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Fair enough John, yeah no commitment as an honorary member whatsoever. I just want to recognize you and your past and present involvement. As far as an article, I can just create a small submission on BSW and then link it back to here for any updates etc. Your suggestion makes sense. Too bad about your business as everyone is suffering these days due to CV-19.

Greetings Jeff, First, thanks for the kind words. The postings I have been making on the card/paper model experiments is written as a single article, as a MS Word document file. I simply copy and paste it into this and the NRG Model Ship World postings. I write it as I work and photograph, sometimes takes a while between writing sessions due to experiments that don't work out or simply take a long time to work out. At present the .doc file is 37 pages, nearly 35MB, including separate files of the photos. I am far from finishing the experimenting or the article, so have no no idea how lar

Hey John very cool. Question would you be willing to summarize everything and put it into an article for the Bottled ShipWright Journal? Secondly, I would like to add you as an honorary member of the Journal. Are you okay with it? Jeff

Fantastic work, I am eagerly waiting to see more ways to use cardstock. Ethan

A motley crew for sure. I made 'em a bit shaggy so I could try and get a sensation of motion. The close up photo looks horrible as always, hoping from a distance it looks more like sunglasses than bug eyes.

I wouldn't want to meet them on a dark night tho'. 😁

Crew selection has been made.

Wow!! I absolutely love that build. Very, very nice. Never thought of veneer but it looks superb, as does the translucent sail. The plans, layout, detail work on your mast, boom, vang, roller furling etc. are really so convincing on such a difficult scale. It's so inspiring to see what real artists can do. Gives one something to shoot for. Thank you for sharing.

Hi Donald, Thanks for the complement on the Colvic Watson. This is the link to the build log. https://www.bottledshipbuilder.com/topic/683-colvic-watson-28/?tab=comments#comment-6310 Stay safe Alan

Thanks Moab, Just started yesterday, but already found out if the basic form is there on day 1 (the epoxy hardens a little quick for me) It's easier to add detail on day 2 because the basic form is hardened, and doesn't move when you add on a bit here and there. I also pulled this old moveable figure guy from a dusty closet and posed him the way I want the sailor to be, then try and bend the wire to the proportions of moveable guy. Challenging but I am finding it an enjoyable endeavor.

Your figures look good. Way better than my attempts...Moab

I am trying to make some little sailors to sail the Hobie's and it is turning out to be more difficult than I thought. since they are so small. Oh well, thus the life of a bottled ship builder. I found some 2 part epoxy for this purpose and formed some 24 gauge wire to put the epoxy putty on. Obviously with anything new there is a learning curve so consequently, I have numerous partially done sailors that just wouldn't make the cut. I tried to pose them doing what they should be doing when they should be doing it but still a work in progress. I

Gosh exwafoo, I hadn't even thought of that but that's a great idea. I am going to check into that for sure. Thank you! What a beautiful little trawler!!

Greetings Bernard, I use both hand when rolling the paper around the tube, one near each end, but also move them into the middle occasionally. When it start going ascrew, I loosen it up just a wee bit and correct it as I reroll the paper. Thanks for the comment, I do try! <Grin> Anchor's A Weigh! John Fox III

Have you thought of printing your own waterslide decals for the numbers. I've used this a couple of times for ship's names. A pack of A4 sheets is only about £5 in the UK. I get the right size by printing out different fonts and sizes on paper plus any other suitable detailing, cutting out and trying for size. When correct I print the decals, a couple of copies in case of mistakes. I still have about 4.5 sheets so its going to last. The windows and name on the Colvic Watson 28 SIB in the phot were made this way Alan

Interesting thread. Along these lines, I have a bottle in my collection that has some type of either mold or calcium deposits or something on it. I have had this bottle a while with no plans to clean it as it looks hauntingly unique, but I'm curious if anyone has any idea what this might be inside?

Hi John. That is fascinating. I imagine that rolling the paper around the tube was quite difficult as the paper would have a tendency to slacken off at one end whilst being tight at the other. Sometimes when I roll paper it tends to skew because keeping it taut all round the centre is difficult. Looking great though John. Keep posting the pics, I love seeing them. Best wishes Bernard

Greetings All, Work on the second hull continued with the start of a first layer of planking. This time I used well saturated cardboard that was thinner than that used on the first hull. These planks were stiffer, but also much more brittle. I also changed things up a little by using a white card stock, also saturated with thinned poly varnish, to delineate the waterline. The following photos show this work in progress. One thing to note is that this time I did not fill in the bow and stern areas with solid card stock, not sure if it was a good idea or not, it make planking mu

Finished up my sails, I probably made 8 or 10 between spraying the wrong colors, getting battens on too large, my dog actually ate my finished jib sail but all is well in the end. I ordered some numbers which arrived but I miscalculated and they are too large, so I've ordered more. While I wait, I turned my attention to the sea. I am going to try something different so these initial steps are just a test. I think it will be too difficult to create the ocean, or sea that appears the way I like because this Asbach bottle is so long. I got some acrylic modeling paste and smeared it on some waterc

I need to figure out the correct font size for numbers and order some off the internet for the sails. I am just getting going on these sails but I really, really like how the one that is close to done acts, feels, and looks. Seems really appropriate for the scale. If you guys are interested, on you tube Tom Lauria has a video on making sails from silkspan that is very good. I have deviated slightly but so far it seeks like nice stuff.

I carved up an inflatable buoy to use as a race marker. I decided to change the color scheme so it looks a bit more realistic that these two would be racing. I cut the sails out of silkspan and taped them off, airbrushed some color on them. I decided to make battens by glueing some 40 gauge magnet wire onto silkspan strips corresponding with the color of the stripe, then glueing that on the sails.

Approved your request a few minutes ago - welcome.

Just applied to the Facebook group. Thanks.

Models like the Sicily take only a few hours to buid. Ones like the one pictured take a little longer. For anyone into Facebook, I have a group: Merchant Ships in Miniature - Link https://www.facebook.com/groups/1841532386133008 Over 4,000 members, and very active, with both sail and steam, but merchant ships only - Closed group, but one can apply to join. Many techniques are supplied by members almost on a daily basis-

Thanks Shipbuilder! These are exactly what I was looking for. I'm browsing all of your plans and may well download something soon, even though it will be a long time before I complete my current Pride of Baltimore II. Hmmm...it might be fun to do a simultaneous miniature version of her. I already have highly detailed plans, and the real ship is a mere hour from where I live. Some years ago I visited Mystic Seaport (HIGHLY recommended for anyone with a love of the sea and ships). In their museum shop they had several astounding small models of sailing ships. The ones I recall were maybe tw