Hasegawa 1/350 IJN Battleship Mikasa 40021 Plastic Model Kit

Hasegawa - 1/350 IJN Battleship Mikasa

Following the 1894–1895 Sino-Japanese conflict, and the forced return of the Liaotung peninsula to China under Russian pressure, Japan began to build up its military strength in preparation for further confrontations. In particular, Japan promulgated a ten-year naval build-up program, with the construction of six battleships and six armored cruisers at its core.

One of these battleships, Mikasa, was ordered from the Vickers shipyard in the United Kingdom at the end of 1898, for delivery to Japan in 1902. She took three years to complete, at the great cost of £880,000 (8.8 million yen).

That same year Japan also secured diplomatic and strategic support, by concluding the 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance with the world's first naval power. The UK shared Japan's wish to contain Russian expansionism in the far east, especially to protect her Chinese interests.

At the time of her delivery, Mikasa was a state-of-the-art pre-dreadnought battleship, achieving an unprecedented combination of firepower and protective strength. She was adapted from the Royal Navy's latest Majestic class design, with increased displacement (15,140 tonnes against 14,900), improved speed (18 knots against 17), slightly stronger armament (two more 6-inch guns), and much stronger armour: she kept the same armour thicknesses but used high performance Krupp armour, around 50% stronger compared to the Harvey armour used by the Majestic class.

Her main guns, grouped in armoured turrets in a central position, allowed for the rest of the ship to be evenly protected with the heavy Krupp protective steel plates. Thanks to this design, Mikasa was able to withstand a large number of direct hits: she received around 20 hits during the battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August 1904, and around 30 hits during the battle of Tsushima, with only limited damage. The firepower and the longer range of the guns of Mikasa were also fully exploited by highly trained and effective Japanese gunners.

At Tsushima, the Mikasa led the combined Japanese fleet into what has been called "the most decisive naval battle in history". The Russian fleet was almost completely anihilated: out of 38 Russian ships, 21 were sunk, 7 captured, 6 disarmed, 4,545 Russian servicemen died and 6,106 were taken prisoner. On the other hand, the Japanese only lost 116 men and 3 torpedo boats.

Leading brand of the Japanese Plastic Model Kit products, Hasegawa offers a wide range of different models and scales.

Features:
- Scale:1/350
- Parts: 420 pcs
- L 14.92 x W 3.56 H 6.61 inches
- Item name: IJN Battleship Mikasa The Battle of the Japan Sea
- Accurate Scale Model
- Highly detailed model kit
- Detailed Instructions Provided
- Material: Plastic
- May require assembly and painting
- Separately, tools, paint etc are necessary
- Recommended age: From 14 yrs old
- A treat for collectors