Bernard Kelly

Cool video. You have quite the collection of SIBs!
 
Jesse

Last November I was approached to be guest artist for a Locally Crafted documentary short film.  This series, sponsored by Windstream Communications, focuses on artists & crafts people throughout the US.  The crew was making a December tour of North Carolina where they were filming about 5  people. 
 
Their filming process was quite different from my previous production experiences where the filming is done in one shot with 2-3 people.  This group came to my house with a ten person crew & a 20 ft. truck fully loaded .   Am talking home invasion here.  Had cleaned up the shop & house, yet they rearranged everything.   I'm still looking for a lost bag of kitty litter.  Tanning bed intensity lights were everywhere.    Part of the filming occurred at an Art Show hosted by Olde Mecklenburg Brewery in Charlotte. 
 
As with previous filming experiences, much footage was not used.  With the voice/interview, some items that I was stressing were left out...mainly:  Every artist has their own unique style & methods, and one really should not be compared to another.   We grow with each piece and learn from each other.  Also, SIB organizations were omitted...again, as were museums that have sib's in their collections.   Pardon for my dry voice...again the humor was left out.
 
The Locally Crafted series is pretty good, and they do interview unique artists.  The one on making carousel horses is very interesting.
They are 4-5 minutes long and can be found on You Tube.
 
 
 
http://locallycrafted.tumblr.com/post/139913412050/preserving-art-and-wonder-in-charlotte-north

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

Beautiful Bob.  Every new work you display has me awe of your talent and the way the models are presented.  Outstanding!
 
Gwyl

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

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
 
 

My latest sail plan drawing, completed today.
Bob
 

There was a sailing ship company that had pink hulls, but they described the colour as "crushed strawberry!"     The Empire Line had yellowish-green hulls.      One Welsh sailing ship company solved the problem of unsightly rust by painting their ships rusty brown
I have sailed in ships with hulls of various colours:   black - white - lavender - yellow - blue and green!
Bob

Bravo Bob! Thank you for sharing!

Welcome Shasko
I am glad you could join us!
Nice to see someone of a younger age modelling ships in bottles ... *Way to Go*
Jeff

Welcome! Your ships look great.

Hello everyone, I'm Sashko from Macedonia, modelship builder for 15 years, i'm 27 now. Started with SIB building ayear ago. I've done 3 projects for now, America schooner, Bluenose and Kruzenshtern four masted ship. 
Found it really interesting so i hope i'm not gonna stop here
Here are some pics of my projects.

Welcome aboard liteflight!  It is good to have you here!
 
 
Gwyl
 
 
 
Lord Nelson,  This is a nice technique you used to color the seas!
 
Gwyl

Just discovered my own Picaso album online
I had been putting images on my blog for years, not realising that they were all piling up together in cyberspace.       Most of the models were built by myself over many years, but the larger ones were built by members of North West Model Shipwrights (UK).   Some of the meetings were also included.   
It has been quite interesting to find all these images grouped together.     
Bob

Beautiful!

My latest U-Tube presentation:
https://youtu.be/KtVrtCvKeqs
Building the barque Caithness-Shire.
Bob
 

Greetings,
 
Forgot to add the photos at first, added them as an edited post, but the text that I typed for each photo did not go through.
 
So, here is the text:
 

This one shows a 3" globe bulb after opening the end. As you can see, there is some slight damage to the edge of the remains of the metal cap, but I attempt to leave as much of it undamaged as possible. In this bulb the  hard glue is a brown color, sometimes like the following photo, it is a sort of bluish green in color. The openins are usually not completely round, but I usually take a circle template and measure the largest full round dimension as my working opening. Usually this leaves just a bit of wiggle room.
 

This one shows one of my earlier Bounty models being inserted through an opened globe bulb. This bulb had the blueish green colored hard glue stuff.
 

Here is one of the larger street light bulbs, with the epoxy saturated fiberglass tape wrapped around. Believe this migh have been 2" wide tape, just don't remember for sure.
 

This one shows the same bulb after cutting off the end. After cutting through, I sand down the edge of the glass and wrapping, to make them smooth.
 

 

These last two show how I close off the bulb in the previous two photos. I make a wooden ring to fit loosely over the opened bulb end, then line it with a thick strip of felt, glued to the inside surface of the wood. I usually add a name/date tage to the center. The outside of the cap is an etched brass plate, attached to the wooden ring with small brass nails. The cap fits tightly enough not to fall off, but can breath a little through the felt and the cap can be removed easily.
 
Anchor's  A Weigh!
John Fox III
Ladysmith, WI

Thanks Dave, John,
 
Here are two Eastport pinkys in round containers, one a 1 liter Florence boiling flask and one in a 4 1/2" light.  Please forgive my limits as a photographer.  I hope the "haze" of the light bulb glass shows in comparison with the harder borosilicate glass.  In this case, both were pretty inexpensive, having been given to me.   The mark on the flask, just ahead of the bowsprit, is there, but in this case, too subtle to be much of a concern
 

As the small details were concluded I lost interest in taking photographs for a while.  These were mostly intended to keep the gentleman who requested the model up to date.  There is also no doubt there were a number of “ugly duckling” days in here that did not inspire taking pictures.
 
