egkb

Good evening everyone
the last two planks fitted to the ships side completed, decking plates only there to ensure they fit

 
mast step made up, this comes in nice pieces, sandwiched, together. and then shaped using the paper templates

 

the hull has been darkened with more spray layers, and all the decorative parts have been added and made to fit as best i can
Decking completed and fixed into place, i kept one section open and made a few bits for under deck interest (yep i messed up a plank and had to use it elsewhere) 
day 26 (today)
Oar holders shaped and in place
mast step varnished

as she sits tonight
 
 

I know this is an old thread but I'm really enjoying reading through it. I only wish I found it before I started but I'm not to far along. I'm just fairing the stern frames. Thanks for posting your build.

I agree with you Al.  This is a great thread to follow.  I recently started my own build of the Syren and have been referencing NovaStorm's log constantly.  I am really glad that MSW keeps the older build logs on line for reference, as there are so many great ones to assist newer builders in addressing challenges.
 
PaddyO

Update:
 
I've been working on the rudder these last few days. Below are some photos of the process.
 
First, I lightly tapered the rudder. This was optional according to the instructions. However, the visible effect is very minimal, and you really have to look closely to see the difference. That said, it only took me 15-20 minutes to sand it that way.
 
The drawing of the tapered rudder, so it was quite easy to indentify what was nessecary to sand:
 

 
Sanding of the "inner piece"
 
 
After that I glued the two outer patterns to the inner piece so that you can see the nice engraved lines on top of it.
My personal suggestion regarding the kit design as an "improvement" is to actually laser-cut the engraved parts as separate components, similar to those used in Winchelsea kits, etc. This also applies to the prow. I think this would elevate the kits to an even higher level, because now you'll still see the "inner section," which has different colors. But that's just my humble opinion.  
 

 
I glued a toothpick into the top so I had more grip while putting it in the WOP.
4 coats of WOP applied here just as the hull itself to match it color-wise
 

 
I blackened the pintle straps with AK blackening fluid. Then I used two nails as guides to position the straps correctly. It took me a while to get used to using the right amount of CA glue without making a mess, but overall, it turned out fine.
 

 
After attaching the rudder and gudgeon pintle patterns, (and also attached all the nails) I noticed they weren't connected to the pintle straps on the sides. I solved this by using small pieces of thick black paper to connect them.
 


 
The lines engraved at the top I think are supposed to be rudder straps. Perhaps these were expected to be painted? I used black paper again for this. I ignored the top one, this one will not be seen when installed.
 

 
Afterwards, I went over everything again with some black paint, as the black layer applied by the blackening agent gets damaged quite quickly when installing the parts. Details are a bit hard to see because of the lighting, but when it's attached to the hull it will look better.
 
This is the final result:
 

 
I'll first paint the rudder hole in the hull black, and then I can attach the rudder in its final position.
And then I'll figure out exactly how I'm going to attach the rudder brace straps. It will probably be a fiddly job  
 
 

The crew got some touch up, and I tried a "wash" on them which wasn't all I hoped it would be, but I kept it and gave the a couple of coats of clear-coat.
Ivan's blue uniform was certainly slimming, he's looking quite Stan Laurel-ish in white.
 
I made a pattern for the head gratings from chip-board, scanned it and used the image to make 3D models. Went away for the weekend, and printed them when I got home.
I need to install cleats (like seat cleats in a boat) for them to sit on along the spray-screens and hull. Then I can more accurately see how the shape may need adjusting, which may mean printing again, which didn't use much resin, but did take 4 hours.
 

Bridge and wheelhouse finished, and shown dry-fitted in place.  The kit calls for the windows, doors and portholes to be white, but I went with gray as I think it shows the detail better.
 
The railings at the top are from one continuous wire per strand, and the wire is stiff, and the 90 degree bends are tough to get right!
 
Regards,
David

Here's the bridge now painted; closeups show the deck and sidewall patterning.  Final picture adds the side wings and bridge railing.
 
Regards,
David

Thank you both for your wonderful and inspiring words.
 
 
Wow, Jeff, when I see your Mikasa, my heart melts. She's turned out so beautiful.
What I don't understand, Jeff, is that you're talking about three pinnaces. Where exactly would the third pinnace have been stand on Deck?
 
