Onni

Donald Campbell’s Bluebird K7, on Coniston water,January 1967.

I use white glue as well but haven’t really had any problems with it except that the hulls have to be joined together pretty quickly. I have never used epoxy to join them, that sounds a bit scary! To avoid expansion of the holes or dowels (cocktail sticks?) you could try using metal dowels cut from metal coat hangers. They are a slightly larger diameter than cocktail sticks but not greatly so. I’ve used them a couple of times and they work okay. onni

Welcome aboard Dan! Onni

PT-109. Still a work in progress….

Welcome Andy. I don’t have any experience with kits but I’m sure other members can give you some good advice on the building of them. Scratch building is harder but probably more satisfying. Good luck!

Welcome Patch! I rather like your ship in a bottle. Looks kinda cool. I am a similar age to you and started modelling in the mid 1980’s but gave it up because of work and family commitments but restarted in the next millennium. My eyesight has also deteriorated so I try to get as much modelling done while I still can. ‘Onni’

Thanks James 😊

There is a great step by step guide to building a sloop on the build logs pages by Daniel Siemans (one of the administrators) which is worth following and it’s especially for people starting the hobby. Just look up ‘How to build a Bermuda Sloop (for beginners) under build logs on the forum. It’s a great guide for newbies 👍🏻

Hi Gregg and welcome. I think a cutter or single masted ship is a good place to start. Maybe search the internet,there are plans around. A good book to have for a beginner is “Sailing in Glass” and it includes a ship in a bottle plan for a cutter with all the measurements. The book also has other plans for several different types of vessels . I think it’s probably available on eBay. Anyway,good luck with ‘another hobby’.

Many thanks Bernard👍🏻

Many thanks Lboro.

Thanks Jesse. That was kinda how I envisaged it when I started building,a replica of the church one.

Anyway have completed her now and she’s finished. Bit of a problem to get the bowsprit in place and also had to do a little repair on the rudder but otherwise went fairly smoothly and I am satisfied with the result.

Forgot to mention that before I started to put her in the bottle I did a balance test (because the ship will be hanging in the bottle.) Turned out she was too heavy at the bow so had to add some white metal to the underside of the aft castle which seemed to do the trick.👍🏻

Time to start putting her in the bottle. The stand seen with the ship parts does not go in the bottle,it was only used as a construction aid.