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Bottled Ship Builder

Lesson learned the hard way.


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I started my latest sib about 2 monyhs ago, but at that time didn't have a bottle for it. Finally found a bottle in my bar last week. Eyeballing the two together looked like everything should be fine.

Was I wrong! While waiting for a delivery of plasticine, I did a trial fit, but never tried to raise the masts. Wednesday was the day I thought I'd finally finish this project. Inserted a thin (3/16") sea, gouged out a spot for the ship, added a little glue and inserted the ship. The masts were about 3/16" too long. I was able to salvage the ship, but lost the bottle (got glue all over the neck) while removing the ship.

Looking for another ship to build and a slightly larger bottle!

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I did much the same - once. I had the bottle when I started but was over-confident in my calculations and never did a trial fit with bare poles and minimal rigging. My result was about the same as yours.

 

I never forgot that incident. Failure is a merciless teacher, but the lessons learned are never forgotten.

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I think every one has done that at least once...or twice.  My recent Cutter build I did was the same problem.  Some how I miss measured and ended up with a ship just a bit taller then is should have been.  I found a bottle for her that worked well but had I started with the bottle in the first place I might have made the ship a bit bigger.

 

20150406_132146.jpg

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Although I believe that I am a considerable novice at this art I have always enjoyed modeling. With regard to fitting the ship I have made a balsa hull with an adjustable single mast with measure marks that is raised once inside the bottle this gives me a true available hieght . It is always difficult to assess the hieght from the outside because of the thickness of the glass and the optical illusion created. galinivin

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This is a good topic.  For me, some lessons learned the hard way are, sea putty that continues to out-gas in a bad way.  I'm not saying I will never use a putty material but I will make better choices in the future about the material I use.

 

Another one for me, that time has been my teacher, would be the glass I choose.  The older I get, the better detail I build into my ships, and the amount of time I spend,  I really want a good quality bottle.  I used to use many found bottles, but over time, I find myself purchasing lab glass for projects etc.

Better bottles are worthy of my time and skill.  I wished I had started getter better bottles along time ago.

 

Gwyl

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