DMC1964

Great looking model! And I really like the little "grabber" tool you've built. Dan

To misquote The Most Interesting Man in the World, "I don't often post build logs, but when I do, I usually do it after I've finished the model..." I'm breaking that rule with this build. We'll just see how it goes. I've decided to build the yacht America in a bottle. First, the boat is lovely. Second, I have no end of research materials available, so I should use it. Several years ago, I bought the Chappelle plans from the Smithsonian. I have the book The Low Black Schooner, which, even if you don't want to build a model, is a great book. And I have a great set of rigging diagrams and plans, so, at least from that perspective, I have what I need. I had a couple of bottles to choose from and I cleaned off the labels. I scanned an image of America from Chappelle's The Search for Speed Under Sail and scaled it to fit in the smaller bottle. Rather than monkey around with the "sea" as I did on my first ship in a bottle, I'm going for the full hull on this one. The hull lines of America are so striking that it would be a shame to just show her from the waterline up. So, off to carving a hull and seeing what's going to be needed to get it into the bottle. Dan

Just got back from the Wisconsin Maritime Museum's 2022 Model Ships & Boats Contest and Show. As usually, it was a wonderful time with lots of great modelers, models and discussions. I want to publicly thank John Fox. We had a chance to talk and he gave me some great ideas -- and motivation -- for my next ship in a bottle. AND he gave me two Dimple Pinch bottles! That was really generous and I will definitely make use of those in the future. Thanks, John! Dan

That's the plan, John! I've been working over the past week or so to figure out the "sea." I wanted to use an epoxy resin for the base, then silicone for the waves. I haven't been able to make resin that looks good. The first 0.5 oz batch I made was really dark. I used acrylic paint as a colorant. So, last night, I got some actual acrylic resin tinting agent and tried that. Looks alright this morning, but it's still not set up completely, so we'll see. I'm starting to think just using the silicone might be the right way to go. There's really not much room for the sea in the bottle, so I can probably just add small amounts of tinted caulk and then paint the whitecaps on the waves. Once that's done, I'll need to make a more attractive cradle. I bought a nice piece of mahogany a while back that will look really good. Dan

Thanks, John! Really looking forward to your talk in Manitowoc this year! I think I've solved the problem: file size. When I reduced the size, everything went fine. Dan

Hello, everyone. I'm just starting my Ships in Bottles journey. I've built quite a few ship models over the years and decided to give this a try. I was organizing some books one day and my son saw this one. "You should make one of those," he said. And I said, "I think I might." I started with Victorine, which is the first model in the book (Ships in Bottles by Guy De Marco). I made the hull based on the plans in the book. The plans aren't symmetrical athwartships, which I didn't discover until I'd finished making it, so off I went to find some proper plans. Once I'd done that I found the actual vessel had much less sheer and a wider beam than the plans in the book, so I corrected those things and built the model. Along the way, I built a cradle for the bottle, an erecting trestle and a bunch of lances. The ship's in the bottle now and I need to add the resin sea and the silicone waves, build a display cradle and plunk a nameplate on it. I'd post pictures, but I seem to be having trouble uploading them... I'm glad I found this forum and look forward to seeing all the impressive models here. Dan