Landlubber Mike

British Tea Clipper Norman Court, 32 feet to one inch.
Bob
 

Thank you Mike.  The ship herself has lots to offer and I hope your Morgan will delight you as well.  Post some pictures sometime. I'm sure we'll learn from them.

Landlubber Mike- I got my book, 'Ship Models In Glass'! I'm glad I bought it. Not that I'm an expert or anything but it has some great ideas and techniques listed. You can never have too many books! I have the Needham books, too. There is a book by Ronald Roush, 'Bottling Ships and Houses' from 1975 by Tab Books, Blue Ridge, Summit, PA 17214 that I have. It is along the same lines as the Needham book. The Lucas book is the only one that shows the technique of placing the hull in the bottle first then dragging the masts and etc. afterward. That technique allows for a slightly larger model inside the bottle for you are not restricted as much by the bottle neck size so much. Mr. Lucas goes into great detail so a 'first timer' won't have any problems so long as there is plenty of patience available!

I agree! When one speaks of 'ship research' I would wager 9 of 10 folks in the 'know' would make mention of Chapelle.

Scratchbuilt, 32 feet to 1 inch (1:384).
Bob
 

No, none in bottles.   I simply do not have the patience!     As I rig completely in wire (even the ratlines), it would be impossible for me to make them fold down and up again.    The masts and spars are also metal because I can get it down to the fine proportions required.     When I build a model, I like to see it up-and-running within the first hour of work, and completed in no more than 100 hours (timed on a stopwatch).     The Main took 40 hours, including making the display case and carrying case.    It is now in the US!
Bob

This is a wonderful resource.  For years it has been popular to criticize H. I. Chappelle because of limited or erroneous attention paid to a particular subject, and because of the wide range of history he covered, it is always a good idea to look a little deeper.  But none of his critics have contributed anything like the volume of material he made accessible through his work, and most of it is at a very high standard.  Sure there's a lot to be learned about the American sailing navy beyond this work, but a re-reading this book is always of value.
Earlier Norton editions of this book has fold out plans rather than plans jammed in between two pages.  This makes them much easier copy and reduce or enlarge as needed for our work.

Given the large punt, the bottle probably had red wine...though some old brandy bottles have them as well.  Punts collect the sediment in wine. Looks like an European wine bottle.  The blue/white/red stripes flag is the old Yugoslavian flag from 1918 to WWII.   Am wondering if it was mounted upside down...which is the flag of the Netherlands.  With the detailed diorama which includes a windmill, that may be it.  Flags on the foremast are called "courtesy flags" which honor the port the ship is coming into.  National flags are typically on the aft-most mast...which looks the same as the courtesy.  The other flags on the main & mizzen typically are for the ship's owners pennant.  Flags are aged, so it is difficult to make out the colors.  Base looks like a sealant putty/glazing similar to plumber's putty.  Definitely European made item.

Here's an example of a ship in bottle I built using mahogany planking over a basswood hull, which was carved in three sections.

When looking for books do include   bookfinder.com   in your searching.  Copies of Chapelle's Sailing Navy...  are available for under $10 which includes the shipping for used copies, and there's even a 'new' copy of the 1949 edition offered for $16.98 (I'd check with the seller re the 'new' description).  I have a shelf full of Chapelle's works acquired via the  used-book  route, several of them in near new condition.  Hint: a book doesn't have to be crispy new to be useful, but it does need to be complete and 'clean' to the extent of being free from highlighting, underlining, marginal notes, etc..  When/If in doubt, contact the seller for more info via e-mail.

I had a chance to work up the stern and fix a rudder to it today!
 

 

 
Fiddly work at this scale to say the least ... Jeff

I'll try and get a better close up in daylight, the brigantine is undergoing a refit at present after a shipwreck on launch. Its not to any set scale, but the hull is about 3 inches long.
 



 
The portholes on the sides of the deckhouse are approx 1.5 mm and the one on the door is approx 1mm. The plasticene is white and just smoothed flush with a finger.
 
I have tube of 0.5 mm dia, so could go smaller if required, but the scales quoted above may be beyond it.
 
Al

Today I had a chance to get back to the Preussen SIB. First picture is a little holder I made to hold small part(s) while I work on them and then paint them up accordingly.
 

 
Second photo is another holder I made for painting and this photo shows two scratch built chicken coups on the tips of the tooth picks less paint that are located beside the anchor winch on deck just underneath two ladders on each side that head up to the forecastle. Coups will be painted brown with some straw color.
 

 
Below picture shows a piece of thin plastic that I will eventually punch port holes into to show the portholes that are located in the forward bunk area underneath the forecastle deck adjacent anchor winch. Portholes will be 0.2mm in diameter.  I needed to glue the strip on temporarily to figure out where to wrap it around the upper part of the structure that supports the deck. BTW those two chicken coups you see measure 1mm X 1.5 mm.
 

