Leaderboard

Destroyed the deck trying to squeeze it in, so hurriedly had to make a new one out of slightly thinner veneer. Luckily second attempt succeeded.

Slow progress, haven't really done anything since november, kind of lost the will with current situation, but thought it was about time to knuckle down and crack on with it. probably not going to do much more to the hull apart from a few small deckdetails. Time to start the lateen rigged masts,the holes are drilled and lined up ready. 😁

Ok, here goes (hope I don't break the forum trying to upload pictures...) I'm a new member here, finally attempting something I've wanted to do for about 40 years. I carved the hull from a piece of Alder and punched the shields from craft paper. I'm not going to be too ambitious about the details, just want to see if I can make it work.

Work on the card/paper models continued with finishing up the masts and bowsprit/jib boom. The process for making the top and topgallant masts was similar to the work involved with making the lower masts. Various sized rods and tubes were wrapped with brown paper, using a tube or rod of the appropriate size to make the final paper tube a bit larger than necessary. The next steps were to sand the glued paper tubes to the proper size and shape. This work was very tedious as the CA glue applied to the outside of the tubing only saturated the paper for a few layers. As the sanding reached those un

These pictures are out of sequence but no matter... Needing somewhere to run the lines, I hit upon the idea of a heavy rope around the gunwales. Not really nautically accurate, but I think it looks quite in keeping with the general 'fantasy with one toe in reality' feel of this whole project. It's fixed down with little spots of ca glue, leaving gaps in useful places. I also made the hole for the mast with a lead-in which gets hidden by the deck tent. The idea is to push up the mast, rather like a pole-vault box. The last picture shows the final arrangement plan, with the teab

I use small pieces of white and green plasticine for wave tops, dogbone, wake, etc, just a small bit smeared in as required, and at random. The smearing gives it a random 'foam' effect. I 'glaze' the sea with PVA , slightly diluted, as it dries clear and gives the reflective surface. Needs a couple of coats as it can be tricky to get it to stick to the surface. Stay safe all Alan

Some more progress!

Started working on the sea of putty. Putty was laid in many years ago and was almost totally dry. I found it to be a little high to fit the ship so I scraped some of it off. The picture shows a height gauge to confirm ship will fit.

Painting the sea. I used tamiya blue and violet acrylic paints, tamiya paint retarder and mig wet effects so far. Some cotton soaked in wet effects was added around the hull to simulate waves. Let’s see how it looks like when dry...

Sails are up! craddle received the first stain and varnish coat.

Had a little time to fiddle with it yesterday; fixated the lines and trimmed them off with a pair of Potts scissors.

Hi Everyone, My next build is going to be the USS Adams, described as a "screw gunboat and the lead ship of the Adams class, a single screw, wooden-hull, bark-rigged steamer." My great great grandfather was a marine serving aboard the Adams from 1892 - 1894. He also served aboard two of her sister ships, the USS Enterprise and the USS Pensacola from 1890 - 1892. I was wondering if I could ask the help of some of the more knowledgeable modelers on this site. I've been able to scale the ship from the profile picture included here and other descriptions about her length, beam and dr

All rigging done. Tamiya extra thin cement bottle is actually Micto Kristal Klear -i.e. white flue to seal the rigging from frizz.

I took the plunge ! First picture; laying out in readiness Second; insertion Third; secured with a Kelly forcep while I jiggered everything about with a bicycle spoke. This is what the whole thing was about for me, to find out what all you talented folks go through. I know this is laughably simple compared to the fine work in this forum, but what an experience! Next... gluing the ship in position, then making a decision about the sea (or lack thereof).

Hi everyone! I'm a craftsman, born in England, now living off-grid in Sweden. The idea of bottling ships has been lurking in my head ever since I was a kid and I've finally started to explore the craft. My first attempt is in progress now; a Viking raider. Seems appropriate for my adopted homeland and of course, only one mast limits the complexity !

Bow stays A and B are on!

Taken a couple of months work but she's finally finished.

The moment of thruth is coming. I made some holes in the sea of putty to anchor a puddle of epoxy, Magnetic craddle was then laid on top of it. I created a rope guide using brass sheet to guide cables and orient them better towards the middle of the bow. I labeled all cables with tape tags and lowered the masts. Cables look no messy, but apparently all are on correct position! i also gave the last coat of gloss to the craddle. I find it looks very nice indeed.

Making all possible to achieve a square craddle in all three axis (well, at least while attaching the first two parts). Parts were glued with 5-minute epoxy after cleaning old varnish and sanding parts a bit better. Both shaped parts are pretty different from one another, but I don’t think it will spoil final stance and adds some handmade flavour to the whole. Thanks for the comments folks! Would love to see your work as well!

Fearsome-looking shadow 😁

Adding the shields.

The moment of truth has arrived!

