JSC 1/400 Mikasa

**Robert Woolley** · #1 02-04-2013, 03:42 AM

This is my first go at a paper kit. My aim was to make it as neatly as I could out of the box. It is printed nicely but is an older pre-computer design I believe. I also bought the JSC Askold and it's computer designed print looks much sharper.

**Robert Woolley** · #2 02-04-2013, 03:47 AM

The frame work was made up some long rectangular boxes to which some formers were added. It was reasonably stiff but wasn't sitting very evenly. No doubt due to my beginner skills. I used double sided tape to hold the frame down flat for the rest of the hull build.

**Robert Woolley** · #3 02-04-2013, 03:58 AM

I decided not to use the tabs on the deck to locate the sides as I don't think I could have fitted it closely. I added a layer of cardboard around the bottom edge of the deck to make it thicker and butt glued the sides to this to make a shell. For the 6" gun barrels I used the left over main guns from the Tamiya 1/350 Mogami I recently made. They were the perfect shape and length according to the pattern JSC supplies. There were 12 left and I needed 14 so I made two from sanding down some lengths cut from a spare plastic mast

**Robert Woolley** · #4 02-04-2013, 04:05 AM

I glued the shell down on a very rainy humid day. The paper was quite limp and the deck became a bit wavy. It looks ok now though. I think an extra layer of cardboard on all hull pieces with the formers suitably adjusted would have looked better and been sturdier but my aim was to see how it went out of the box(book?)

**Robert Woolley** · #5 02-04-2013, 04:08 AM

For the superstructure I used ant tabs that weren't on an exposed edge and but glued the rest. The guns were made from the kit parts. A bit of taper to them would have been nice but once again it was OOB. I think they look ok. I was using water colour paints on the edges until the guns. I tried some grey acrylic paint but didnt like the result so went back to water colour afterwards

**Robert Woolley** · #6 02-04-2013, 04:21 AM

Now I came to a significant error. The boat deck(is that what the middle bit the funnels are attached to is called?) is presented as flush with the top of the sides. However it is actually a flush deck all the way through with raised sides to shield the guns and roofs over the side parts only. The centre is open and the funnels are on small structures. I thought about leaving it but it was an error to big to not fix. Fortunately it was simple enough to drop the printed deck down and make up some new parts for the funnels to go on and for the roofs over the side guns. The parts numbered 52 were supplied to go under the funnels but are works of imagination by the designer so I didn't use them. I was very happy with the funnels.

**Robert Woolley** · #7 02-04-2013, 04:35 AM

The mast was rolled around a toothpick which was left inside to strengthen it. I used black paper instead of the grey kit parts as most of the pictures I have found have black lower masts. I think it adds a bit more interest. The lower fighting tops were scratch built as the kit ones were incorrect.
When I put the mast in place it looked too tall. It was actually the funnels that were too short. Part 52 was required to make them the correct height. I cut them off and added 5mm to the bottoms. Things looked ok after that.
The ships boats are horrible little things. Poorly designed and hard to make. Before this kit I practiced on some small ships boats from some papershipwrights downloads which were much easier to make and looked much better as well. I will use the kit supplied boats but in future builds will find some better ones if needed. I noticed on the old JSC Askold the boats are designed the same but on the new computer designed one I have they are a new and seemingly better design. The decks of the steam pinnaces were painted (by me) a too dark shade of brown but it adds some nice contrast.

**Robert Woolley** · #8 02-04-2013, 04:46 AM

All the hard work and head scratching is finished now. Just the details to make and add. The top masts are carbon fibre rod left over from an RC plane I made. I have used PVA glue so far, but decided to use super glue to attach the masts. In my enthusiasm I glued the back mast at the front. The only difference is the upper fighting top. The difference is minimal so I decide to leave as is to avoud damaging the superstructure when removing them, but might correct them if it annoys me too much.
So far I am enjoying the build and looking forward to starting the Askold. I am also going to buy a 1/200 scale pre-dreadnought(probably an Admiral Ushakov, manufacturer undecided at the moment) and try to put a lot of effort into it over a period of time.

**Robert Woolley** · #9 02-04-2013, 04:50 AM

It is interesting that the top masts in the picture above look kind of thick and heavy, whereas in real life look quite acceptable. I have noticed this in plastic kits where in pictures some parts look thick and over scale but when I see the parts for real they are ok.

**marco1971** · #10 02-04-2013, 05:19 AM

My compliment! Very good work.

Marco