Landlubber Mike

Making some progress.  
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Arabia is now complete!
Bob
 
 

Hi everyone!
The small incident forced me to make adjustments to my plan of action.
I had planned to put the model into the bottle, close the bottle the cork and on this to stop. But now I have to make a stand and come up with something for concealing and fixing crack.In the future, I'm going to make the rocks that hide the crevasse and additionally fix the fracture. Now I have some more ideas , but I'm going to implement them later, when I get back from vacation. ))
 
Best Regards!
Igor.
 
 

Thank you Gwyl!
Making the railings:
 
 
 

Sorry, I don't have any in-progress photos of a needle eye splice but did make a crude sketch. I use a needle to pass the thread back through itself to simulate an eye splice, glue it, then pass the needle through the thread a second time about a thread diameter or more away from the first and glue that. That second pass through cannot, in effect, just go back though the first "hole". When the glue is set, trim the loose end at an angle and glue it against the thread. It helps to know what a real eye splice looks like. The way shrouds are secured to dead eyes is different from an eye splice and involves three seizings which would be near impossible at anything even close to SiB scales but looks similar enough to an eye splice to get by. In fact, these dead eyes I've shown can only be used on large or large scale SiBs and still be to scale. These dead eyes require a different approach than usual when rigging the shrouds.
 

A sketch to show how the needle passes through the standing part of the thread twice.
The distance between the two passes through is exaggerated here for clarity. 
Rather than drawing a needle I "kinked" the line where the needle would be.
 

I couldn't find a good photo of a finished eye splice on a dead eye but did find this photo of a heart
secured with the same eye splice. This is on the mainmast stay with larger thread than was used on
the dead eyes. The drill bit is a stand-in for the fore mast and is 1/16th inch / 1.5 mm in diameter.
 
There are two basic kinds of needles available at the big box stores - sharps and embroidery needles - use sharps, embroidery needles have a more rounded point that allows the point to pass around thread fibers while sharps are, well, sharp, so that the needle will more easily go through the groups of fibers that are twisted together to make most thread. The needle needs to pass through at least one of those fiber groups rather than just between those groups, and it needs to do it both times through.
 
In my description you quoted, I mentioned gluing with diluted pva; however, since writing that I have switched to lightly diluted acrylic matte varnish for most of the gluing of rigging for three reasons. First, the varnish wicks into the thread fibers better than pva which sometimes just beads up on the surface even when diluted and using the soap trick. Second, pva doesn't adhere well to itself such as in re-applications to reinforce the glue joint. Third, pva sometimes dries milky rather than transparent spoiling the appearance, while the varnish never dries anything but clear.
 
I use an Opti-Visor with 2.75X magnification when doing these and other variations of splices using a needle. Passing a needle through a thread is somewhat more challenging than threading a needle and requires some practice - and magnification. I use needle eye splices in many places where I used to use knots because the eye splice is smaller, but I always test them the next day to make sure they won't slip under load.

This is a rigging jig designed by the late Jack Hinkley, former President of SIBAA, and this example was kindly made for me by Saul Bobroff.  The posts support the model allowing access to the underside of the hull as needed.  A bit of plain brown paper, from a grocery bag, glued with Elmer's to the top of the post and underside of the hull will hold quite well and is a bond that can be easily and safely broken when the time comes.  The rigging lines lead forward to the bar in front where "test clips" keep the tension. In this case it's HMS Guerriere on the stand with USS Constitution below, waiting her turn. 

Today I received a nice surprise. The facility operator here at work saved me two big burn't bulbs and one small one that was a dud.
Definitely candidates for a ship in a light bulb ... Jeff

 
 
 

Picked up this Ferragamo tie on eBay - a bit whimsy, but hey, it's a tie.  

Picked up this Ferragamo tie on eBay - a bit whimsy, but hey, it's a tie.  

Picked up this Ferragamo tie on eBay - a bit whimsy, but hey, it's a tie.  

I stand corrected Alan thank you for that clarification.

I've also used fly tying silk, and the finest I've found is UNI Thread 8/0.  I've heard of finer ones, but the 12/0 sold by Orvis was actually no finer than the 8/0.  I still use super glue, and with practice and by using only fresh glue I have been able to keep the stiffness down.  I will certainly try Dave suggestion with acrylic varnish.   Here are the ratlines on the shrouds of an unidentified merchant ship in a 5 liter bottle. The main thing that has helped is the practice of trying it to get a better feel for the job.
 

