Landlubber Mike

Thanks Mike. Yes I used single pieces either side. They are 0.5 mm thick so I can bend them easily. The real Gannet has a wooden hull but that is too much effort for me to replicate. Would of been nice to model a full hull but the height inside the bottle doesn't allow for that.
 

As HMS Gannet is mostly white ( a unforgiving colour for a model ship) I am using white  plastic (styrene) to skin the hull. Made up some paper templates to try for size and fit.Drilled out portholes,anchor hawse and gun ports and then glued to the hull. Hoping to just to have one split in the hull to fit through the bottle neck but its looking like I may have to split it in four pieces as the neck opening is only 29 mm wide.

'The early bird catches the worm' or in this case the ship.Got a bit fed up with making the hull for the minute so had a go at the figure head or is it figure bird??

Having visited Chatham Historic Dockyard in the UK a couple of years ago I thought that it would be nice to model HMS Gannet in a large 3 liter bottle which I found in a junk shop(thrift store).Here are a few of the photographs that I took.

Continuation
Artur

Time to add in the bilge pumps.  Basically this piece.

Breaking this down its a cylinder with a handle on top.  First I drilled a couple holes.  That ensures they aren't going anywhere.  

I like to use booboo scewers on round objects particularly masts and yards.  Its a sturdy material and it works well pulling through a draw plate.  Another great method is putting the scewer into a drill and turning it until its smaller.  I don't suggest turning in a Dremel though.  Dremels turn to fast which makes bamboo into a projectile.  Drills are slower and more controlled.  
Once I have the skewers whittled down I cut off a piece and glue it in making sure they are the right hieght.  

The handle I make out of a paint brush bristle.  Its thin and stays straight.  A little black paint gives it a good look.  Glue it on at an angle to look like the handle is sitting at rest. 

The end.?

Damn it! Broke a yard! Waiting for glue to set.☹️☹️

Greetings All,
Here is a zipped file of an incomplete rigging primer I started. I only got through most of the standing rigging, but it might be helpful. The article is written as though it were a web page, i.e. you unzip the files into a folder, then use whatever internet browser you normally use to open/view the .html file in that folder. I tried to explain the "why's" for individual lines in general terms that can be applied to most modeling situations. Also, while modeling methods and desires vary by person, the way I look at rigging, and many other ship parts and pieces, is to use a scaled print and photographs or paintings, if available, to look at what you can actually see. If I can see certain items, including rigging, on a scaled drawing or image, then I add it to my models. Running rigging is also useful to maneuver yards/booms/gaffs/etc. into proper final position without reaching inside the bottle with a tool that might cause damage to some other parts of the model. It does add more "control" lines, those operated from outside the bottle, I prefer that method to using tools to do the work inside the bottle.
Anchor's A Weigh!
John Fox III
 
Rigging Primer.zip

Here's a rigging plan that's very similar to your ship. 

There's a lot of different way to rig a ship in a bottle.  One of my favorite techniques to use in rigging I learned from John Fox III.  It's called the thread block.  Here's a link to the video on it.  Basically it's tying a string around a needle to create a small loop and then gluing the knot so the loop doesn't close.  These loops can be used all over the ship to run lines through. 
The alternative to this is seed beads.  They are bigger than thread blocks but as you've seen from the other photo's you've found they do work well.  
  
When I'm not going for a super crazy accurate look on running rigging I take a simplified approach.  There's three parts lifts, clew lines and sheets/braces.
The lifts which run from the tip of the yardarm to the mast I think are optional.  Some sibs have them, many more don't.  I think they look nice but including them is up to you.  To rig them in the bottle I use a thread block attached to the mast above the yard arm.  I then tie a line to the end of the yard thread it through the block and tie it to the other end of the yard.  The yard should still be able to turn almost parallel to the mast even with this line in place.  That makes it possible to insert it into the bottle and there's not a lot of messing with the lift once it's in.  Just adjust the yard and if needed put a dab of glue on the thread block to keep it all in place.  
Clew lines are attached to the end of the yard arm and have a block on them. The braces run from the hull through the clue lines and back to the hull.  These are typically used on the bigger yard arms.  Note the smaller yard arms higher on the mast don't have clew lines.  This is where a thread block or seed bead comes in handy.  Attach a line to the end of the yard that has a thread block or seed bead on the end.   
 Sheets typically run towards the back of the ship.  This is advantageous to the folding method since the lines can be put in place and as the masts fold backwards the lines become loose and then tighten up as the masts are pulled up into place.  This does require a lot of testing though.  Typically the sheets running through the clew lines run farther back on the ship and can be glued down to the hull.  The sheets in the upper yards are trickier.  On a real ship these lines often run to the fore stays and then down to pin rails on deck or on the bulwarks.  That is hard to replicate on a ship in bottle.  The simpler method is to run them to the mast aft of the yard arms.  Older ships in bottles would drill a hole in the mast and run a line through it similar to what I explained with the lifts.  If done right you can still fold the masts back using this method.  I use a similar method except I tie a thread block to the mast.  drilling holes in the mast makes them weaker and risks a break.  Tying a thread block gives the same effect with out effecting the integrity of the mast.  
You can also run the sheets so they run out of the bottle and can be tightened after the ship is in.  It depends on what you want to accomplish and how you design the ship to fold and unfold.  Another method I use is to get a paint brush bristle and glue it to the end of the yard so that it just touches the mast behind that yard or vise versa.  Once the ship is in you can glue the other end in place.  Look at my build of the Scavenger as an example. 
I hope this helps.  Ask more questions if needed.     
 

