IJN Mikasa by Herby63 - Merit International with Pontos set - 1/200 - PLASTIC

[Jeff59]

Brilliant job Herby, love it. Mind watch out for position of 6 inch guns on main deck, think they need moved outward 2 to 3mm to let the guns sit more in middle of housing, l didn’t do this but would if l were to do it again, the gun should be able to run parallel to side of bridge superstructure, you’ll see what l mean when you investigate it. 👍Shall try to follow this and enjoy, pressures of me now. 😂

 

[Herby63]

On 5/15/2024 at 12:16 AM, Jeff59 said:

Mind watch out for position of 6 inch guns on main deck, think they need moved outward 2 to 3mm to let the guns sit more in middle of housing, l didn’t do this but would if l were to do it again, the gun should be able to run parallel to side of bridge superstructure, you’ll see what l mean when you investigate it.

Oups, too late, installed them today, does not look too wrong. I dont intend to position them parallel to the side of the bridge, so only people who have thouroughly investigated this ship will know, and there are not that many around, certainly not in Belgium.  😁

I shall post an update soon.

 

Thank for your comment, I try to consult your build every time I attack a new area.

 

Kind regards.

Edited May 18 by Herby63

[Herby63]

Finaly some painting can be done.

 

The metal parts were primed with VMS Metal Prep 4K first.

Then all parts were sprayed with a grey Vallejo primer for plastic and metal.

 

The sides of the deck have been painted Black Grey, in case the wooden deck leaves some edges visible.

The barbettes of the main guns have been painted Insigna White, the base plates for the winches have been painted Deep Green with a drop of Buff and the whole deck has been finished wit a coat of clear gloss varnish. The Pontos wooden decks have a reputation of lifting after some time, but Steve of "The model shed" claims spraying a coat of gloss varnish first has not let him down so far.

 

All bulckheads and the boatdeck are painted Insigna White.

The deckdetails and furniture are painted Black Grey, a personal choice.  😁

The metal decks of the bridges, which have not yet been glued down are painted my special blend of deep green.

The louvres for the vents are painted Red.

 

 

Untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

I placed some central bulckheads on the center deck to enture a perfect positioning of the wooden deck, removed the plastic backing and gently and evenly worked it down over the bulckheads with a pair of tweezers until it touched the styrene deck. Then I rubbed it down with a piece of wood.

 

For the fore and aft sections I put some cocktailsticks on the deck to allow perfect positioning before tacking down.

 

Untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

I used some PVA-glue to stick the Pontosparts for Merit step 12 to the middledeck, except for the shutecovers.

 

Then I wired up a double LED to go under a part of the superstructure.

 

I put on the cover and tested it.

 

Untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

I then connected the LEDstrips for lighting up the hull to the underside of the deck.

 

and enjoyed the atmosohere during a brief test.

 

Untill next update, enjoy modelling.

Edited May 25 by Herby63

[Herby63]

The sides of the middle part of the wooden deck were finished by adding the Pontos brass strips and a fine wooden strip. The brass strips were layed between the wood veneer, and not on it. Thus no unevenness was created .  The shute covers were also glued in their place with PVA-glue.

 

 

Untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

I wired up some LED's with 0,03 mm coated wire and tested for half an houher to be sure the wires did not get hot.

 

Untill next update, enjoy modelling.

Edited May 27 by Herby63

[Herby63]

Merit steps 14 to 19:

The louvres were glued to the venttops, the vents glued to the middle deck;

 

Bulkheads glued with Revell Contacta professional.

All PONTOS hatches and rails glued to the middle deck. Unfortunately The Pieces H16 were replaced with Pontos-parts with other dimentions, so those did not fit. (I stied a couple of times to obtain the correctionfret #12, but with no succes) Si I end up using the Merit parts. Lost between the middele deck infrastructure this will not stand out.

 

Sides A16 and A17 glued to the sides.

 

6 and 3 inch guns glued in place with PVA-glue

 

Untill next update, enjoy modelling.

Edited May 28 by Herby63

[Herby63]

Time to lay down the boatdecks, so I glued the little plastic pilars with Tamiya extra thin cement, and lined them up with the holes in the wooden deck.

 

When this was dry, I glued the boatdecks on the bulkheads witg Revell Contacta professional and the necessary clamps.

 

Untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

The Pontos boat supports were bent and soldered.

  

 

and degreased with isopropyl alcohol in an ultrasound cleaner for 3 minutes, then primed and sprayed with Vallejo Model Air Insigna White.

 

After painting the top sides Vallejo Model Air 71.015 Dark Green RLM71 to simulate lether protection, they were installed on the superstructure.