The frame method is one of the best methods I've tried.  I highly suggest it.  The only thing I can add is pick up a pair of these style clippers.  They run about $8 at the grocery store.  I like them better because you can see what your clipping from a comfortable angle.  Last thing you want to do is accidentally cut a stay line.  Regular nail clippers are more curved which makes it harder to see.    
 

Real ratlines were tied to the shrouds with clove hitches except at the ends which had eye splices that were seized to the shrouds. They were spaced at about 15 inches / 38 cm and were aligned parallel to the ship's waterline. Clearly too complicated and fiddly to duplicate the tying - especially the eye splices and seizing - so I just glue them as you suspect. I use lightly diluted artist's acrylic matte varnish, about 2 to 3 parts with 1 part water, to glue them. Being acrylic it remains somewhat flexible, unlike ca, and diluting the varnish allows it to wick into the fibers. I always use my finest fly tie thread no matter what scale the ship is because the ratlines will be over scale unless the model is larger than about 1/300 scale.
 

This is a frame I make to pre-space the ratlines and pin it into place to align the ratlines parallel to the waterline.
Then I use a small pointed brush to varnish all the intersections and repeat on the opposite side making sure
both sides match. I then cut the frames loose and do the same to the other mast(s). I do the same with the
topmast and topgallant mast ratlines. I trim the ends with nail clippers all at the same time so I can clean
up the cuttings just once instead of two or three times.
 

Completed ratlines.
 
Hope this helps.

I made this miniature sander using an old sewing machine motor, it has a dimmer switch on the other side out of view.

I also built this sander using an old food processor and bypassed the safety switch, it works well.

I finally got my miniature lathe set up and running last night. The lathe consists of a Jacob's Chuck coupled to an old heater motor out of a Nissan King Cab that I got for $5 quit a while ago. Power comes from a dimmer switch to a 12 volt D.C. rectifier to power the 12 volt motor. The beauty of this rig is I can control R.P.M. by adjusting the dimmer switch which intern controls the amount of amperage to the motor. Ideal for turning masts, spars, what have you ... 
 

 
Above is the motor mounted to my work bench at a height that is comfortable to turn things down while sitting.
Next we have my old timer rectifier that used to power a model railroad set up many moon's ago!
 

 
Last is my dimmer switch set up. You can see by all of the paint splatter it has seen numerous hours of service. Still going strong!
 

 
Total cost was under $50 
Jeff

Picked up this Ferragamo tie on eBay - a bit whimsy, but hey, it's a tie.  

Picked up this Ferragamo tie on eBay - a bit whimsy, but hey, it's a tie.  

Picked up this Ferragamo tie on eBay - a bit whimsy, but hey, it's a tie.  

Picked up this Ferragamo tie on eBay - a bit whimsy, but hey, it's a tie.  

The small joke was done during last weekend ))
 

I used to wash windows for a living (if you could call it that). I used dawn dish soap on all the windows. It gets almost everything off. Also a razor blade will get off paint and stickers without scratching the glass. I used what I learned on bottles and still use dawn dish soap and razor blades. I've also found you can use a metal pot scrubber to get labels off with out scratching the glass.

Recent bottles have those serial numbered etched into them.  I usually try to have them on the back side of viewing area.  Most are usually at the base of the bottle.
Nail polish remover takes off the ink.  Even the 1/2 gal. apple cider jugs now have the etched numbers...often near the neck.  Darn tracking techno's! 

I ordered the "Ship Models in Glass" from Hille and Young via the link that Alan provided.  Wow, it's an amazing book!  I've only had a few minutes to flip through it, but it seems incredibly comprehensive.  I have probably half a dozen other SIB books, but this one looks like it could be the bible of them all. 
 
There's about 150 pages of in-depth, how-to instructions - here are the chapters:
 
1.  Techniques
2.  Tools of the Trade
3.  Materials
4.  Bottles, Stands, & Embellishments
5.  The Sea
6.  Seascapes & Dioramas
7.  Hulls
8.  Fitting out the Deck
9.  Masts & Spars
10.  Rigging the Model
11.  Sails, Flags & Flag Lore
12.  Books, Plans & Nautical Terms
 
There are also four projects in the book, so fewer than maybe some of the other books out there, but very detailed instructions.  Finally, there are a few appendices on suppliers, pattern sheets (sails, flags and detailing), and a bibliography.