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welcome to my build of the 1:200 scale Hobby Boss 1902 Mikasa.
Why this build? I love the pre dreadnaught ship era not just naval ships but commercial craft to. I feel they have an interesting complication to how they look, but there are a surprisingly few kits of this period outside of small. scale resin ships. A little while ago Merit released a kit of Makasa in her 1905 configuration as she was at At the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905 under the legendary Togo. The kit went straight onto my wish list. However this year Hobby Boss released the Merit Kit reworked for its 1902 'as entering service' fit and the much more eye catching paint arrangement than the 1905 grey all over colours  so that became the must have kit
Build details.
As Battleships go she is quite small so even at 1:200 scale the display footprint is no bigger than most 1:350 scale ships.
The kit contains 17 sprues plus the 3 piece deck and a stand, anchor chain and 4 Phot etch frets.
the completed build will be 658.5mm in length and 124mm across the beam.
http://www.hobbyboss.com...ow&id=1302&l=en
in addition I will be using the MK1 basic detail up set that adds a huge amount of etch as well as some resin turned brass and white metal parts along with deck and door veneer
http://ka-models.co.kr/?...for-merit-detail-up-set
Also there will be some scratch building of additional detail.
My build Diary
Well it is a build of the year runner so this diary will focus on the methods used so that novice builders can hopefully be inspired to dip their toe in the daunting world of kit upgrading. this is a big job and to have a hope of completing on time all other builds will be on the back burner.
Some History
Mikasa was named after Mount Mikasa, unusual for a battleship as Japanese naming convention from the 1920s used mountains as the naming convention for heavy cursers. She was ordered 26 September 1898 to be built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness as Japan did not have the ability at that point. her design was based upon the very successful Royal Navy design for the Formidable-class but with additional guns.
Mikasa was Laid down on 24 January 1899 as part of a large navy expansion plan funded by moneys paid by China after losing the First Sino-Japanese War. She was Launched 8 November 1900, Commissioned 1 March 1902 and I will be modelling her at this point in her History
Mikasa participated in the Battle of Port Arthur on 9 February 1904 when Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō led the 1st Fleet in an attack on the Russian ships of the Pacific Squadron.
The ship participated in the action of 13 April when Tōgō successfully lured out a portion of the Pacific Squadron. During the Battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August, Mikasa was at the head of the column of Japanese battleships and was one of the primary targets of the Russian ships. She was hit twenty times, two of which knocked out her aft 12-inch gun turret, and suffered 125 casualties among her crew. In turn, she concentrated most of her fire upon the battleships Poltava and Tsesarevich although both ships were only lightly damaged by the Japanese shells which generally failed to penetrate any armour and detonated on impact.
At the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905, Mikasa again led the 1st Fleet into combat, In total, Mikasa was hit more than 40 times during the battle, including 10 twelve-inch and 22 six-inch shells, but none of them seriously damaged her
Mikasa sank at her moorings after a fire and magazine explosion at Sasebo on the night of 11/12 September 1905 that killed 251 crewmen. She was refloated on 7 August 1906, reconstructed and repaired at Sasebo Naval Arsenal. At this point her existing armament was upgraded with more powerful 45-calibre twelve-inch and six-inch guns
Mikasa was restored to active service on 24 August 1908. she served on coast-defence duties, during 1914–15 and assigned to the Second and Fifth Squadrons, in that order, for the rest of the war Great War.
Mikasa was deployed in supported of the Japanese intervention in Siberia during the Russian Civil War
In 1921 and was reclassified as a first-class coast-defence ship.
she ran aground on 17 September, off Vladivostok, but was not seriously damaged.
On 20 September 1923 she left active service, after some years of neglect through to the 1950s se finally was restored and preserved Preserved as a memorial ship
You can visit the ship in her 1905 configuration today.
http://www.kinenkan-mikasa.or.jp/en/
Jase
Build IndexPost 12. Hull Construction Part 1.
Page 1, Post 19. Hull Construction Part 2.
Page 2, Post 23. Hull Construction Part 3, Scuttles part a.
Page 2, Post 35. Hull Construction part 4. Gun shutters.
Page 2, Post 40 Hull Construction part 5. Davits.
Page 3, Post 46 Hull Construction part 6. Grab Handels.
Page 3, Post 47 Hull Construction part 7. Walkways.
Page 3, Post 58 Hull Construction part 8. Painting.
Page 3, Post 59 Hull construction part 9. Glazing scuttles/life belt cage.
Page 4, Post 65 Laying the deck.
Page 4, Post 66 Stern Skylight.
Page 4, Post 67 Stern Gallery part 1.
Page 4, Post 68 Hull Construction part 10. Screws and Bow Crest.
Page 4, Post 69. Deck Fittings part 1, large winches
Page 5, post 82. Lower superstructure part 1
Page 5, Post 88. Air vents part 1
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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 In reply to your guess the ship question that you have now removed it sounds like the IJN Mikasa and the battle of the Japan sea to me  Current builds:-C57,Zero, Lamborghini Countach, Caldercraft HMS Agamemnon,Robi,R2-D2, MFH Cobra .