 
Javelin, thanks again for your compliment. It makes me very proud.
So, for my research on this ship, I'm almost exclusively using what I can find online. I do have a few books about the Mikasa and the IJN, but they're often about their historical background. Strangely, the pictures and technical information about this famous ship are very sparse.
Which, as you say, is a real shame for such a large scale, as there's so much detail that could be included.
 
I found the following page on the Internet, which helped me figure out how I wanted to display my pinnaces.
 
Steam Pinnacles, Pickets and Tenders
 
Among other things, you can see the following two photos which contributed to my decision not to change the cabin.
 

 
Here you can see the pinnace with its cabin fully fitted and without a tarpaulin. It's also not as elaborately painted as in the following photo, which reinforced my intention to paint it a warlike gray. It shows the H.M.S. Royal Sovereign.
 

 
And so I decided not to make any changes to the Micro Master boats.
I simply didn't feel comfortable removing the splash guard from the rudder and damaging the railing. The manufacturer of the 3D print is located on the other side of the planet, and another Micro Master order for me has been stuck in customs for over three weeks anyway.
I didn't want to take any chances.
 
First, the basics again. There's a narrow edge that I had to negotiate with the cradles.
 

 
So I lined the front part of the cradles with styrene.
 

 
Fits quite well.
 

 
Then the base colors were applied. As already mentioned, this one also uses the gray of the war paint.
 

 
Then a mandatory aging process.
 

 
This is the first step.
 

 
Man, those boats look great.
 

 
And put it on the deck to test it.
 

Well work continues slowly, the small brackets are frustrating, as I break more than I should, but I now have two!!
I took a break from these tiny things and decided to do the columns.
I just removed the char and shaped the long central section .
Thanks for looking in and hitting the thumbs up.
Cheers.

A quick update. I finally installed all of the upper deck lights, with the red cover plates holding them in place with the help of a little LockTite Extreme glue. This was necessary for bonding the plastic window frames to the wood, giving a few minutes repositioning time to settle everything in the right location. I had considered using superglue, but it has no leeway with repositioning time.
 
I placed mica behind the frames for the glass. It was easy to cut, and as thin as the windows ought to be in scale, greatly facilitating the construction details.
 
Chuck's laser cut window frames look fantastic! Thanks so much, Chuck.
 
I still have to construct the architectural columns in the centers of the red cover plates, and I am showing here some paper placeholders for later carvings.
 
But I have decided to move onto the balcony for now, which will probably be the most challenging part of this build. It has open fretwork between stantions, and the whole thing is a serpentine curve, as seen in the original 1760 model (here the fretwork is carved out of a solid blank; they are open in the second model which I assume is the intention of the model shown here).
 
Mark
 

 
Chuck already laser cut the fretwork for the side panels, as seen best in the last photo below the curved top window. This again shows the beauty and delicacy of Chuck's work. this same pattern will hopefully run across the balcony, and then around the quarter galleries at the same level.
 
 

Haha no worries, I won't  

Don’t you dare paint that planking 

Getting ready to paint the bridge and wheelhouse structure.  The issue is that the middle horizontal section is oversized.  So I built all the structures, glued down the central top structure (which you can see in the pictures, built the side structures and bridge railing separately, and then dry-fitted them along with the pre-planked deck to figure out how far back to sand.  Took some time.
All you see here is the lower part with the horizontal section, and the upper center structure glued on.
 
Next step is to paint, and to make that easier, I installed a screw underneath and attached a clamp to it so I can hold the whole thing and paint the sides in one pass.  White first, then red-brown, then install the deck and varnish it, then paint and install the sides and railing.  At least that's the plan.
 
Regards,
David

I finished up the sternmost structure, and it's shown here in position on the ship.  What's not yet on it are a mast and two forward funnels, which need the adjacent structure for support.
 
Regards,
David

Ahoy, Jeff.
Oh yes, I've also noticed that space is at a premium on the ship. I don't see any end in sight. But the fun is also the challenge, right?!
Thanks again for the helpful tips.
I've also been thinking about the final appearance of the pinnaces. I examined the following two photos, although I don't know if they are the Mikasa's boats.
 

 
The fact is that there was no helmet screen, just like there was no cabin.
 

 
There was apparently only one tarpaulin.
I'm a little torn about how to proceed. I'm really afraid of destroying the pinnaces when removing the two parts. As you know, they weren't exactly cheap and come from the other side of the world. I really have to think carefully about whether to take that risk or just install the boats as they are. 
There's virtually no historical evidence of this ship, including the appearance of the pinnaces. 🤫

Just taking these few photos to show you were l ended up. 

Shall put some of my build log photos up to see if it helps 👍

Great work, David. She's coming along beautifully.
 
John

Started on the superstructure.  I started with the stern because I wanted to figure out the interaction between the deck overlay (which has simulated planking), and the structures.  Glad I did, because I had to sand down one end of the lower structure to make it all fit -- but it does fit pretty well.  The structures fit nicely between the overlay and the hatch coamings.
 
By the way, I've discovered that for the hatch coamings you are supposed to use a thinner, wider wood that would create a better water-resistant fit, but I'm happy with these since I'm building a static model.
 
Now I'll move on to fit out and paint these structures.
 
Regards,
David

And here's the rest of the hull painted, and mounted on the base.  Waterline came out well.
 
Regards,
David

Started painting the hull.  Here are the bulwarks, rear deck, forecastle deck, and top part of the hull painted gray.  The rectangular spaces at the bottom of the gray paint on the hull are where I had small tape strips to guide me on how far down to paint to get past the waterline.
 
I'm going to approach the rest of the hull as follows:
 
1)  Next, I'm going to paint the base.  Usually I wait until a ship is finished before mounting the base, to protect the base from construction dust, but this ship has a large flat bottom that doesn't fit well in my foam cradle, and I don't want to paint it and then mar it by letting it sit flat on my workbench while working on the rest of the ship.  So after I paint the rest of the hull, I'll mount the base and then wrap it in plastic to protect it.
 
2)  After painting the base I'll paint the main deck.  This will give the gray on the side of the hull more time to dry well before I tape the waterline.
 
3)  Then I'll tape the waterline and paint the rest of the hull.
 
4)  Finally, I'll mount the base.
 
Regards,
David

Hi, a small update, having started fixing the knees, I now have to do the chain pumps, so attempted the small brackets to hold the crank handles.
Several hours and a few failures later, I think I've got it!only three more to make, wish me luck!
Cheers
Thanks for staying interested 🙂 

Good evening everyone, thank you for comments and likes
 
deck plates- not finished yet
 
two sheets of plates have to be removed, separated and sanded,
 
i numbered each piece of mine prior to removal, as i was bound to mix them, the instruction don't show much, other than where they go, but great online tutorial

then sprayed all the edges with walnut, sanded them with 3500 grit pad, repeated, then sprayed over with Oak and sanded again
 
Been 34 deg in the mancave, too warm for me, so im slightly behind, where i would like to be, not a race, im pleased with the way it is turning out, But wood glue, is a real bug bare, even with just using a cocktail stick to apply. So before she is completed, i will remove some of the worst offenders and open them to reveal the hold
 
 





















no plates are glued down at this stage
 

good morning everyone
 
took the build upto deck level, which is the height of plank 9

the frame is adapted again to fit the new keel width. 

Deck beams - Airbrushing
i would love to have bought the wood dye the Pavel Nikitin uses, but would cost a fortune to order and shipping (about £60), a set is available on one of the market sites, but at the same price, so i purchased a set of OCcre wood dyes, Walnut and Oak


 

Something I meant to comment on above is the direction in the instructions to use scrap plywood for the bulkhead supports (and also for the part of the capping rail that curves).
 
For a kit that cost me $600, I found this pretty annoying.  Caldercraft should have included a couple of pieces of strip wood for the bulkhead supports.  Instead of scrap ply, which would be difficult to make uniform, I went to my stash of leftover wood from previous models and got some strip wood that fit.  Still "scrap" in a way, but a better option.
 
Regarding the curved part of the capping rail, the instruction was to use scrap ply cut across the grain so it would bend, and fair it into the rail.  I elected to use my steamer on the capping rail and bend it.
 
But again, the idea of going to scrap wood isn't consistent with the price of the kit, or with Caldercraft's quality on, say, HMS Victory.  I was surprised.
 
Regards,
David