After that I need a little individual privacy protection. 

One for the muzzle openings of the torpedo launchers, yellow arrows. And for four small portholes that are located under the first deck near the green arrows. It’s hard for me to get the plates right here, hence the angles. 

Good thing I put the Pontos wooden deck on. (Which wasn’t lasered properly and I had to help with my scalpel.)
Doesn’t fit at all. 🤔cream: I’ll have to work a little with the milling head.
But it was actually about creating tubes for the anchor hawse. 

Now that I knew that, I created half tubes. But they are larger in diameter. 

Which should be completely sufficient. It’s just a matter of ensuring that no light shines through on the chain. 

Nice and dark. That’s the way it has to be. :hole: 

First I soldered the shields of the cannons on the bow and stern. 

Then, since you can’t see anything behind the shields anyway, I simply replaced the cannon body with a small piece of styrene pipe. 

This was then glued in… 

…and I’ll simply put the barrel of the cannon through the hole later. 

The same with the middle casemates, only here it is much less complicated. 

Now that all the cannons in the hull are installed, I can prepare the deck.
First say goodbye to unnecessary details. I got a small electric chisel, it simplifies things a lot. 

After the grinding orgy, the deck was glued to the bow. 

And the other two parts. 

Great, deck ready. 

I will also raise the hull to the next level earlier than usual. It’s about the upper row of casemates.
If you glue this fuselage part later, which is actually logical and intended, you can get to the internal structures much better.
But you also end up with a very unsightly slot that can no longer be removed.
Here you see the culprit. I might still put up with the gap at the yellow arrows. But the one with the green arrow, no, doesn’t work at all. 

And that’s exactly the problem.
What I would then have to mask off on the wooden deck, superstructure and other details if I wanted to fill and paint the gap late was almost impossible.
That’s why I’m going to say it in advance. 

Continue with additional small details.
The next picture shows why I add large parts like gun barrels as late as possible. 

I would like to implement this device with which the anchor was lowered into the water. 

To do this I first have to remove material from the fuselage. 

Then all profiles are checked again and some are sanded down a little further 

The torpedo tube opening also has a riveted ring. 

On to preshading.

 

And then tape it off. I’m doing this relatively precisely, even though I’m only in the basic color.
Of course I could spray the red without masking it off, but then too many layers would overlap afterwards and the whole thing would be too thick for me. 

And now the antifouling paint is on the underwater hull. 

The waterline is running great. Profiles attached at the correct height. 

Here are the two recesses for the side with the double anchor. 

I really like the structure I made from the styrene profiles. 

And the preshading also comes into its own.
Now we continue with the details on the upper ship. 

Next I went to the ship’s rudder. I had actually lost sight of that a bit.
Never mind, styrene attached and painted red. 

Then to the upper casemates. Unnecessary holes closed again. 

Sanded and found to be good. 

So the etched parts battle could finally begin.

 

The MK1 set has already scored its first points.
Shortly before I had sanded away the rather rough details, I thought about taking a quick photo of them. Pontus had not planned anything here. Incomprehensible, even if you can hardly see it on the finished model. 

So, one to zero for KA Models.
Still processing the remaining doors… 

Then the first superstructures can go on the deck.
I will probably lay more electrical cables when my 0.1mm wire arrives. 

The holes for the crampons were still missing on the upper casemates.
I repeat myself, but this is one of Ponto’s great strengths. The drilling templates! 

Simply fix it with an adhesive strip and off you go… 

Next I checked the wooden deck amidships. It had to be trimmed a bit to get it to fit properly. Because of the slightly different approach, I have little leeway when installing the parts.
But done satisfactorily. 

So I was able to add the next floor. 

Additional parts placed on top to check whether everything is in the correct position.
Everything fits perfectly. 

Here are the pictures to show why I go to this length.
The slits in the four round casemates would still be manageable. 

But this one isn’t very nice. 

I think this is better. 

After sanding three times… 

…and prime, I am very satisfied. 

And I especially like this one a lot better now.
The extra two days of effort were worth it.

 

Off to the dry dock with the Mikasa. 

There’s enough space in here on the port and starboard sides to protect the ship while you’re tinkering without it becoming too big and unwieldy. 

This means it can be safely laid on its side, for example to work on the portholes. 

I can also attach sheet pile walls of different heights to further increase the protection at the top. 

Let’s attach the first large etched parts. The anchor supports… 

…and the doors at the rear. The ship also had electrical cables all around the back. What purpose they had, however, is unknown to me. It will not have been demagnetizing cables. 