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arpurchase wrote: Sounds like the IJN Mikasa and the battle of the Japan sea to me nicely done you are correct “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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Nice looking kit I have the 1/350 Hasegawa kit in the stash along with the Pontos etch/deck set that also includes the anti torpedo nets which I have not seen included in any other set to date. Has the MK1 set got them. Current builds:-C57,Zero, Lamborghini Countach, Caldercraft HMS Agamemnon,Robi,R2-D2, MFH Cobra .
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arpurchase wrote: Nice looking kit I have the 1/350 Hasegawa kit in the stash along with the Pontos etch/deck set that also includes the anti torpedo nets which I have not seen included in any other set to date. Has the MK1 set got them. Hi Andy, yet it does have the nets for both sides not, decided if I will deploy on just one side or both yet. I do have one issue, my colour fret is missing from the pack!!!🤬s “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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 Rank: Pro Groups: Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 48,827 Points: -13,348
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Lots of info and pic's on the Mikasa presevation site: http://www.kinenkan-mikasa.or.jp/en/index.html
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Many thanks, yes and some good amateur walk round videos on you tube Jase “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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A nice choice of kit Jase, I look forward to seeing it all come together..... Regards Alan
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Gandale wrote:A nice choice of kit Jase, good luck with your entry and I look forward to seeing it all come together..... Regards Alan Thanks Alan, the kit is really nice just from the box TBH I will be painting her as per the box art Jase jase attached the following image(s): “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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Nice choice Jase. Not the usual build we see so will be great to watch her come along.
Chris . On the bench 1/350 Revell Tirpitz Platinum Edition (Pontos PE and Wooden deck) plus extra Eduard PE set and extra MK1 door sets.
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Thanks Chris, looking forward to getting stuck into her
Jase“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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Hull Construction Part 1.
General Overview.
Before cracking on with the task of starting the build I just wanted to offer a general overview of both the kit and my build for anybody considering building the Mikasa 1902 kit.
The HobbyBoss kit is a rework of Merits 1905 Mikasa kit. As such the quality of the kit is very high as Merit are part of Trumpeter, so effectively you have a Trumpeter kit under a different brand name. The kit itself is well presented, parts are moulded with fine detail. As well as the large amount of plastic in the box there is 3 frets of etch brass, the etch is integral to the build, you cannot avoid using the etch, further more some of the etch, particularly the gun shields needs some expertise to form correctly, this is not a kit for beginners.
the Kit is well packed, all sprue are individually bagged some forts foam wrapped and there is a fixed inner compartment for the more delicate parts and instructions etc.
Word of warning.
At the time of writing this there is no aftermarket etch available for the 1902 kit. All the etch that can be purchased was produced for the original 1905 kit and there are differences. The most notable difference is in the masts configuration. Both the Pontos and MK1 offerings are 1905 dated this means there are some parts of the etch that should not be used. Both aftermarket etch sets offer differences in the detail and possibly Pontos have the edge, but MK1 offer 2 sets a basic and advanced. The advanced set effectively adds gun barrels and masts to the basic set. Thus I have taken the decision to use the MK1 Basic set and avoid paying for a lot of brass I will not use. It is possible to buy the gun barrels separately from ABER, however on inspection of the kit I found the plastic ones to be of a high sanded so have decided to work with them without replacement.
My Build.
I wanted to aproceh this build a little differently, generally my diary focus on what I did, I plan to diaries this build with a focus on a comprehensive kit review, so I may talk about different options to how I have done things, difficulties I find with the build and the aftermarket etch used so that anybody can use the build as a good reference point for their own.
On the first Post is an index that will be populated as the build progresses.
I hope people enjoy my journey constructing Mikasa.
Hull Construction Part 1.
The kit comes with a hull formed from two halves with a lower gun deck that needs to be fitted in step 1. Upon dry fitting the parts go together very well, the internal supports are a tight fit. marrying up the two hull halves and the gun deck at the same time is a bit tricky.
Before I can get the glue out there is some prep to be done to accommodate the additional etch detail and to open up the scuttles.
The first task is to carefully remove the moulded on grab handles along the length of the ship. A small chisel blade is ideal for this I find. Once removed a small piece of fine sanding paper is used to rub down the area. Any damage the hull surface can be filled and sanded down before priming.
With this done the next job is to drill out the scuttles. This was done using my proxxon hand held drill, it makes short work of all the drilling although there is more clean up after. The key to doing the scuttles is finding a drill bit of the exact same size of the scuttle and to go in at the correct angle. A couple of the scuttles at the very front of the bow have slightly deformed in the moulding process becoming elliptical rather than round, You may need to fill and re drill these, I however, found that the etch scuttle frames covered the distortion so no filling was required.