 
Next two shots show the forward entrances to the area underneath the mizzen mast where there are crew quarters etc.. There are 3 man hatches and each hatch has a 0.2mm porthole modeled and the other three are bigger windows at 0.5mm in diameter. First shot picked up some yellow light from the deck and looks weird. Second photo shows it more clearly against a white background. Not bad for an I Phone. If you look really closely I even modeled the base board underneath the hatches that lies against the wall and deck.
 

 

 
Last but not least ‘a close up shot of the bowsprit inserted into the hull.’ This is going to get really interesting as… at this scale I have to drill holes in it for jibs et al. Also… there are metal fittings for rigging from the sprit to the hull. She’s going to be dicey at this scale however I think I can pull it off.
 

Hello my name is Thomas. I live in Austin Tx. I have been a fan of ships in bottles since one that has been in my family for longer than I have , was passed down to me.
I am reaching out to the group on my his formum to ask for any help that can be given me with any info on this piece. I would love to know more about it, and this seemed like the perfect place to ask.
Unfortunately the story of its history has been lost to my family down the years. Any help is appreciated
Best - Thomas
ATX

The first clue is the bottle itself. If you can find the age of the bottle it's a close indicator of the age of the ship in bottle. Check out this link. https://sha.org/bottle/dating.htm#Question1 Looking at it I think it falls under question three.  There is horizontal (if the bottle was standing up) lines along the bottle that indicate it was made in a turn mold.  The website says most bottles made from turn molds date from 1880 to 1915.   This confirms my first impression that this is a really old ship in bottle. At least early 1900's. The older ships in bottles generally didn't have sails on them. That technique is more common in the 1910's and on from what I've seen.  I would also look into the buildings in the scene. Particularly the lighthouse. A old ship in bottle I purchased depicted a scene of Devon England confirmed by the lighthouse and the windmill. If we can find what light house that is and learn about the structures around it we might be able to tell what the builder was trying to depict. The names on the ship may or may not tell us more. It's possible they depicit the name of the actual ship. It's also possible it's the name of the builder. The flags may tell a lot too. There a lot to go on. I'll need to spend some time on google.

Hallo, mein Name ist Roger Histel. aus dem Saarland, Deutschland. Buddelschiffe  baue Ich seit fast 50 Jahren. Ich mache kein Modellbau, in Flaschen, sondern baue in der traditionellen Methode der Matrosen auf Segelschiffen. Ich bin glücklich, in diesem Forum zu sein. 
Roger

My latest sail plan drawing, completed today.
Bob
 

In 1982, I obtained some wood (part of a mahogany frame)  from the wreck of the old East Indiaman Jhelum, (Completed in 1850 of mahogany) that had been hulked in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands in 1870, after being damaged off Cape Horn, and condemned at Stanley.       Years later, I made a diorama showing how the ship might have appeared lying beached in Stanley harbour in 1870 with storm damage on the foremast.
I incorporated some original mahogany in the model, including the deckhouse, and upper spars.    Attached is a distant picture of Jhelum, myself in the forepeak sitting on the windlass, that had fallen in when the deck collapsed many years ago, and the resulting model.
Bob
 

Luigi P. Renault -  The topsail schooner Julia of Fowey entering the Port of Leghorn
 

I recently drew up this plan for the tiny topsail schooner Julia.    It was a  real ship that I had researched.   I did not draw it specifically for ship bottlers, but it ocurred to me that it may be suitable for beginners as it is fairly simple, and steered by a tiller rather than a wheel.
Bob
 
 

Alex, your Morgan is amazing.  I just started a 1:64 version of the ship from the Model Shipways kit - I hope it comes out half as nice as yours!
 
Funny you should mention Heather Roger's Morgan, I just came across her picture yesterday.  I was thinking that when I had enough skill I would try to do the Morgan SIB with whaleboats and a whale in the water, and then saw that she had already done one.      

Another my mini project ))
 
 

Thank you all for your kind words!  Heather Rogers kindly set me a picture of her recently completed Charles W.Morgan, also in a 5 liter bottle just like mine, and it is a remarkable model!  Same subject, same size, but very different approach and very successful.  I urge you all to see if you can track down a picture of this model and enjoy it!

These are a few shots of my recently completed Charles W. Morgan.  I'd been reluctant to post anything about this project because of serious doubts whether it would succeed.  It took far too long because I made a number of poor choices and had to go back and redo a number of things.  For example, this is the second hull and it took 16 whaleboats to get the 7 that finally went with the model down the bottle neck.  My eyes aren't quite what they used to be either and that has made rigging a much slower process.  The next project will not be as ambitious.
 

My new project - Steam schooner "LENA" 1875