First one, next to go. 

The portholes are closed on the port side. At the bow. 

They cannot be seen in the pictures from back then. Most of the images of the ship are of poor quality and taken from a great distance. There are only some in a decent resolution very close up from the front. But of course you can’t see the casemates from the side.
But on the museum ship. And since I can’t imagine that they were added later, I adopted them. 

I noticed another error in the model amidships. Three more portholes were missing from the upper row of casemates. 

I put my ship on its side again. 

And the portholes at the stern. 

It was time for the final details to be added before painting. For me there are always very few. Most of it is only processed towards the end. This includes the grilles in front of the bow and stern cannons and of course the crampons. 

I don’t use the crampons on the etched part boards. I don’t like these one hundred percent because they are of course flat. So I prefer to take thin wire and bend it to size.

 

In addition, crampons of different thicknesses were probably installed on the Mikasa.
And I want to represent this using 0.2 or 0.3 mm thick wire. I initially had 0.1mm wire in mind, but that wasn’t practical because it was too unstable. ( 0,2mm is 0,007 inch and 0,3mm is 0,01 inch) 

And this is how it turns out after checking the primer. I like it quite a bit. 

A few small irregularities can still be seen and will be removed with fine 1000 grit sandpaper after it has dried. 

But I think you can guess that the different strength crampons are like the original. 

I finished all the rough work on the fuselage and was finally able to finish painting it.
After a proper preshading the whole thing now looks like this. 

What followed was an accentuation. 

Which means nothing other than that I painted fine details in a lighter gray.

 

Here too, water-soluble acrylic paints have a big advantage. Small slips can be removed immediately with water without leaving any residue. 

Which was a real fiddly job. The dry decals from Pontos are really impressive. The depth marks are razor sharp. 

This gives a decent contrast to the preshading areas. 

I’ve already started aging. 

Now i can start aging. 

As always, very tedious. But the result that a little diluted dark gray paint leaves on a painted surface still amazes and fascinates me. Even after all the years I’ve been doing this. 

Hello dear model building friends, I’m a little further along. 

The first round of aging is complete. 

There are three filters on the underwater hull. 

On the gray two. 

Also a first washing. 

Above and below. 

I’m quite happy with it. 

I have finished aging the hull for now and turned a new ship into an old veteran. 

I particularly aged the anchor hawse and the area below the anchor berths, as a lot of dirt is likely to accumulate here. 

 

And port side. 

The chipping is also strongest here, as the anchors are likely to leave clear marks.

 

 

Amidships I aged more subtly. 

And a little more at the rear. 

The painting of the fuselage only continues when the missing parts are attached to the outside, i.e. pretty much at the end. 

The wooden deck was also glazed and applied. 

Now I can start equipping the deck, which I’m looking forward to. 

Ahoy dear model building community.

I hereby report back to the craft table.

My break had lasted a little longer than planned, but I had suffered a few personal blows this year. Three of my immediate family members have fallen ill with this terrible plague called cancer, including myself.
I think it blows up every statistic.

Three of them have now defeated it, only my mother unfortunately died from it three weeks ago.

Nevertheless, everyday life is returning to my life and that’s a good thing. Even though I’m still grieving for my mother, I’m going to start doing my hobby again. I think it will comfort and distract me a little.

And so my Mikasa appeared on my workbench again. 

First start with something small to warm up again. The barbettes were still missing splinter protection. 

Then I soldered the internal parts of the fans. In 1905, not all of the fan scoops were there anymore and that’s how you saw them. But I don’t know why they were removed. 

I researched the orientation of these internal parts as they were attached differently on different models and finally found this picture online where they are parallel to the direction of travel. 

And that’s how I installed them on the deck during the first superstructures. 

Then we want to follow our words with actions and continue building.
Let’s get to the internal structures.
All relatively simple, geometric structures. Neatly sanded and primed. 

Added a few doors and hatches to make the monotonous surface more interesting.
However, I am entering into an area of ​​historically unprovable assumptions. Only the pictures of the museum ship show the inner deck of the Mikasa. But that certainly doesn’t have much to do with the original ship.
So I allow myself some artistic freedom here, such as the railing, which is only placed here for customization. It is not documented historically. But it made sense to me, as you could get to the platform at the chimney via the gallery.
And a ladder should also be attached to the component, otherwise how would you get up to the front gallery!?
And that’s how this came about. 

