Shipbuilder

This is me, 50 years ago!
Bob
 

I build miniature model ships, sail and steam in display cases.     I really don't have the patience to try and get them in bottles.   I have in the past, but I cut the bottoms off the bottles, put the models in and glued the bottom back, disguising the join with fancy ropework!
I am also building a log cabin (Alaska 1898)    A front view shows the cabin in deep snow.   The back is open, showing the cosy interior with a flickering pot-belly stove and an oil lamp on the table (both lit with light-emitting diodes).
Bob
 

I build miniature model ships, sail and steam in display cases.     I really don't have the patience to try and get them in bottles.   I have in the past, but I cut the bottoms off the bottles, put the models in and glued the bottom back, disguising the join with fancy ropework!
I am also building a log cabin (Alaska 1898)    A front view shows the cabin in deep snow.   The back is open, showing the cosy interior with a flickering pot-belly stove and an oil lamp on the table (both lit with light-emitting diodes).
Bob
 

It is polystyrene foam, the white crumbly type that they pack electronic equipment in.   I shape it with a small gas blowtorch with the air intake turned off so the flame is just the strength of a candle flame.    Then it is covered with crepe paper stuck on with white wood glue.     Paint main colour, and add white whilst it i still wet so that it runs.      It is totally unsuitable for ships in bottles, but I only build them in display cases.
Bob

I have sent dozens and dozens of models overseas from UK to US, Hong Kong, Australia, Europe & Ireland.    In the early days, we had some occasions of minor damage where the couriers returned the model for repair and paid for the damage.   Never very much, round about £30 or so.    Then most of them suddenly changed their Terms & Conditions, and would only pay for the cost of material damaged, and not the many hours of work it took to build them!   The attached images are the two worst examples.    The more modern model is the RMS St. Helena.   I did not build it, but it was damaged when being transported for the ship's managers.      The insurance would not pay up at all.    I got the job of repairing it, as I had worked for the shipping company for a number of years, and the St. Helena was my last ship.    The other one, Hawarden Castle was severely damaged on its way to Ireland by a very well-known courier.     They paid out in full, and I had to build another, but they would not carry anything for me again!
Since then, I have tried a number of different couriers, and found UPS to be the best.    They have transported over 30 models for me, and never damaged any of them.     They are one of the few couriers that do insure goods in their care.      Fedex will not insure ship models.      All my seas until recently were plasticine, and none of them ever melted!      I have noticed that packing in airbags is not very good.   The bags pop in unpressurised aircraft cargo holds!    I now put the models in a light plywood carrying case in a manner that they have a one-inch air space next to the sides and top, and are secured so they can't move even if upside down.     The case has a hinged front and handle on top, rather like a small suitcase.    This goes in a large case made from stout cardboard, re-enforced on the inside with wood, and surrounded on all six sides with crumpled newspaper.     I photogographed every stage of the packing in case evidence is needed, but, as I say, UPS have never damaged anything.
Bob
 

I have sent dozens and dozens of models overseas from UK to US, Hong Kong, Australia, Europe & Ireland.    In the early days, we had some occasions of minor damage where the couriers returned the model for repair and paid for the damage.   Never very much, round about £30 or so.    Then most of them suddenly changed their Terms & Conditions, and would only pay for the cost of material damaged, and not the many hours of work it took to build them!   The attached images are the two worst examples.    The more modern model is the RMS St. Helena.   I did not build it, but it was damaged when being transported for the ship's managers.      The insurance would not pay up at all.    I got the job of repairing it, as I had worked for the shipping company for a number of years, and the St. Helena was my last ship.    The other one, Hawarden Castle was severely damaged on its way to Ireland by a very well-known courier.     They paid out in full, and I had to build another, but they would not carry anything for me again!
Since then, I have tried a number of different couriers, and found UPS to be the best.    They have transported over 30 models for me, and never damaged any of them.     They are one of the few couriers that do insure goods in their care.      Fedex will not insure ship models.      All my seas until recently were plasticine, and none of them ever melted!      I have noticed that packing in airbags is not very good.   The bags pop in unpressurised aircraft cargo holds!    I now put the models in a light plywood carrying case in a manner that they have a one-inch air space next to the sides and top, and are secured so they can't move even if upside down.     The case has a hinged front and handle on top, rather like a small suitcase.    This goes in a large case made from stout cardboard, re-enforced on the inside with wood, and surrounded on all six sides with crumpled newspaper.     I photogographed every stage of the packing in case evidence is needed, but, as I say, UPS have never damaged anything.
Bob
 