 

 
When at last all the fussy small stuff is done everything can be painted as it will appear and the rigging can begin.  Gaffs and booms are attached to the masts which are held in proper place by the stays and lines that will support the staysails.  In this shot the lower shrouds are all in and most of the running rigging is at least tied in.  Just about the only things to still be added are the fore peak halyards,  ratlines, topmast shrouds and sheets.
 

 
Finally come the sails.  That foretopsail is rarely set, but there were enough pictures of it to decide it was fair to include it.  The flags are painted by hand and xerographically reduced to correct size.  The second schooner will just have to wait her turn. 
 

 

 
The bottling went fine, or at least so I remember.  The stand is mahogany, of a design inspired by a similar one by Gil Charbonneau, of Edgecomb, Maine.  The project took 164 hours, but it will take finishing off the second lady to really know how long each schooner will take.
 

Thanks Gwyl,
 
Actually, the model is done but I stopped the log there because I was unsure how much I could post in a single run.
The photos were taken mostly to keep the gentleman who asked me to build this schooner up to date on progress, so they may not have an even flow like a build log.  Resuming...
 
The main cabin trunk is planked like the decks and outer trim – stem, transom, bowsprit – are added to the hulls.  By the way, planks are about .0025" wide, a little over scale. With woodwork done, all the surfaces to be painted are given a few thin coats of acrylic gesso and sanded in between coats.  When the gesso is sufficiently built up and dry, hull planks are scribed into the hull sides with a sharp pin.  Thin strips of paper glued to the sides represent the chain plates.  Other deck features, such as the windlass, rudder box and companionway get started.
 

 

 
The sooner the bottle is prepared the better, to allow sufficient time for the putty to firm.  In this case, it’s a 2 liter lab bottle.  These models are about 4” high and 6” long.  Specifically, the scale is 24’ = 1”. 
 

 
The masts and spars go quickly compared with all the more involved, and in this case, unusual pieces of deck furniture.  Each vessel has four skylights, bitts and a number of lockers.  As well as the life preserver pods on her cabin roof, she always carries a motor launch for connecting with the shore.  Each model also has a surprisingly large number of eyebolts on the hull and in the spars for rigging.
 

 
 
 
 
 

Schooner Spirit of Massachusetts was launched in 1984 to be a floating classroom to educate all about the experience and legacy of a working schooner under sail.  Many youngsters fondly remember spending a week at sea aboard.  My customer is the father of one of these youngsters.  She also visited many Massachusetts ports and offered day sails.  My wife and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary aboard on such a sail out of Newburyport.
 
Plans for the schooner came from a booklet published not long after the launch, “Spirit of Massachusetts”, Thorndike Press.  It had hull lines and a sail plan, but little information on the deck layout.  Much of that information was available in pictures around the web.
 
I often build two models at once for three reasons.  First, it saves time.  The amount of time it takes to set up a process is often the main commitment.  Repeating the process takes very little time.  Secondly, it can impact the quality.  How often have you said, “Well, next time I’ll do this better”.  The next time is right there.  Finally, it’s a great test of ability.  Ideally, each should the exact twin of the other.  I’d love it if the two were so similar I got them mixed.  That hasn’t happened yet
 
The hulls are of pine and were planked with thin strips of the same wood sawn down in a Preac table saw.  The bulwarks are built up on the foredeck first, with waterways and timberheads added, and then the quarter deck bulwarks are added in the same way.  A cap rail finishes off the timberheads and bulwarks and establishes the sheer.  A monkey board is moistened with hot water, bent around a form and added to the bulwarks around the quarterdeck while a narrow splash rail covers the rail at the bow.  Finally a finer cap rail covers the monkey board.
 
 

I used it for sea material on my most recent SIB for the first time and it worked fine

For New Years Eve my wife and myself were over at our friends house for dinner, conversation, and and us guys shot a bunch of 8 ball on his table. During the course of our games I noticed my friend had a bunch of photographs of light houses on the wall in the basement.
 
I turns out the Admiral/wife started to collect pictures of light houses as a new hobby. Anyway I thought I would share these photographs of the real McCoy!
 
My apology for the quality and fluorescent glare from the lighting as I took these with my I phone.
Enjoy ... Jeff 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great photos :-) Love lighthouses. We have a couple of Lighthouses not too far from us......
Anvil Point

 
Portland Bill

I had put up a series of photos of my last ship in bottle build and people said "You should have made a video" so I did just that tonight on my latest Ship in Bottle. The ship is a Brigantine and I am certain this is the first time I have ever modeled a Briantine, a beautiful type of rig and I anticipate building more of this type of rigged ship.  Here is the Youtube link: