Ship in Bottle Build

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blinkythefish

Original Poster:

972 posts

257 months

Thursday 13th March 2014
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When I was a kid I built a ship in a bottle. I've decided to have a go at doing another one. I'm not sure how it'll go, but I thought I'd document it with a few pictures and share it. I'd appreciate any comments/suggestions.

The raw materials(I'd started carving the hull by this point - it was originally a square block of wood):



The partially carved hull in close up:



Hull carved and sanded, plus made and fitted bowsprit and gunwales. Drilled rigging holes and mast holes. Painted and varnished:



Forgot to drill all holes in the bowsprit before fitting, so will have to do that now it's fitted, which may be tricky.....

Finally, started to put "sea" in place. Still needs more shaping and painting(which I recall was a nightmare):



Will add further photos as I progress.

Cheers

Red Firecracker

5,276 posts

227 months

Friday 14th March 2014
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Will follow with interest, a nice change from the norm.

I made one is school, but we cheated and used those big sweet jars so you could nearly get completely inside the jar yourself, let alone your hand!

kenny.R400

1,212 posts

240 months

Friday 14th March 2014
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Yes, nice project and looking super so far. Looking forward to seeing it progress. I know I'd not have the ability to make one!

perdu

4,884 posts

199 months

Friday 14th March 2014
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This is a great idea

And although I 'kind of' know the principles it will be great to watch you finish it, so I can pick up the knowlege from you

Real modelling and of timeless interest too

b

MCWS

258 posts

123 months

Saturday 15th March 2014
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Nice project! Looks like you need loads of patients for this.

dr_gn

16,146 posts

184 months

Saturday 15th March 2014
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MCWS said:
Nice project! Looks like you need loads of patients for this.
I was going to make an NHS gag, but instead I'll just congratulate the O/P on a job very well done so far.

blinkythefish

Original Poster:

972 posts

257 months

Saturday 3rd October 2015
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Bit of a thread resurrection! Project got put on hold for various reasons, but I have made a restart and have some new photos:

Masts have been assembled. They are made from 2-3 section of wood, which makes them a nightmare to get straight. After several goes, I think I have them at a point I am happy with:



I'm using an internal hinge on the masts, which should look nice and tidy when assembled(other methods involve using a sort of croquet hoop hinge, but it looks a bit messy). To do this, I've drilled along the length of the mast base with a big drill, and drilled perpendicular to that to fit a copper fixing through. The hinge is formed by feeding a loop of thread through the deck, up this hole and anchoring it with the pin. Once inside it can be pulled tight using the thread:



Masts fitted, also the joints on the masts have been mound with thread plus decorative banding on the lower masts:



Yardarms tied on:





It still needs a lot of rigging to straighten the masts, but I should get that done tomorrow.

I'm also currently in the process of sourcing material for the sails and trying to work out how to create a good "sea" base in the bottle.

Edited by blinkythefish on Saturday 3rd October 15:22