We continue with the first 32-foot rescue cutter. A dream detail.
However, there is a small problem with the cradles. They are usually not in the places where they come onto the superstructure. That’s why you can see an unsightly gap between the cradle and the cutter, see arrow. 

Nothing that couldn’t be corrected with thin Styrene strips. 

Now the boat is lying neatly in its cradles again. 

And so the inner deck is slowly taking shape. 

Let’s move on to the internal structures and fans. The deck is slowly filling up.

 

One thing bothered me. Two box-shaped structures were squeezed between the two main houses. 

Seems completely illogical to me and cannot be seen on many models, including those from museums. And that’s why I don’t use it, the corridor remains open. 

Especially since a small platform can be seen on both deckhouses. Probably to get to the funnels.
That’s why I won’t install the boxes, but will attach a ladder and a railing here. 

I further refined the superstructure that accommodates the rescue cutter. 

The doors are from the MK1 set, the railings are from the model’s original etched parts set. 

And the ladders come from the leftover box. 

I’m starting to like it that way 

And off to the next etched part battle.
A lot of small boxes had to be bent and soldered. I also got a smaller bending aid, which makes such delicate things easier to handle. 

The first error in Pontos’ sentence is also quickly identified. The component of the box that is supposed to be attached to the front superstructure is unfortunately faulty. It would result in a box whose dimensions would not fit into the recess in the wooden decks. I checked the Pontos set what felt like a hundred times but unfortunately without success.
That’s why the KA sentence saved my butt. 

The slightly simpler lid was underlaid with cut-up etched part gratings and glued to the original component of the model
Then brought to its position for inspection. 

Little by little, the internal structures and boxes are made and collected in my printed organizers to be aged afterwards. 

I made a few improvements to the winches.
The large one did have a small cabinet included, I think a distribution box and the drive for the winch, but without any structure on the outside. 

The little winch would even be complete without everything. 

Nope, not like that…
So I did a little handwork and gave the big winch hinges and a closer made of thin lead wire. The little one got an upright box that functions as a closet. 

Still aging and with lead wire wrapped around the drum… 

Better. 

And so everything could get on deck. 

 

So I closed the original holes and created a new axle with a profile. 

 

Next up were the 6 pounders. While trying out the cannons in their casemates, I had the feeling that something was wrong with their position in the kit. And this was confirmed to me by a user from the “Modelshipworld” forum.
The shots of the cannon body are incorrect.
In the first picture you can see that the axle is not at all in the middle of the casemate opening. 

So I closed the original holes and created a new axle with a profile. 

Made another spacer. 

And the cannons can take their place. 

I like it much better this way. 

Now the pipe is where I think it belongs. There is a profile as a dummy in the opening. 

And thanks to the spacers, it’s also great in the vertical position. 

We’re getting to that QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun.
There are eight of these to build, with 14 individual parts per gun. 

First I solder the gun barrel. Just holds up better. 

The rest is then attached with superglue. What a fumble. 

But as always with Pontos, fantastically detailed 

Painted and aged, they look so good. 

Let´s continuing.
The break lasted quite a long time. The reason: I had to make the remaining eight cannons.
It was a bit scary. 

I have to make eight more of these for the upper deck, sweat. 

Nonetheless, I finally finished all 16 naval guns and am glad I don’t have to do any more. 

And now I’ll show you the reason why I made all of them. A user in another forum pointed out to me that the guns were a little too high. That’s why I sanded down the carriage on the second slide a little so that they could look out of the middle of the opening.
The remaining eight will be distributed on the upper decks and it doesn’t matter. 

Let’s move on to the next conversion. Again, I liked the MK set better than the one from Pontos. Since I will be showing all the gun port covers open, I thought the rope shown was very nice.
What I changed are the hinges. Since they fold down when open, I simply replaced them with a narrow piece of profile. 

This is what it looks like for me. I used a slightly lighter grey to accentuate it. 

And attached to the gun ports.
These are the first external structures. Since it is inevitable that the gun barrels will stick out here, I wanted to have them attached already. 

And so the eight 12 pounders could take their place. 

A few boxes are still missing. 

And so I am quite happy with the position of the guns. 

Now they urgently need the protection of my sheet pile wall. After applying the clear varnish, I will screw it to the dry dock. I am curious to see if I will tear it down again before the construction is finished. ? 

To protect my model from further harm, I wrapped it up nicely. 

This should protect it pretty well from any carelessness on my part. ? 

