A pair of 16 foot Hobie Catamarans

[Donald]

I used to sail these 16 foot Hobie cats when I was a bit younger, and nostalgia has prompted me to attempt to put a pair of them racing through an Asbach bottle.

I found the bottle on ebay (obviously not yet cleaned up) and I think I have a plan.  To complicate things a bit, the mast will be taller than the inside of the bottle but I want them screaming along heeled over flying one hull as in the picture.

 

 

I watched some you tube videos of Tom Lauria who is a superb model builder and he was using a digital caliper to measure tolerances. I picked one up and it is really quite nice for consistency.

[exwafoo]

Hi Donald, Looks like a good build.

Something to remember when planning a tight build, allow room for assembly and tools in the bottle. It has caused me some issues in the past. A narrow flat bottle did not allow tools past the sails to get glue to the stern, and on another SIB with masts that were inserted into holes in the deck lack of height between deck and bottle caused me to have to dig the sea out and replace with a very thin sea to allow enough room to step the mast.

Best

Alan

Edited December 7, 2020 by exwafoo

[Donald]

2 hours ago, exwafoo said:

Hi Donald, Looks like a good build.

Something to remember when planning a tight build, allow room for assembly and tools in the bottle. It has caused me some issues in the past. A narrow flat bottle did not allow tools past the sails to get glue to the stern, and on another SIB with masts that were inserted into holes in the deck lack of height between deck and bottle caused me to have to dig the sea out and replace with a very thin sea to allow enough room to step the mast.

Best

Alan

 Thank you Alan, I appreciate the advice, you may have saved me a trip to the funny farm. You brought up the lack of space and as I got to thinking, I had not considered my paper Hobie on a stick, has the mast emerging from the floor of the bottle when in reality it will be offset towards the center of the cat an inch or two. If the cat is heeled over flying a hull it will be even more offset. I think I may mock up up a rough little 3-D model of the model today to make certain of fit. 

[Donald]

O.K., so I mocked up a paper catamaran on a swivel and there really is just not enough room for the masts at the top of the bottle if they are to be accurate in scale so starting over at square one. Much better at this stage of the game than later.

Edited December 7, 2020 by Donald

[Onni]

Have you considered maybe to have the catarmaran  sailing at the base of a different bottle with the bottle being upright ,if you understand what I mean. Then you would not have any troubles with the mast height or that it will touch the glass while heeling over. Check out my Gypsy Moth  in build logs.

Edited December 7, 2020 by Onni
Spelling

[Donald]

14 hours ago, Onni said:

Have you considered maybe to have the catarmaran  sailing at the base of a different bottle with the bottle being upright ,if you understand what I mean. Then you would not have any troubles with the mast height or that it will touch the glass while heeling over. Check out my Gypsy Moth  in build logs.

Thanks Onni for the idea. I actually contemplated that however for the Asbach bottle I think the base is too skinny and the bottle too tall for that scenario. An apothecary bottle or one as in your Gypsy Moth build would fit much better. I am excited to try the upright method. I love that build you did, very nice. I am curious why in the first picture you have paper around your hull?

I always play around with idea's for bottles and types of ships to go in there. I have seen sectioned hulls and thought about that with the Asbach bottle, you could run it all the way up a mast inside of that one. I have also been playing with ideas how to incorporate some of the ship "in" the bottle and some of it "out" of the bottle. It seems like a recipe for disaster unless you could protect it by making it an integral part of a lamp or table type of thing.

I think I will be O.K. partially because the rigging on these is so simple. I do though, have a tendency to push the limits on trying to "fill" the bottle and/or put in too much detail. The Asbach has a mouth opening of about 26.75mm which should seem sizeable after putting that Mayflower through a 21mm opening. I also took the too big hulls from yesterday and shaved them down to the proper size so that gives me a bit more room now. I must admit I also want to try and make little "molded clay" sailors and see if I can get them realistic looking. Usually the scale of our SIB doesn't allow for people, or at least much detail on them. I am also interested in trying to get a real sensation of "speed" and "motion" as they fly along. ...stay tuned.

 

 

[Onni]

The paper that you talk about is just masking tape to protect what I had already spray painted on Gypsy Moth.

[DSiemens]

Donald you might be interested in the work of Michel Bardet. He's a french ship in bottle restorer who does excellent work but he also does ships in bottles of the Route De Rhum winners which are all catamarans.  He has build logs on his website.  

http://michel.bardet.pagesperso-orange.fr/rdr.htm

[Donald]

On 12/10/2020 at 10:37 AM, DSiemens said:

Donald you might be interested in the work of Michel Bardet. He's a french ship in bottle restorer who does excellent work but he also does ships in bottles of the Route De Rhum winners which are all catamarans.  He has build logs on his website.  

http://michel.bardet.pagesperso-orange.fr/rdr.htm

Thanks Daniel, those are very cool. I have not seen any cats, especially of that build quality. There are a lot of really good builders out there. His sails are very nice. I watched a you tube video from Tom Lauria on making sails from silkspan. I'm thinking this build will lend itself well to that so we'll see how it goes but thanks for the heads up on Michel Bardet.

[Donald]

Picked up some bamboo skewers. The difference from regular wooden dowels is amazing, the bamboo is so incredibly strong. Playing with ideas of how to "peg" it together once through the mouth of the bottle.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Donald

[Donald]

Trial and error on my "deck" or trampoline. I first tried to paint some silk-span black and make the deck from it but it would tear and I couldn't make the line look consistent where it laces together.

After noodling around for a couple days, I scrapped that idea and went with cardboard. It is more stiff and able to handle the thread being pulled taught.

Had to take a couple days off to set up a hockey rink in our backyard  as there appeared to be a long cold snap coming, only for Mother Nature to warm things just enough to make the neighborhood kids wait until Christmas to play. Only included this since it inspired a possible "ice boat" in a bottle at some point.

I will be able to put the decks in through the mouth of the bottle and then easily (famous last words) be able to attach to the pontoons.

 

[DSiemens]

That's coming out really nice.  The silk screen looks good.

 

[Donald]

I have re-done the "decks" numerous times with different materials and I am still a bit unhappy but I'm going to press ahead. I am actually waiting on a few materials to get mailed to me, but it is slowly coming along.

[Donald]

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.

 

[Donald]

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.

[Donald]

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 watercolor paper. I then moved it around and put some acrylic paint on it. After it was dry I found you can bend it and move it quite a lot without cracking or paint chipping off. Once in the bottle the paper is rounded out a bit but I plan to pour epoxy resin in as a base. Once dry I can put in the ocean and glue it flat to the resin base. Thoughts, ideas, critiques anyone?

[exwafoo]

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

[Donald]

12 hours ago, exwafoo said:

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

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!!

 

Edited January 12, 2021 by Donald

[Donald]

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 am in the process of painting them with some acrylic paints and trying to figure out how to anchor them.

 

[Moab]

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

[Donald]

7 minutes ago, Moab said:

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

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. 

[exwafoo]

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

 

Edited January 13, 2021 by exwafoo

[Donald]

1 hour ago, exwafoo said:

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

 

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.

[Donald]

Crew selection has been made.

[exwafoo]

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