Calling all Mikasa (三笠) fans

[stahlgewitter33]

I am currently working on the ship and noticed that the lower part is not srcibed or marked.It is just flat belly!Is there any drawing or picture showing details to replicate it?
I am putting all the Lion Roar set on top and looks to flat in the lower region.
Thanks for any help!!!!
KH

[Magnus]

I just ordered the Mikasa and the Lion Roar photo etch. I know I should wait until I have the kit before I start posting but I am so excited I can't help myself. The kit seems to be a true gem!

/Magnus

[Tinedge]

Hi Guys

Does anyone know a source for "quality plans" for this ship in a larger scale.

I seem to remember this ship was originally built in England to admiralty plans....if this is case can I use plans for the corresponding british prototype ?

Many thanks in advance.
Mike from Australia

[Pieter]

Before anyone starts putting lost of trouble into lower hull plating patterns for Mikasa I suggest you take long and serious look at pictures and drawings of late 19th century and early 20th century ships. Before the advent of iron and steel lower hulls were protected from marine growth with copper sheathing. These copper sheats (plates) are responsible for the (IMHO beautiful) plating patterns you see on the lower hulls of Napoleonic era ship models (think Heller Victory). Iron and steel hulls will disappear very quickly if sheathed that way due to electrolytic effect. This meant that during the first years iron ships were simply not sent overseas (no docking facilities) . During the late 1860's a method was developed in which the hull was given 10-20 cm layer of wood and copper plates were driven into this using copper or bronze nails. In order to avoid electrolytic corrosion every part of the ship which was underwater permanently or came into contact with this layer had to be bronze which was very expensive. All of this was rather heavy and the copper plates had to be relaced quite often so in the late 19th century the first antifouling paints were developed which contained various copperoxides and arsenics. These paints were rather thick at the time , had to be re-applied very often and would lead to a random pattern of green ish and reddish colors on the lower hull which would probably make the plating pattern all but invisible. It would take years before these paints would really become effective so may vessels were still built with sheathing and coppering. For an early 20th century warship there are two possibilities then. Either she was sheathed and coppered, which would translate anto a slightly (say .4 mm in 1/350) larger hull from the waterline down with a hardly visible pattern of very small plates, or given antifouling paint wich would translate into a loose pattern of green and orange/reds unless she was just out of dock. Given the fact that the lower hull on the Hasegawa kit is slightly larger from the water line down Hasegawa seems to think Mikasa was sheathed and coppered.

[Tinedge]

Hi Peiter

Thanks for the heads up on this issue I was wondering why below the water line strakes are virtually invisible on many of these early pre-dreadnaughts eg. Oregan, Borrodino and Mikasa.

Whilst I am not sure about the sheathing, my vote would go for thick anti fouling paint ...afterall these capital ships where considered "hi tech" in there day and given torpedo issues surely would have required a hi-tech solution other than sheathing...but I could be wrong.

Regards Mike

[masch3]

I am in the process of building the HIJMS Mikasa in her fit of 1902-1904 from the Hasegawa "Battle of the Yellow Sea" edition of the kit.

I am going to paint her in the Victorian livery of black and white.

Does anyone know where to get any serious information on this issue?

In the kit, there was a small booklet included, and there were a few black and white photographs, but no real color info.

Does anyone here have any info??

I was thinking of going for Japanese Hull Brown, semi-gloss black and ... well, that's the point.

Funnels will be black and white as per instructions in the kit.

//Magnus

[Laurence Batchelor]

This ship is not really my period, but I'll try and help where I can.
These are two postcards I have of her produced by 2 different companies but both show the same view of her docking at Barrow:





When this kit was first released some kind gentlement sent me several hundred photos on CD of the present Mikasa.
I forget who it was. I'm happy sharing them with you, but I wish to have his permission first, perhaps he will see this and come forward?

