Permission to come aboard!

[Weege]

Hi my name is Lou I live in Lewes Delaware, I'm 68 years old. First I would like to thank you for the website, I am new to all this, I have built R/C planes and gliders from kits and from scratch and have always loved the building part much more than the flying part, I have many hobbies as my wife reminds me from time to time, I stumbled onto ships in bottles and though I would try it, well wow I'm hooked. So far I have four hulls started but every time I get it close to bottling I see an article and say to myself that would look better so I start again I have learned a great deal and still have miles to go but I really do enjoy the hobby. I chose a gallon wine jug so I'm not working on the smallest level, I chose a two masted schooner no name but little bits of all the ones I see in the forum and books, I hope to post some pictures next time, just a though I also have turned wooden pens on my lathe and the pen blanks are the perfect size for some of the hulls they come in many different hardwoods and some pretty exotic stuff not too expensive.

I'm afraid I may have a million questions so please bear with me, some day I hope to be able to answer some for someone else.

[DSiemens]

Welcome aboard.  Nothong wrong with a million questions. Ask away.  Thats what we're here for.  I look forward to seeing your work.  It is a fun and addicting hobby.  

[Chasseur]

Welcome  aboard Lou!

You’ll like the site as there are bunch of talented people here and always willing to share. Also please hit the clubs tab and sign up for our free journal.  First edition comes out this December.

Jeff

[Onni]

Welcome Lou. Look forward to seeing your model.

[JesseLee]

Welcome Lou! You will find this a very friendly and helpful group. 

Jesse

[John Fox III]

Greetings Lou,

We all start in the same place, and most of us start with the same questions, so ask away and we will help as we can!

 

Anchor's A Weigh!

John Fox III

[Weege]

A big thank you for all the welcoming comments.

My first question is what kind of chisel works best when cutting the holds in the hull to make the bulwarks(sorry if the terminology is wrong that's as big a learning curve as the building) I currently have a 1/4" wood working chisel as my smallest I'm wondering if there is anything smaller that works better and what shape works best does an Exacto chisel point work , and my second question is what do you use to get in there and sand it smooth, I was thinking of cutting some different sized dowel and gluing sand paper to the ends and trying that?

Thanks for any help

[James w rogers]

Welcome aboard sir, you've arrived at a great place!?

[Bernard Kelly]

19 hours ago, Weege said:

A big thank you for all the welcoming comments.

My first question is what kind of chisel works best when cutting the holds in the hull to make the bulwarks(sorry if the terminology is wrong that's as big a learning curve as the building) I currently have a 1/4" wood working chisel as my smallest I'm wondering if there is anything smaller that works better and what shape works best does an Exacto chisel point work , and my second question is what do you use to get in there and sand it smooth, I was thinking of cutting some different sized dowel and gluing sand paper to the ends and trying that?

Thanks for any help

Hi Lou and welcome.

One of my favourite sanding implements is a cheap plastic toothbrush. Cut the bristles off and file down the bristle end to any shape you want and then stick your sandpaper to it. With certain types of plastic you can heat it up (I usually use boiling water) and bend it to various angles. Finding that type of plastic has been pot luck for me. 

Enjoy your modelling.

Bernard