 

Untill next update, enjoy modelling.

Edited June 13 by Herby63

[Herby63]

The remaining vents were assembled and glued on the fore funnelbase.

Untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

All deckdetails on both fore- and aft deck were installed, mainly with PVA-glue.

That makes for quite a change in apearance.

 

Untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

The Pontos brass decks were glued with 5 minutes epoxy-resin to the Merit bridges.

Then I made a doorway in the round fortifications and glued the plate covering the entrance to the roof and prepared the other components of steps 30 (forebridge) and 32 (aft bridge).

 

All these details were primed and painted Insigna White,

 

and mounted in their apropriate places.

 

Untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

On to the upper bridge decks:

- the Merit parts were undone of their moulded details

 

- the Pontos underplates were soldered with ribs and supports.  Certainly not an easy part of the model.

 

Untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

On with the upper bridge decks:

- the Merit parts and the Pontos parts were joined with 5-minutes epoxy resin.

After curing, I cut off the resin that squirted out of the joint.

 

untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

The round pillars were added to the underside  and the topdecks were primed and painted. The top surface is covered with a thin coat of clear gloss varnish for better edhesion of the wooden decks.

 

Led's were added to the floorspaces of the fore and aft steeringhouses. The wires led through the floors of the top bridgedecks, through the tops of the armoured round observation posts and througt the floors of the latter, before joining all theze components together.

 

untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

I hope you all enjoyed your holydays.

 

I mounted the front diagonal pillars and painted the floors of the deckhouses in Mahogany. (The yellow dot is an LED)

 

untill next update, enjoy modelling.

Edited July 25 by Herby63

[Herby63]

Front supports painted Insigna White.

 

On with the bridge houses.

I removed the sides from the Merit plastic parts. I just cut them off with a sprue cutter and sanded the underside of the ceiling flush.

I collected the Pontos parts for these bridge houses and for the leadsmen's platforms.

 

I bent and soldered theleadsmen's platforms.

I soldered the doors to the cabinwalls, bent these to match the form of the plastic ceilings  and glued them with pink Zap.

 

untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

Port and starboard light fixtures bent and soldered (Pontos nrs 122 till 126) 

I soldered the hatches (Pontos 329 and 331) to the bulkheads (335 and 336) and 2 very small cleats (shown in the blue cirkel).

 

untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

The Searchlights;

The components for 6 searchlights.

 

The bases soldered

 

The searchlights mounted up to the point that they are ready for painting.

 

untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

Merit compasses and communicationtubes prepared. 

Now all elements of Merit manual step 36 are ready for painting.

 

untill next update, enjoy modelling and many thanks to all for the many thumbs-up👍 😀.

Edited August 24 by Herby63

[Herby63]

 

So I made the final preparations for gluing down the bridges.

I filled the portholes from the inside with Mikto Kristal Clear.

 

And connected the wires from both LED's together, and mede a successsfull test.

 

untill next update, enjoy modelling 😀.

[Herby63]

In my enthousiasm over the nice effect of the burning LED's I glued down both bridges with Revell Contacta professional, only to realise the next day that I had forgotten to make arrangements for wires of the the port and starboard signal lights to pass trough the bulckheads.

External wires not being an option for me, there will not be working signallights.😭

 

 

untill next update, enjoy modelling 

[Herby63]

Steps 34, 35 and 36

 

I primed

 

and painted the parts Insigna White

 

and painted the inside of the deckhouses Mahogany

 

Untill next time.

[Herby63]

After applying a coat of gloss varnish to the rooftops, I put on the wooden decks.

I painted doors and the the binnacles a wood color.

 

The deckhouses were glued on their place with a fair amount of CA-gel and the bulkheads indicated with the blue arrows with pink Zap.

 

Finaly I glued on the port and starboard light housings.

 

Which gives this over all view

 

Untill next update, enjoy modelling.

[Herby63]

Hello dear followers,

Today I show the main guns being made.

The Merit parts are upgraded or, in some cases, replaced by Pontos-parts.

The (Pontos)manual:

 

The parts:

 

The brackets have been soldered to the rings.

 

The rings are glued to the turret bases with pink Zap (thin CA-glue.

 

Barrels solderd to the trunnions, trunnions inserted in the cheecks and the cheecks glued with Tamiya extra thin cement to the bases.

The brass rooftops were glued on with pink Zap.

 

And finaly, the turret tops were glued on the bases.

Ready for painting.

 

Following the steps in the Merit manual, the next update will be the masts.

 

Until next update, enjoy modelling.