Pre dreadnought battleship Mikasa of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) 1:200

Thank you so much Johnny. :blush:

Once again, here is a quick update—just so you don’t think that absolutely nothing is happening here anymore. I’ve been very busy with other things, and honestly, the prospect of creating and attaching the torpedo net had me feeling a little apprehensive.

But let’s take things in order. First off: making the net. To do this, I sourced a roll of tulle fabric online, which features a truly excellent mesh structure. After a few test cuts, I determined the optimal width to ensure the net wouldn’t end up looking too thick.

Now it just needed to be rolled up neatly—a task that proved more difficult than anticipated. The secret to rolling a tidy “sausage” lay in using a long styrene rod; this allowed the tulle fabric to be properly shaped.

Next, I brushed it with Vallejo Metal Color’s “Steel” paint, and the torpedo net was finished.

Now, all that remained was to get the whole thing onto the stands. As you might have already guessed, my assembly stand and Blu Tack helped me out tremendously.

And so I keep working my way forward.

The most difficult parts were the sections around the round casemates. But even there, the blue putty came to my aid.

And so, the torpedo net now rests quite presentably upon its support.

Now, do the whole thing again on the other side…

…then ropes and spars can be attached.

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A small update on Sunday’s construction progress:
On the starboard side, the net is now resting on its support as well.

Now it must be secured with ropes and fitted with its spars.

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Let’s move on to securing the torpedo net, which on the Mikasa was fastened to the supports using ropes.
It is only a minor change to the model’s appearance, yet time-consuming to execute. And, of course, essential for completeness.
So, I spent two days stringing lines. First, I tacked the thread behind the net with a tiny dot of acrylic glue.

Then I took the blue modeling clay again and stretched the yarn over the nets to hold them in place. This gave the glue time to set.

Then the thread was cut, folded over, and glued down. The result looks like the ropes that hold the net in position in the original photos.

I think that comes quite close to the original.

Next up are the spars.

…which lie in the openings between the supports in their rest position.

You’ll see that next time.

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Truly you have set an insane level of detail that just gets improved on each time. Way in excess of Museum quality.

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