Decided to go drop anchor, quite pleased with it in the end.?

The Bottled Ship Wright Club has been set up and is ready to go.  Check it out in the clubs tab.  

I have attached what I use for wargaming and ships in small scales. Hope it helps ...Jeff
flags.pdf

Long, long ago, in the summer of '76, as I had just finished my RN Artificer apprenticeship, I was volunteered to crew a Bosun Dinghy  in the annual 'Engineers Regatta' where RN Engineers from different RN Training Establishments gathered to display their collective lack of seamanship in Portsmouth Harbour.
We were launching the thing on  a hard on the Gosport side, which entailed getting it off the trailer into the water (no problem) , stepping the mast and rigging it. The mast was swung upright, and for some reason that still escapes me, I was required to hold the bow (chest deep) while the 'skipper' did up shackles etc.
The next thing I know is that I am being pulled out into the harbour by 'something' that was gripping me by the neck. I couldn't breathe or shout, and things were turning black when there was a lot of shouting (involving some exceptionally colourful language), hands grabbed me, the 'something' was unwound, and I was pulled gasping into the rescue boat. I got my wind back, discovered what had happened and joined in the use of the colourful language.
What had happened was this; two members of the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), (now fully integrated into the RN) had finished rigging their Bosun next to us and set sail. I will say nothing sexist about it being a good idea to have a look round, check things are secure and ship shape before casting off, however none of this was done as they left a rope trailing which wrapped around my neck and shanghied me as unwilling 'crew', or in this case as a sea anchor, the effect of which was unnoticed by the WRNS until the safety boat crew, alerted by my skipper, turned up to the rescue. They were towed back to the hard and told never to darken the sea again. I was told to get back in the Bosun and race - and by the use of a bit of gamesmanship involving not doing a penalty 360 that wasn't spotted we came third.
Never sailed since.
Alan

Hi Mike!
Usually I cover all the parts of the base of the hull with planks. Please, look at this photo of one of my current projects.

Hi Igor thanks so much for that explanation.  It sounds like you glue the bottom edge of the 0.5mm plank to the top of the hull?  How do you ensure it keeps the curve without using pins along the edges of the curve?  Or are you saying as you plank the hull, you let the top planks extend above the hull to form the bulwarks?  
Also, can you explain what you mean by “racks”?  It’s probably a translation but I’m not sure I understand what you mean.  
Thanks so much!

Mike - I glue them to the top of the hull.  Give it a very tiny over hang and sand flush to make it nice and even but I do glue them on top. 
I got the idea looking at Chucks sloop Cheerful on MSW.  At one point he has the bulwarks on with no caprails so the gun ports were open on the top.  Before this I would carve down into the hull leaving the edges for bulwarks.  This was often uneven and caused problems when carving out the gun ports.  Glueing in each piece individually makes for nice even and consistent gun ports and bulwarks.  The channels and rails added after help the overall structure of it so its nice and solid.  

Hi Mike!
I often use the method of building bulwarks from planks. Usually I use planks made from a pear or hornbeam 0.5 mm thick. I glue them with TiteBond glue. Then I put the racks on the inside of the bulwark. And then I can process the outside of the bulwark with sandpaper to make it thinner.

Amazing Igor - the fish and shark look amazing, and the Old Man came out incredible.  Very nice job!

Great work Daniel, thanks for putting together this tutorial.  It's nice to follow along "in real time" to see the steps in action.
One question - I see how you carved the lower hull from the deck level down.  For the bulwarks, do you just glue the strip on top of the lower hull/deck?  Or do you glue it to the side of the hull, and then sand it at the connection so that it feathers into the lower hull?  
I decided to redo my Challenge because the bulwarks ended up being non-existent.  I carved a second hull, this time carving the upper hull with the bulwarks in one piece.  On my first attempt, I used 0.4mm plywood and feathered it in.  The problem I found was that in trying to glue it, being so thin the plywood almost got like wet paper and lost integrity.  I wasn't sure about creating the bulwarks by gluing a strip directly on top of the lower hull, but that seems to work out really nicely.

Amazing Igor - the fish and shark look amazing, and the Old Man came out incredible.  Very nice job!

Amazing Igor - the fish and shark look amazing, and the Old Man came out incredible.  Very nice job!

Great work Daniel, thanks for putting together this tutorial.  It's nice to follow along "in real time" to see the steps in action.
One question - I see how you carved the lower hull from the deck level down.  For the bulwarks, do you just glue the strip on top of the lower hull/deck?  Or do you glue it to the side of the hull, and then sand it at the connection so that it feathers into the lower hull?  
I decided to redo my Challenge because the bulwarks ended up being non-existent.  I carved a second hull, this time carving the upper hull with the bulwarks in one piece.  On my first attempt, I used 0.4mm plywood and feathered it in.  The problem I found was that in trying to glue it, being so thin the plywood almost got like wet paper and lost integrity.  I wasn't sure about creating the bulwarks by gluing a strip directly on top of the lower hull, but that seems to work out really nicely.

Agreed - slight bias here towards sails, especially if you put sea in the bottle.  Otherwise, looks really nice without sails!

Now for some deck furniture.  Before I start I'd like to point out that the technique I use I learned from John Fox III.  He told me to break down the objects into their individual shapes.  For instance when you look at a cannon the main shapes are a cylinder that sits on a rectangular box.  By breaking down the shapes of objects it makes them easier to model at a small scale.  
One other note.  One thing I do starting out with deck furniture is mark where the mast is going.  You don't want to put a hatch or a deck house right where the mast is supposed to be.  So I put a small pencil mark where the mast will be.
The first piece I'll work on for this ship is the helm.  Breaking down the shapes for this helm, it will have a rectangular box that holds the helm and a circular object that is the helm. The box is easy enough I cut a piece of wood into a tiny box that fits the size I want and glue it in place.  The circular piece it harder.  It's hard to get circles small enough to fit the scale.  One of the great techniques of ship in bottle building though is to use found objects that fit the pieces you need.  Just as old sailors used bottles and wood scraps that were otherwise garbage on the ship, there is often objects lying around that can work for ships in bottles.  One technique I like a lot for helms is going down to the watch repair store and asking for spare gears.  Watch gears make very good helms.  We'll cover found objects more when I get to the cannons.    
If you don't have access to a watch store there is another method that can be done with string.  Take a piece of string and tie loose knot. 

Then slowly tighten that knot into a loop that is the size of the helm.   

Glue it down and trim off the edges.  Any left over edges glue into the circle so you have a nice round piece of string.

Then the piece of string is glued on to the rectangular box that holds up the helm.  


One thing to keep in mind is you don't need a perfect helm.  With the location and size chances are no one will even notice how the helm is modeled.  When it comes to modeling ships this size the details can be left out.  Often I find the mind has a way of recognizing the shapes and filling in the details.  So how far you take those details is up to you.  Personally I like the challenge.  In reality you could glue in the rectangular box with no helm and chances are no one would know the difference.
Moving forward I modeled a small deck house.  It's more of a raised hatch on this ship.  The picture below is a good example of what this looks like and the Bermuda sloop deck in general.  The hatch just forward of the helm is made up of a box with a tilted top.  This top stick out over the edges slightly.  So to model it I cut a piece of wood into a box, sand the top down and glue on some paper strips on top.  Then with a pencil I made a mark for the hinges.   
   
 Looking at this photo know I think I have the helm in the wrong place.  All well it's already glued in.  Another important tip.  You are the captain of this ship and things go where you want them to go.  You can follow my instructions or do it your own way.  What ever makes you the captain the happiest with your work.   
After the deck house I put in a couple hatches.  I can't remember if this is a Jim Goodwin technique or a Greg Alvey technique.  I learned it from one of them.  Any way, first I find some plans for hatches.  I googled it and found some that I pasted into word and copied and resized the photo to a lot of various sizes.  With the varied sizes I can makes hatches for a variety of ships by printing one page of hatches.  The word file I used for this ship is attached.  Once I have the hatches printed I turn the page over and lightly stain the back of the page.  That way the ink doesn't run.  The wood stain gives it a wood color and the ink makes it look like a hatch.  Then I cut out the hatch and glue it on the hull.  For this I use white glue.  This allows me plenty of time to put the hatch in position.  If you use super glue and the hatch goes down crooked it becomes a big mess.  
     
      hatch.docx