That is a very nice schooner and the sea fits very well.
Here is a small model of Mary Sinclair that I built some time ago.   It was not for a bottle though, but a small display case.     I rig in wire, and because of that, it can't be made to fold up as it would never straighten properly again.
Bob

CAD wouldn't make any difference to me.   So many of the plans I use are old and indistinct.     Having a fuzzy plan does not mean I will make a fuzzy model!        If the topsail yard looks blurred on the plan, it doesn't matter to me, as long as I can see its length.    From what I have seen and heard of CAD, it is quite magnificent, but takes a  long time to learn, and I have never had much patience for that sort of thing!       Building the model is (or was) my main concern and pleasure, but I haven't built any for several months now, after getting Tennis Elbow last summer.    That is completely cured now, but  I haven't summoned up much enthusiasm to start again, although I probably will eventually!    Surprising how something like that can make you lose the habit!
Bob
 

The sea is just a piece of clear acrylic.    I rubbed the underneath down with fine carborundum paper and sprayed it with Java Blue automobile spray paint.    The ice is modelling clay with pieces of sytrene sheet cut into random shapes and pushed into the surface.    It was then painted with white wood glue and covered thickly with "scenic snow!"      After it dried, I blew the excess away and fitted the ship.     The ship is the steam whaling barque Esquimaux. 
Bob

Further to the above - Insert the plan in a Microsoft Word doucument.     Right click on the image, then click on "Format Picture"    You can then select any percentage you want with the "size" button at the top, and it will resize it in the MS Word page.     It is ideal for small plans.
Bob

Thanks TJ,
I don't build ships in bottles though!       It was never neccessary to build model ships to survive, but in late 1992, after 32 years at sea, I really could stand it any more (because of more and more technically challenging equipment being stuffed in modern ships) and took voluntary redundancy at the age of 48.
I didn't want to have anything more to do with electronics, as far as employment was concerned, so took up ship model building and writing!      That worked well enough until I was old enough to take my pension, but I still carried on building them after that because I enjoyed it.    I did give a number of models away, over the years, only to see them turn up all over the place at vastly inflated prices.      To build a model such as the one displayed here costs me about £50.   The money is not the ship itself, but the cost of acrylic for the display case and the various expensive adhesives, and consumables such as bandsaw blades, scalpel blades, wet & dry paper, spray paint etc, so I am always looking at the costings.      Also, since I started counting in late 1992 when I left the sea, I have completed 266 models, so it is not practical to keep them, because although they are small, they are not as small as bottled ships.    Giving them away is now out of the question in view of past experiences.   
I am absolutely dedicated to the memory of the old merchant navy of all nations, but I am in a minority - afraid it is mainly warships these days.      I enjoy seeing all your SIBs because they are miniatures, and closer to my own field than large models. 
Bob

Yes, and she always paints the seas for me, and any bits of fancy-work necessary.
Bob

Afraid I am one of those who feel that my hobby must be self financing!         I have been told several times on another forum that I fall into the category of those who know the cost of everything, and the value of nothing!       However it is not as simple as that, as one has to survive, and I have never been able to justify spending much on a hobby.    When I build a ship and sell it, I don't personally make a penny (or a dime) on it.   I hand over all the proceeds to my wife who puts it in the housekeeping.     She then pays for any materials and tools that I may use out of the proceeds and everyone is happy
Bob
 

Thanks, I use a similar method, but the horizontal insert is made from brass shim at the level of the knuckle.  That enables me to carve the slope down to it without losing the sharpness.    Attached is a good view of a typical steel counter, showing the complex shape.
I still cannot imagine how Jeff is going to make five masts, sails and rigging fold down and go in the bottle.     It is something I would never even attempt.    I am particulary interested in this build because I am one of the few who prefers the big iron and steel square-riggers to the ever-popular tea clippers or Napoleonic warships.
Bob