Calling all Mikasa (三笠) fans

[G. Shoda]

Darius: Does your book have any decent drawings of the Tsukuba or Ikoma? I think these are interesting looking ships that I would like to build.

[DariusP]

I am sorry, no drawings of Tsukuba or Ikoma in the book. I will have to check my archive to see if I don't have something about those ships there.

[antonioperdices]

Any idea of brass replacements for the 3 inch guns (76 mm)? Perhaps a brass barrel from the 1/700 range? Thanks in advance!!

[Timmy C]

A 6" gun in 1/700 would have the correct bore diameter - not sure about the length, however.

[Timmy C]

Currently building the Victorian scheme Mikasa:

Were the insides of the vent cowls "cocoa brown"/reddish or were they a dark grey/black?

[DariusP]

Impossible to say for sure Timmy. "Victorian scheme" varied from ship to ship and I have seen builder models where, on the same ship, inside of some of the cowls were painted red and others buff. Photos of the ships of the period also show a lot of variation. None of the photos of Mikasa in Victorian scheme that I have seen show inside of the cowles so I can't say if they were darker or the same colour as outside. Superstucture in bulders model of Mikasa is unpainted, so not much help there either.

[Timmy C]

The photos in the guidebook that came with the kit shows the insides to be darker (more than just from shadows, I think), but it's hard to tell whether it's reddishbrown like the instructions suggest or a dark grey, like some modelers have depicted.

[DariusP]

Given this choice I would go for reddish-brown as it seems more prevalent than dark gray. But, as I have said before, impossible to say for sure.

EDIT - are you familiar with R.A. Burt's "Japanese Battleships 1897-1945" (Warship fotofax) Timmy? Photo no.9 show Mikasa in Victorian scheme with inside of the cowles either the same colour or just a touch darker (could be shadows) as the outside. The same book shows photos of Asahi in Portsmouth in 1900 with inside of the cowls very much darker than the superstucture of the ship.

[DariusP]

There you go Timmy


Photo is captioned as: Mikasa leaving Portsmouth shortly after completion in 1902.

[Timmy C]

Thanks Darius!

Whoa, the bottom half of the funnels are so light! From most other pictures, they should be the same black as the hull.

In the picture, the insides of the cowls are near the same shade as that of the funnel sides - so, if we imagine the funnel sides as being black (which they should be, according to most pictures), would the inside of the cowls also be black then?

Strangely, the picture almost seems like a drawing - there are no signs of the secondary battery on the hull and it almost looks like there are sideways stroke marks.

[DariusP]

The photo isn't a drawing Timmy althrough it is quite likely that it have been touched up (quite a common practice) but there is more to how Mikasa was painted. Have a look at this photo:



notice that it looks a bit like a drawing too but that's not the main point. Look at the cowles: they seems to be painted in the same colour as funnels (black) unlike in this photo:



where they are obviously of the same colour as the superstructure. So, if you look at all 3 photos, it looks like Mikasa might have been either painted in 3 stages or re-painted at some point before or after delivery.

[Timmy C]

Thanks! I'm currently painting the outside of the cowls the same colour as the superstructure. I guess I'll do the insides dark grey/black.

[DariusP]

Your guess is as good as mine here Timmy. But, if anybody will question you, ask them to prove you wrong

[Timmy C]

A discrepancy that I've noticed while building my Mikasa:

The Hasegawa kit depicts the rear charthouse with the side with three windows facing the rear of the ship. However, in several photos that I've seen, including in a few of the ones posted above, the side that faces the rear only has two windows.

Unfortunately, I've discovered this only after I've attached said housing, so changes would be too late for me. Does anyone know if they changed the window arrangement sometime during Mikasa's life, or if Hasegawa's depiction (and thus all PE sets which include replacement parts for this area) is wrong?


Additionally, does anyone know which, if any, PE set includes the footropes for the lower yardarm (J1) used for the pre-war Mikasa? Lionroar's doesn't, and neither does it look like GMM's. Eduard's also does not appear to, but the pictures available of that set are few and small. I have not been able to locate pictures of WEM's set.

[DariusP]

Can't help you with PE Timmy but the only stern shots of Mikasa that I have seen show only 2 windows. I wouldn't be suprised if 3rd window was installed at some point (there is space in the middle just begging for it) but I have no proof that it was ever done before or right after Tsushima. Interestingly Seals Models 1/700 kit of Mikasa also has 3 windows in aft charthouse.

[Timmy C]

In regards to the black&white scheme, I can see that there were at least 4 arrangements:

black cowls & black masts up to "star fish" (page 12 museum guidebook)
black cowls & black masts all the way to the top (page 4 guidebook, colour drawing page 17 guidebook, and Darius' picture above)
white cowls & black masts up to fighting tops (page 10 guidebook, two of Darius' pictures above)
white masts, unknown cowl colour (page 27 guidebook)


So those are your choices if doing Mikasa pre-war.

[chuck]

Timmy:

Did you use metal barrels for the secondary guns?

[Timmy C]

Yes, Chuck.

I'm guessing you're wondering how they compare to the real things - I think the muzzle flare is a bit too pronounced, though I had a difficult time trying to find pictures of them.

You know where my in progress thread is, right?

[chuck]

No, I was just going to ask you which barrels came with LR set?

[Timmy C]

Ah. Well, yes, the 6" do come with the LR set, in addition to the 12".

You can see the review here:
http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/pe ... -roar.html