Finally to answer your question about lower hull plating.
There's is a fairly good photo of Mikasa in dry-dock in Japanese Naval Vessels Illustrated 1869-1945 Vol1: Battleships by Fukui
This book is too precious to scan from, but on p50 we can see her lower hull whilst in dry-dock from the port bow perspective.
There are many wooden beams in the way, but it would appear any straking is not too pronouced, perhaps because the anti-fouling paint gives a good smooth coverage, but you can see some light lines below the waterline.
In terms of plans I cannot think of any decent ones for this ship off the top of my head, but there is likely some in the wealth of Japanese publications for modellers which have been around since the 1970s.
Cheers
LB

[DariusP]

Photographs of Mikasa as she appears today are interesting but will not help somebody building 1902 or 1904 version of this ship. After the II WW Mikasa was restored to her 1926 appearance (with scrapped main guns and turrets replaced by mock-ups) and not how she looked at Tsuschima or earlier.

The only drawings of Mikasa "as build" that I know of were published in Japanese book "Anatomy of Japanese Battleships" vol.1

[Laurence Batchelor]

I offered the other photos as they may show some small details on the hull and some general fittings which can only be viewed on photos of her today and not on 'as fitted' plans or period photographs.

[DariusP]

I didn't mean to sound dismissive Laurence - apologies if it sounded this way. Just wanted to point out that Mikasa looks different now than she looked in 1902 or 1904.

[Laurence Batchelor]

No worries I was just trying to make my point clearer.

[DariusP]

Looking at photos of Mikasa I have noticed that funnel rings on this ship were so fine that they are hardly visible at all. Even very fine PE rigs seems heavy and overstated by comparison. I wonder if omitting the rings all together wouldn't make model appear closer to the original?

Couple of photos so everybody can form an opinion:
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/6826 ... imaug5.jpg
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/2079 ... 05anv8.jpg

[roy allen]

I have her in 1/700 scale, how you want her, cant promise 100% accurate but close enough.
let me finish my nights and i'll get around to emailing you some pics if you like

Roy

[mike mccabe]

I think you are right Darius, though the earlier photos of the ship when she had the black funnel with white bands does show some some of rings but far less prominent certainly than those on the Seals kit. Incidentally, for anyone wanting to detail this kit, I picked up a nice set from PacFront recently.

Mike

[DariusP]

Oh, certainly in 1/700 scale Mike but I wonder about 1/350 as well.... At the maximum I can see two rings per funnel with associated stay lines but for the life of me I can't spot any more. And the first photo is a relative close-up. For comparison look at this photo of Mikasa in 1918: http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/8725 ... 918xy3.jpg now here I can see rings galore!

[mike mccabe]

They seem more prominent on later photos as you say, though the white banding on the earlier scheme means it is difficult to interpret. Sorry, but my mind only works in 1:700!

Mike

[Roger Torgeson]

For a 1902-1904 Mikasa painted in Victorian colors is the upper hull white or is it as Hasegawa and the museum booklet that comes with the Yellow Sea kit shows, light gray. If it's gray, would FS36495 that Hasegawa calls for be correct?

[masch3]

Well, plastic scale modeller 25 states that it was white.

But looking at p. 10 in the museum booklet it seems certain that the supertructure colour was darker than white.

Also the pictures posted above seem to indicate a darker colour.

The colour suggested by Hasegawa is a light blue grey that is used on fighters today.

I am leaning more towards a light neutral grey, like Kriegsmarine light grey.

//Magnus

[Timmy C]

Anyone know how suitable the Lionroar set is for the "black-and-white" Mikasa?

[masch3]

Howdy,

I am building the Mikasa in her livery "as built", the Victorian Black-and-White.

The LionRoar etch (which was the first I got) is not enough for the Mikasa as delivered in 1904. I found out that I also had to get the Eduard set.

Only the Eduard set contains all the necessary parts, AFAIK, notably the fighting top.

It is possible that the WEM set will have some extra parts for this version, but I have not seen it yet.

I find the Eduard set better than the LionRoar in general, the exception being the turned brass barrels. I had some trouble fitting the LionRoar torpedo net shelves on my kit, and some other small fittings just look SO MUCH BETTER on the Eduard set.

The Eduard set also has separate gun shields for the secondary armament, which the LionRoar set does not have. And don't worry about the barrels; the Eduard set has tampions for the barrels

It's a bit like the HMS Hood set; the only edge is the barrels...

//Magnus