All the parts are dry fitted then the internal supports are fitted in one Side. As stated above these fit quite tightly so dabbing some Tamiya extra thin liquid poly is all that was needed. The deck also went in at this point using the thicker Revell professional liquid polly.
Putting the two hull halves together is a little tricky, there is a lot to line up and you need some time to get everything correct. Its one of the very few occasions that I will use the traditional thicker tube poly cement. Its slower drying time lends itself to this job nicely.
I used some elastic bands and pegs on the bow and rudder mount, just to hold everything together while the glue is curing. At this point I have given the lower gun decks a couple of coats of Humbrol matt black
File Attachment(s): jase attached the following image(s): “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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 Rank: Super-Elite        Groups: Registered
Joined: 08/03/2014 Posts: 2,970 Points: 8,502 Location: united kingdom
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Great start on what looks like an impressive kit. Ken's the name modeling's the game.
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Nice start, it looks a great kit..  Mark
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Rank: Administration  Groups: Registered, Forum Support Team, Administrators, Global Forum Support Team, Moderator, Official Builds Joined: 09/11/2012 Posts: 8,297 Points: 23,979 Location: East midlands
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Hi Jase, your certainly off to an early start. Regards delboy271155 (Derek) COME BACK GUY FAWKES "YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU"
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Rank: Super-Elite   Groups: Registered
Joined: 20/10/2016 Posts: 4,504 Points: 13,548 Location: Wiltshire
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Nice looking kit you have there Jase! Will be following. Regards, Phil W. Completed projects: 1/43 scale Bedford HA van / 1/43 scale MG TD sports car
Current projects: 1/48 scale U-boat [U230]
Future projects: 1/148 scale railway diorama / 1/50 scale R/C Volvo F89 logging truck / 1/148 scale Thunderbirds Fireflash
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Many thanks for looking in and your intrest in my build everyone.
more coming at the weekend if my list of jobs from the misses isn't to big 
Jase“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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Looks like you're off to a nice start Jase, will be watching..... .. Good luck with your entry.... Regards Alan
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Hull Construction Part 2.
With the hull now dried it was given a sand to remove any visible seems. I used a medium grit on the join line where the heaviest sanding was needed followed by a very fine grit, but all in oil the two hull halves fit very well.
The Anchors on Mikasa are not stowed drawn up to the hawser outlets on the side of the ship, but, like many pre-Dreadnaught ships they are stowed to etch side. This is because the hull is designed to be used for ramming if needs be. On the finished build it will be possible to see through these holes into the ships hull, so I gave the inside of the hull at the bow end a matt black paint.
The rudder was installed when the two hull halves were joined. The Propeller shafts are now added. The fit is not great and quite a bit of filling is required where the shaft part marries the arms. Fortunately this is on the inner side is not visible, non the less it was filled using some Milieput as the gap was to large for Squadron filler.
The two stabilisers are very thin and flexible parts and I found the easiest method of installing was to hold the part in place at one end and dab with extra fine poly cement, then move along and repeat until the whole part was correctly in place. I then flooded the inside join with the same glue and let capillary action get on with the job.
The next task is to install the hull guns before the main deck can be fitted. There are two gun types to be fitted.
The larger calibre hull guns are a single barrel that mounts onto the deck, these can be left movable if you wish, but I fixed mine in place.
The smaller caliber guns that sit at the extreme forward and aft positions are made up of two parts a plastic barrel and an etched gun shield.
I question the need for the etch on these guns. They will be hidden under the deck and only a small part of the front face will be visible regardless of the position you place the gun in. A plastic shield, although no doubt they would not be to scale thickness, is all that is required.
The etch itself is a little fiddly to construct. The sides of the shield need to be formed into a curve first, I used my curve forming tool for this job, the shield roof is formed with two folds.
The kit etch uses fast bend technology, this gives an advantage of being able to form the bend easily without a folding tool. The down side to this is that the process of making fast bends leaves slots in the brass with are visible under paint and in my view detracts from the overall finish as they should not be there.
Its difficult to get the gun shield to sit correctly. Without visible gaps on the top joins. Under dry fitting they are not really seen so I left as it is, but for other guns, on the top deck I may need to consider soldering the parts to fill the gaps? something to ponder.
With the guns fixed in place with medium polly cement the upper deck could now be fitted. As I will be using a wood overlay I needed to modify the deck and remove some of the fittings, we will come back to this later.
The three part deck fits very well at the stern and bow, I had a small amount of slack in the centre section so this needed clamping, thick tube polly was used for fixing the decks in place.
Jase
jase attached the following image(s): “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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Rank: Super-Elite  Groups: Registered
Joined: 16/08/2010 Posts: 2,771 Points: 8,344 Location: Brighton
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Great start jase. look forward to seeing your progress. Ian Current builds.Hachettes build the bismark,HMS Victory, HMS Hood.
Finished Builds Corel HMS Victory cross section.
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