Ship in a Bottle - How to?

Modeling Subjects Ships
1

Hey there guys, I’m usually over in the Armor/Figure/Dio forums. That being said I’ve built one ship in my long modeling history (actually I think the ship was the first thing I put together). It was all plastic and heavy on the rattle can, my dad did 90% of the work and my contribution was 10% of broken parts haha

Anyway I have an idea for a ship diorama with a larger scale Coast Guard Helo hovering over top, but I’ll wait to get my hands on the Revell Colombo Express container ship for that one…

In the mean time I was just wondering how many of you ship builders have constructed ships inside bottles or rigged ships that you build outside of a bottle to be placed inside and completed inside.

It’s something I really wouldn’t mind getting into as I find it to be a classic “pinnacle” of modeling if you will- a small scale ship with tiny details inside a bottle it should never have been able to fit into, everyone wondering how it got there…

I’d probably go about it from scratch out of wood, balsa or bass etc. but I have no idea where or how to begin, or even what bottle I’d use!

Thanks guys

2

Well, the classic sailing ship in a bottle works around a “trick.”

The masts are hinged with a teeny bit of wire, so that they’ll fold back along the hull so that it will fit through the neck of the bottle.

The masts have their backstays/shrouds rigged, but the forestays are left long. Once the hull is set i nthe bottle, the forestay is pulled, with raises the mast(s) until they reach the right angle. The forestay is then glues/tied off, and everything is rigged, voilà.

Now, if the sails will not fit, they are also left loose on a bit of thread, so that they will fold and rool, and go in sideways down the neck, then the thread is pulled taut, and the yard/sail combo fits against its mast.

Now, that’s a lot of fiddling work, with all has to be done before you permanently affix the hull within the bottle. Which is why one seldoms sees three or more masted ships in bottles (does not mean you can’t SiaB Flying Cloud or Sea Witch, just that those could be bad ways to start off).

There are some SiaB modelers doing modern ships, they just take a bit of consideration for the “bits” that are a different dimension than the bottle neck. Which can mean having to engineer superstructure parts and the like.

3

here’s a kit from modelexpo in case you are interested.

http://www.modelexpo-online.com/product.asp?ITEMNO=AM1355

4

Have you checked this site :

http://www.folkartinbottles.com/

Good tips and techniques for all kind of modeling in bottles.

5

Thanks guys! Capt. Mac thanks for the run through, that sounds like what I was talking about. I’ve seen some youtube videos ranging from some complex, nice builds to some pretty low quality things that even I feel like I might be able to pull off.

"The masts have their backstays/shrouds rigged, but the forestays are left long. Once the hull is set i nthe bottle, the forestay is pulled, with raises the mast(s) until they reach the right angle. The forestay is then glues/tied off, and everything is rigged, voilà.

Now, if the sails will not fit, they are also left loose on a bit of thread, so that they will fold and rool, and go in sideways down the neck, then the thread is pulled taut, and the yard/sail combo fits against its mast."

Now that sounds a bit complex, maybe it’s just that I have no idea what a backstay/shroud and forestay is, lol I’ll have to Google that in a bit. What I would really like to understand though is what kind of miniature pully system needs to be constucted so that with one/two/however many pulls of a string, the whole array can be propperly unfolded.

I understand what you are saying about the number of masts and that makes sense. I’d love to get a handle on it and one day maybe build a little Golden Hind in a bottle. But that is a ways away.

enemeink thanks for the link- I think I might just try that, sounds like a good way to get into the trial and error stage of learning a new modeling skill- with a kit that in theory should work! haha no trying to find the right bottle/ship etc. Unfortunitly $80 is a little too steep for me, at least at the moment. But thanks again.

Pasigo thanks too for the link, a lot of great ideas and some very inspirational photos on there. I’ll have to see if there’s something I can do.

How cool is this?

http://www.folkartinbottles.com/images/stories/artists/hennyfransen/statenjacht/591a.jpg

6

Well, waxed thread, clean drilled holes and hardwood for the spars and the like.

The line dimensions are also smaller, and much less varied in size than on a typical wooden ship model.

There might be online video from The Wood Wright’s Shop, as Roy Underhill had a ship-in-bottle modeler on one of his episodes. Might be worth a google/pbs search.

Masts are held up by stays, which are lines which go from attacment points on the mast back down to the deck. They tend to form triangular, pyramidal, shapes. The simplest rig, a single mast would have three, a forestay, from the front of the craft to a point near the top of the mast; and two backstays from a similar/same point, to behind (abaft) the mast at either side of the vessel.

In larger sailing ships, the masts are made up of separate parts, they are supported along the sides and from the rear by stays called shrouds. Each mast segment would have its own shrouds. The assmbled mast might also have backstays running to the deck. Recall that a square-rigged ship, the wind comes generally over the stern (from back to front) or abeam (from one side or the other). So, there’s a lot of “pull” on the masts trying to “push” them forward or to the side. So, ther will be a lot of rigging in those areas.

Which does not mean they do not need forestays, have to keep things from tipping over backwards.

help any?

7

Hello-- I saw this and want to make a suggestion. The magazine SHIPS IN SCALE has a nice article in it about a modern ship(two) in a bottle. The ship was a modern U.S.Navy frigate with a P.B.R. in the neck of the bottle I don,t remember just which issue but it was near end of summer. Check them out if you can as that was the easiest to understand article on the subject I,ve seen. I have done it with modern ships and I use the strip plastic in place of wood. (makes for a cleaner model)The hard part is the time it takes to empty the bottle!!! It can be fun(emptying the bottle that is!) I use the larger JIM BEAM or TEQUILA bottles.Try a small destroyer or patrol boat first and you will find it,s not that hard.It,s just fiddly and tiny work. tankerbuilder

8

Thanks guys! Sorry I haven’t replied, still getting used to the new FSM.

Mac yes, that helps out a lot thank you for describing all that for me, I appreciate it.

Tankerbuilder I’ll be 21 on the 15th so I can legally take part in such fun bottle emptying practices. I’ll try something modern without sails first and then when I feel like I can maneuver parts and tools through the neck, I’ll slowly move on to the harder parts.

Thanks again guys, I hope to have one of these figured out for 2010- that’s my resolution! haha