On to the next construction phase.
The plan is to breathe a little life into the deck in the form of a crew. And this is where the next 3D print comes into play. This time I’m using the figures from ION Model, which I won in a competition with my Bismarck.
After an initial inspection, the quality is excellent.
Then I started looking for photos showing IJN sailors in their uniforms, like this image: 

Wow, much easier to paint than the DKM guys.

I had a few leftover Kriegsmarine sailors and wanted to use them to save on figures. The first ones were supposed to go behind the gun ports, where they’re almost invisible.
So I shaved his head and punched out flat caps from styrene. A small dot of superglue on the top hair, and the Japanese sailor is complete. 

Painted and ready to go on deck. 

To the cannon sailors, ahrrrrg… 

Fire free… 

And so the lid can go on. 

And the deck portside 

Aged and found to be good 

You don’t see much of the figures, but that’s how it’s supposed to be. The hint of the sailors at work below deck adds depth to the whole thing. 

Let’s move on to the support structures that connect the boat deck and the internal superstructure.
I soldered these to ensure maximum strength for these delicate T-beams. 

After testing it, everything seems to be fine. 

Only this connection needs to be slightly adjusted. It’s only provided by Pontos; it’s simply missing from the original kit, and it would create a large gap. Therefore, there’s no offset for it in the model, and the length of the component needs to be exactly right to ensure proper attachment.
 

New sailors have taken up their duties. 

Get to work with them immediately. 

Spread nicely on the deck. 

Provisions have to go into the belly of the ship and the first sailors have to scrub the deck under the supervision of an officer. 

A sailor climbs the ladder to search for the missing funnel. 

 

Afterwards, I opened the dry dock again to see how it all looked through the gun ports.
I think it looks very lively. 

We continue with the preparation of the next internal structures.
The MK set also clearly wins the race for the funnel chimneys over the Pontos set. 

The brass sleeves look excellent. Here too, Pontos had no improvement to offer for the original component. 

I’m amazed at how well the MK set is performing. The extra expense was definitely worth it for me. 

The fourth cradle for the pinnace has also been adapted and installed. 

And so the boat can take its place. 

I did a little research in my archives and came across this picture of the Bismarck’s tenders amidships. 

I then placed the rescue boat on its cradles and positioned it in the pinnace.
Liked it. 

Today I just want to share a small step.
The reason: Micro Master’s boats look absolutely fantastic when painted, and I don’t want to keep that from you.

So here are the two of them, piggybacking. 

A nice duo. 

When painted you can see all the fine details. 

The extra expense was definitely worth it. 

The EME is behind me and the falcon is back in its home. Time to get back to work on my boat.
To warm up, I turned my attention to the two dinghies.
It was clear that I didn’t want to cover them completely. So I designed a little scene to get around that.
I made a tarpaulin out of tissue paper and diluted wood glue. It took me a few tries. 

Then guys made to cover the boat.
Add the railing and rudder blades. 

Nice extra income, I don’t have to tie down the cutter anymore. 

And the first railing was also installed. 

A few spots are still shiny, so I need to apply another coat of clear coat.
I’m pretty happy with the way it is, and now I can move on to the funnels. 

Let’s get to another mini-update today.
It cost me a lot of nerves and the whole weekend. But first things first.
I was once again spoiled for choice between Pontos and KA for the funnel surface.
Pontos offers riveted struts, KA rings that run around the funnel.
So, I once again rummaged through my archives of the original ship and looked at conflicting pictures. Of course, often of rather poor quality.
The deciding factor was once again the quite good picture from Vladivostok, which I believe shows rings. 

And since it’s one of the last photos of the intact ship, I chose that one. I like it better anyway.
So first I cut the components out of the circuit boards. 

And again, KA Model wins.
My enthusiasm was dampened slightly when attaching the rings. They were a little too big. That’s why they were touching on one side, leaving an unsightly gap on the other.
I took them off again, sanded them cleanly, and then primed them thoroughly. Another attempt with the blue BluTack putty. This allowed me to keep the rings centered. 

It works. And since I’m using Mig’s acrylic adhesive, there’s no mess like with superglue. Diluted and applied with a fine brush, it flows wonderfully evenly into the gap thanks to capillary action.
Excess glue can then be easily removed with a brush. 

Ring by ring it continues downwards. 

It’s nice that I managed to solve it cleanly after all, since the funnels are in a rather prominent spot. So I set them up for a test. They look great with the rings.