Landlubber Mike

Funnel made from a wooden dowel with white styrene instant glued around it and the top of the funnel is a piece of old copper tube I had laying around.

Fashioned the bowsprit and tried to copy the original with a combination of wire,styrene and bamboo sticks.

Bit of bow decoration near the anchor hawse with Gannet temporarily in place. (Looks more like a duck ! )

After a short break I went ahead and cut up the hull in four pieces;not an easy thing to do as I always have in the back of my mind that it can go horribly wrong. This time slow and steady wins through and the result is satisfactory for me.Most difficult part I find is to align it up afterwards so that it fits back together how it was before the cutting. To achieve this I drilled small 2mm holes in the hull and then fashioned some small pointed metal pins to fit in the holes so that when I pushed the hull pieces together it marked the opposite side ;so that was the place for the joining pegs. 

I got Ramillies into the bottle this morning! Whew. It’s late October. In fact it’s the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar today here in 2018 ! You will recall that HMS Ramillies commander at the Battle of Stonington was a very significant figure at Trafalgar so I’m very pleased I got her into the bottle on this day. I’m too cheap to turn my heat on yet so this means my plasticine sea is not amenable to grabbing onto the models hull. So I’ve not reached the end of the project but this is a good point to stop and photograph and post. Happy Trafalgar Day everyone. 

Thanks guys, praise from the praiseworthy is worth all reward! I was unhappy with the rake of the masts so I softened the white glue holding the channels to the hull on the Fore and the Mizzen using rubbing alcohol. I wasn’t sure it would be possible but it litteraly softened the glue faster than it takes to write this paragraph. Then I reglued and I’m much happier now.
tonight I put on the topsails. I ALWAYS depict square sails braced hard over, I think it looks more exciting. Even if I was going to build a ship bare-polled, I’d probably still brace up the yards. 
 

I’m doing two SIBs at once. One is HMS Ramillies and I’ve got a build log going for her here on BSB. But the second one has no build log, it’s a three masted barkentine with no name and here is her photo. I’m enjoying doing two ships at the same time since some aspects of the project can be done simultaneously and thus are more efficient- like melting and pouring the plasticine sea material. Otherwise it’s good to be able to turn away from one project as it gets stale and go to the other project the following day, alternating. The square rigged warship is done but not inserted and I’ve got half the sails yet to bend on to the barkentine.they should both be complete within a week. Then you likely won’t see me on this website for a while as I will return to my larger, static, not SIB Model Shipways Brig Niagara. So you see in the bigger picture of my modeling life I am also alternating between projects: I built the Niagara to the point of completing the hull and deck furniture and stopped to do these two SIBmodels and when they are complete I will return to Niagara to begin spars and rigging, which will take a long time. Alternating between project helps me to stay enthusiastic about each and not become bored with either. 

Thank you very much for your congratulations. Jeff, you're right. This is France II.
Artur

I present the reports from the World Championships in Romania. I won a silver medal for the Western River model.
Artur

Hi All,
Some of my photos from the EASIB Convention held in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on the East Coast of England. I apologise for the standard of the phots. It was great to see so many different SIBs, and swap ideas etc.
Some real works of art. Note the SIBs in the yard of ale glasses.
Alan
 
















 

HI Lou,
Hacksaw blades can make good edges as long as they are the good old fashioned type made from high carbon steel that fractures when bent (4 times around a large parade ground at the double for breaking one during fitting training soon taught RN apprentices to use a hacksaw properly), not one of the modern flexible ones that only have hardened teeth. 
I also use used 'x-acto' type blades epoxied into dowel,  and resharpened and shaped as required. See photos.

The furthest right is made from a needle and is about 0.5 of a millimetre used for small holes in styrene. (1 cm grid)

This one is made from a masonry nail and is about 2 mm.
best
Alan

For paper I usually make a cup of tea then use the tea bag to wipe over the paper gently until I get the desired colour then I place a piece of kitchen paper towel over it and place something flat like a book on top until dry. Then I finish drinking me tea! 
You can always go over it again after and make it darker with tea bag strongly brewed in a mug. I also do this to make black and white pictures look antique. ?

Hello I am tunatuna. I am new to this hobby. I have always been fascinated by ships in bottles and have finally decided to build one. I purchased a ship in bottle kit, the Schooner Hannah. I stumbled across your web site while looking for background information to build this kit. I am so impressed by the accuracy and detail of the ship builds I have seen on this site. I have learned so much in searching the build logs and forum discussions. I look forward start building.
thanks letting me join you group,
tunatuna

Nice work Daniel - beautiful!

Very nice!  Lot of character to it!

Roughly taking shape.

I found it a few days ago on the interweb thingy. My jaw dropped, and I thought, "Game changer!" Then I went looking for old socks and couldn't find any. So I started schemeing. Boxers, ladies undergarments? Then I figured I better not. 
Did anybody notice he used a flathead screwdriver to make his ocean? I found it odd, but it worked. Looked nice and smooth. Next time I see an old sock...

I don't have any plans to go by I just used the illustrations in the books I've found, I realize this needs quite a bit of work but i'm thrilled with th way it's turning out so far, and i'm hooked on this the learning curve is pretty steep but i'm working my way up, everyone here has been great

To make your own small chisels cheaply, get a box of masonry nails, they come in different sizes as well, and using cut off disks and grinding wheels in a small power tool, shape and sharpen the ends as required, then sharpen on a hone. (safety specs on ). Use some dowel as a handle. These keep an edge as they are high carbon steel. 
Alan

Hi Lou and welcome.
One of my favourite sanding implements is a cheap plastic toothbrush. Cut the bristles off and file down the bristle end to any shape you want and then stick your sandpaper to it. With certain types of plastic you can heat it up (I usually use boiling water) and bend it to various angles. Finding that type of plastic has been pot luck for me. 
Enjoy your modelling.
Bernard

Hi my name is Lou I live in Lewes Delaware, I'm 68 years old. First I would like to thank you for the website, I am new to all this, I have built R/C planes and gliders from kits and from scratch and have always loved the building part much more than the flying part, I have many hobbies as my wife reminds me from time to time, I stumbled onto ships in bottles and though I would try it, well wow I'm hooked. So far I have four hulls started but every time I get it close to bottling I see an article and say to myself that would look better so I start again I have learned a great deal and still have miles to go but I really do enjoy the hobby. I chose a gallon wine jug so I'm not working on the smallest level, I chose a two masted schooner no name but little bits of all the ones I see in the forum and books, I hope to post some pictures next time, just a though I also have turned wooden pens on my lathe and the pen blanks are the perfect size for some of the hulls they come in many different hardwoods and some pretty exotic stuff not too expensive.
I'm afraid I may have a million questions so please bear with me, some day I hope to be able to answer some for someone else.

Hello
Thank you very much Chasseur
I made the first three sails. Sails soaked in diluted vikol, and after drying dipped for a moment in tea.
Artur

It's been a while since my last build whilst trying to choose what to build next! Love the look of this one, I hope to do it justice.

Igor,
Please PM me with a nice snapshot shot of this build as I would like to feature it on the cover of the Bottled ShipWright this December.