My father was an avid artist and wood carver but scrap dealer by trade. Around 1947 he built this ship which was used in a magazine advertisement. I was four at the time so I don't remember anything about the build but do remember we lived on the West side of Chicago in a small apartment. To my knowledge this is the only model ship he ever built...Moab

Currently a mess. Just went through a typhoon...Moab

My latest is a schooner but it's not very well built...Moab

Its incredibly thrilling to see your creation impossibly set up in the bottle. Your gonna get hooked on the hobby now. Great job. Viking ships may be simple but they are incredibly fun and look so awesome. You picked a perfect ship to start out on. Good luck getting her set. I'm excited to see the result.

Prepared a magnetic attached base so it can be moved off the trestle quickly and position inside the bottle positively. i still have to figure out gow to anchor the brass plate to the putty sea.

Can't help much with your questions, except the second number4 in your list about smoke. I have used just cotton wool in the past, sprayed lightly with black and grey paint. This effect also stiffens the cotton wool so that it can be glued in place in the funnel and can look quite convincing.

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/somerscales-off-valparaiso-n01773 The artwork on the manual is a copy of the painting referenced in the link above.

A selection of ensigns: I went with the mid-size red ensign as should be used by merchant vessels.

Amazing work, as usual!

Everytrhing looks great! This is always the tough part for me (and I guess most other folks). I just started using a few magnets to help with positioning and they work great. Standing by...Moab

Some really nice deck details you have made there.

Got the fixed rigging done. Now to the front movable stays and sail rigs.

Yay!! Finally, got 'er in there and sailing along. I plan on carving a stand for it that is a sea turtle, upside down with the bottle resting on it's belly. I "turned turtle the first time I ever sailed one of these. I was by myself, had no clue what I was doing (left the main sheet cleated), and it turned into an 8 hour nightmare of lessons learned. Thus the "turned turtle" stand idea.

Well this is proving difficult. This rascal has been in and out of the bottle 4 times! This morning I thought I had it, until this sailor jumped over board and I hopelessly tangled every line around trying to get him back on board. I'm just going to take a deep breath, count to 10 and figure it out.

I completely ruined my original bottle by messing around trying to save it from angry epoxy seas. I got goo on the inside and slop for a base so... I got a new bottle. This time instead of epoxy, I rolled up some plastalina in the shape of my "sea base", slid it in and unrolled it. It was a bit hard to unroll so I put it on a heating pad for a while and that helped. Once I had the Plastalina clay tamped down, I rolled up the "sea base" and slid it in. Once in the bottle I flipped the "sea base" over, put some glue on it then flipped it on top of the Plastalina cla

Novice in making bottle ships. Looking forward to learn.

Thanks for the kind words! I keep learning too, mostly how not to make parts, but that is part of the journey! Anchor's A Weigh! John Fox III

Thanks guys I am glad you like it more to come in the next few weeks!

Thank you, very helpful. I had been on the site before but had not noticed the plans at the bottom. Most appreciated!

Great job. You've captured what makes catamaran races so exciting. Hulls up, sails full of wind and the sailors hanging off the edge. Its fun to see. Great work!

Hi, thanks for the welcome! We'll just have to see how well (or badly) this first attempt turns out 🙄 One of these days I'll have to get over there and see a bit of Finland; I live quite close to the ferry which crosses to Vaasa. While I'm here, can you point me at any useful tips on my options for the sea in my little bottle?

I have a "graveyard goblet" going. I must say your collection is impressive. It's like Scapa Flow after the scuttling of the German fleet.

Not much progress this weekend- cleaned up the trestle and did the first round of rigging. The bowsprite was quite easy. I have some doubts about the frizzy thread. Tried to reduce it with some wax, white glue and varnish, but with doubtful results. What do you think is good to reduce the frizz on polyether thread? Otherwise the thread looks good- color and tightness are great. Thanks for the comments!

Boy just when you think you know something... I spent all day today and managed to get the first of the two catamarans in the bottle. I had to use a small roll of putty to squish the hulls into to keep them straight.

Houston, ...we have a problem. It did not go as expected and I have pulled the one I tried to rig up, back out. I have only minor damage and I think I have figured out a better way to get them in there. Stay tuned, it has only strengthened my resolve to get them in there.

So I ran into a bit of trouble. I mixed a two part epoxy to go into the bottle as a base for my "sea". I'm not sure where I went wrong but it wasn't getting hard, so I put a bit more of the hardener in and swirled it with a stick. It helped some but as you can see there is still a little fluid on the top of what has hardened. In doing all this, it rose the sea level to high tide and messed up my plans a bit. The way I originally had the cats oriented, when flying a hull it would hit the roof of the bottle. So, I have been experimenting with a different orientation so now when the ca

Finally got back to it, not much change apart from a couple of ladders and a hatch cover, just need to keep away from distractions and crack on! 😁

Luckily I have a plan, so this will be my next build!😀