1:200 Japanese Battleship Mikasa 1905(For Merit 620004)-Deck masking sheet

Artwox Model Mikasa 1905 in 1:200 scale: a deck masking template

An accessory from Artwox Model for the plastic kit of the battleship Mikasa in her 1905 form. It is neither a kit nor a model: it is a sheet of self-adhesive masks with which you cover the deck before spraying. The set is cut for the specific Merit 620004 kit.

Spraying as a route to a wooden deck

You have essentially two ways of doing the deck. Either you glue veneer onto it or you spray it. Spraying needs nothing but paint and has one practical advantage: it keeps the original engraving of the plastic, so once the weathering is done the seams between the planks read as depth and not just as a printed line. The weak point of spraying by hand is the masking, and that is exactly what this set deals with. The template defines the boundaries of the deck surfaces and you can concentrate on the paint.

Mixing the shade and weathering

There is no single correct version of a teak deck shade: freshly laid wood is warmer and darker, and after months at sea it fades toward gray. It pays to mix a base tone, spray it in thin coats and then tone individual planks irregularly with very thinned paint. The differences should be barely perceptible; exaggerated contrast looks unnatural in 1:200 scale. Once that has dried, a thin wash goes into the seams and a matte varnish comes last. Take the masks off before you start weathering so that the edge does not get clogged.

Who the set is for

• Builders of a large ship model in 1:200 scale
• Modelers who prefer a sprayed deck to veneer
• Those who want to save hours of cutting tape by hand
• Those interested in ship models of the turn of the twentieth century

This is an accessory for a plastic kit. The model, paints and glue are not included in the package. Check the match with your kit before you buy.