The Ship Model Forum

Jabberwock wrote:I re-iterate tho' that your technique is excellent (and well worth copying )

Indeed! The effect turned out great! If you don't mind, I'll need to try this out!

Aop

Thanks Aop. We'll have to see how effect looks when all the sub-assemblies come together.
Starting putting together the funnels. I decided to skip on the funnel rings. Couldn't find any images which shows the funnel rings being there in 1905 and this seems to be the conclusion as well on the main Mikasa thread.

I am impressed! This is great job and attentions to details. I have this model as my next project (already bought) once 'Borodino' will be completed. Is there any reason you choose 'Pontons' as upscale kit? Most-likely will go with Gold Medal on my Mikasa.

Keep up a great work! Can not wait until your next post.
regards,
Jim

Hi Jim, thanks for your comments and sorry for the slow reply.
Aside from the GMM Mikasa kit you mentioned, there is also an Eduard Mikasa kit available. I picked Pontos because the set, although much more expensive, has substantially more detail in comparison. Lots of details on areas like the deck, masts, guns, boons, etc, which are not found in either the Eduard or GMM set.

Also a couple of things that comes with the Pontos set are the wooden deck and a ton of lathed brass parts for the masts, guns, and boons. See the picture below for the example. Might be overkill for the final product, but building it is part of the fun I guess.

Imo, it's all personal preference, depending on how much detail you want. If the ship end up being well painted, a little less detail won't hurt the overall grandeur of the ship.

Greetings Land_shark,

Cannot degree more: on the end of the day - it is just a matter of personal preference and taste. The fact, that Pontos has tons of details including turning masts, guns, wooden desk and brass pedestals makes it a good solid decision.
Please continue building your Mikasa, I cannot wait to see the progress and new pictures alone.

thanks again,
Jim

It has been some busy months, but it is time to resume the work on this ship.
The funnels were primed and painted. I eased off on the rust, but some weathering were applied, consistent with the painting done on the guns. The railings are to be added after.




Some additional work were done on the port side of the ship. The plan is to complete the walkways all around the ship, paint and weather the ship body, before adding the booms.





Finally, some initial work has been done on the super structures.

She's looking very good. Great detail and weathering!

Hey thanks Brett
Making more progress slowly.
Finished the railings and weathering for both funnels.



started to put together the front and rear bridge, weathering each floor as they are being assembled.



3inch guns on the bridge



Unrelated to the bridge parts, the 6 inch guns


Dry fitting the completed parts, kind of nice to see it come together

Looking really good and great attention to detail. The weathering looks good to me.

Now that's a proper pre-dread, that is!

Excellent progress. really enjoying your build!

Thanks guys, wish I can progress faster but I only have a few hours a week to work on the ship, which is unfortunate.

She is coming along real nice




Jose

I am a bit confused regarding the the bridge ladders on the very top level of the front bridge.
The way I had built originally, I had two set of ladders, one on each side of the structure on the top level. This is the way the Hasegawa model intended, and also is the current form on the preserved ship.



However, when installing the railings, I noticed that the instruction shows only a single ladder on the starboard side of the ship.


A search for historical photos on google showed quite a few pictures with ladders on the starboard side, but none are clearly enough to judge whether a ladder existed on the port side. The closest I found is this image with the ship painted pre-war color, which showed a gap in the railings and some pixels that possibly looks like a ladder.


Anyone else can possibly shed on details on this?

That is just sublime! The weathering really makes the model look real!

Aop

Am i seeing the ladder on the port side? maybe my eyes are deceiving me shame there were no colored pictures at that time..





Jose

Regarding the ladder on the port side, I noticed on the contemporary painting in 1906 which depicted Tsushima, it showed only a single ladder on the starboard side, so I will keep the forward superstructure in the single ladder configuration.


More progress has been made on the ship hull, but first the rear catwalk with the ship's name plate was put together



The ship's hull was then primed and painted, followed by a layer of filtering. With this completed, the next step would be to put together the torpedo net booms as well as the anchors and chains.




At this point, work on the hull below the waterline have to be done so the ship can be permanently set upright. With the type of weathering done thus far above the waterline, a clean hull below looks a bit strange. I wet ahead with an attempt to create some fouling scheme at the base. The gradient turned out alright but more work still needs to be done. I am thinking of adding some sand medium to the bottom of the hull as it appears too smooth at the moment. Although it also cannot be over done as the Japanese ships were well maintained prior to Tsushima in comparison to the Russian ships, where heavy fouling was a problem.

early battleships are not my cup of tea, but the work looks very good. the weathering makes it feel much more alive.
the weathered deck is also a nice touch too.

Great work!