Chapter 8

Ship Model Novelties

A Ship-in-a-Bottle

Sooner or later every model maker feels that he would like to tackle the most popular and mysterious of ship model novelties a ship-in-a-bottle. To the uninitiated, the task of placing a tiny rigged ship in an ordinary quart bottle seems like nothing short of magic. Yet, with patience and determination, anyone who is handy with tools can make one of these interesting curiosities.

First, get a clear glass bottle (round, quart size) and clean it inside and out. If the neck is large, the work will be easier; if small, the result will be more intriguing.

Although any kind of ship can be made, this work was in fashion among the clipper ship sailors, therefore a clipper, especially as it is long and slender, is well adapted to the purpose.

The hull, as shown in Figs, 1 and 2, can be slightly more slender than the usual shape and cut off a little below the water line. It should occupy not more than half of the neck of the bottle. The top should be cut into so as to leave the bulwarks standing; this also gives room for the masts and gear. The bottom should be hollowed as shown in Fig. 2. Paint and varnish the hull to any clipper ship colors you desire; usually, just black and white with red or green below the water line. Deck houses, lifeboats, and steering gear can be added if desired.


Fig. 1

Since the hull later will be set in putty in the bottle, you must ascertain what the distance will be from the deck, when in position in the putty, to the inside of the bottle, so that the masts may be as long as possible yet not too long to stand upright.

The masts may well be in one piece, with steps cut, in them to represent the lowermast, topmast, topgallant mast, and royal mast. Make them as slender as  you can with sufficient strength to allow them to stand a moderate strain after the necessary holes have been drilled. Straight-grained hickory, birch, or maple is suitable. These suggestions apply also to the bowsprit and jib boom.


Fig. 2

The yards, spanker boom, and gaff are nicely rounded little sticks, tapered toward the ends.

The principle of getting the ship in is merely this: All the masts have to fold down on the deck and then be erected when in the bottle by means of the hauling stays.

Each of the masts should have little tops and crosstrees of wood, celluloid, or fiber and caps as well, if you like. Above and below the crosstrees of the foremast, holes pass through what appears to be the division between the lowermast and the topmast (see Fig. 1). Also drill the fore-and-aft holes as indicated for the stays, as well as a small hole for the futtock shrouds below where the top comes, and holes for the yard lifts.

The mainmast will be drilled in the same way, with the addition of athwart holes for the mizzen braces. The mizzenmast needs no holes for stays, but has to have them for the main braces, as well as one each for the spanker boom and the gaff. At the lower end each mast is slightly rounded, and a small hole is drilled for the hinge wires.
If you make the masts of three separate spars, they must be firmly joined. In that case, the shrouds and backstays will pass between them instead of through small holes as in the model illustrated.

The bowsprit has three vertical holes for the head stays, and the boom and gaff each has one hole at the mast end. All the spars may be white, black, or varnished.

The next step is to rig her up, outside the bottle. Two or three different thicknesses of thread should be used say No. 50 black thread and No. 70 white or natural.

Fix the bowsprit firmly into a hole in the bow and rig it as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. These ropes can be hitched to the boom and pegged into the hull.

Fasten the yards to the masts in their correct positions by first tying a thread tightly around the center of each yard with a double knot abaft and then carry the thread around the mast so that they will remain in position, yet can be turned to lie along the masts (see Fig, 2).


FIG. 3

The spanker boom and gaff should be tied to the mizzenmast with the thread through the drilled holes.

Starting with the mizzenmast, hinge each mast to the deck by carrying a wire through it and down through the hull, twisting the ends together underneath (see Fig. 2). You should be able to turn the masts down flat on the hull. Fasten the stays and reeve them through the hull, or through the next mast and then through the hull or jib boom, as indicated in Fig. 1, leaving the ends long enough to pass out of the bottle with plenty to spare.

The end of the mizzen topmast stay is pegged to the deck at the stern. Then the stay is hitched around the boom and gaff and hitched again at the crosstrees. This will prevent the masts from coming too far forward when hoisted.

Raise the masts and hold them in position by pegging the forestay where it comes out of the hawse pipe (see Fig. 3).

The easiest and neatest way to set up the rigging is to bore holes through the hull into the opening beneath as shown in Fig. 2. Thread a No. 9 needle with the heavy thread and start by pegging the thread end in the foremast hole; then reeve through the mastheads and holes until all are up and tight when the mast is in position. The lifts and braces for each yard can be rigged as one. Start at one yardarm with a knot, reeve through the masthead, and knot to the other yardarm. Then, for the braces, reeve through the hole in the other mast or through the hull and carry the thread
back to the first yardarm. The lift part of these lines should be painted black. All these threads must slide readily through their holes. Rubbing them with wax helps. The completely rigged model is shown in Fig. 3.

You may give the model topmast shrouds, rove through the top and a hole below the yard, and if you care to take the time, you may also add ratlines
(steps) of very fine silk, although this is rarely attempted.

Now ease up the forestay, lay the yards along the masts, and lay the masts down on the deck. Make sure that all will go into the neck of the bottle, but do not let the model slip through. Draw it out and see if the masts will stand up again and the yards swing across. Then fold them down snugly once more.

Fasten the bottle with a clamp so that it will not slip about while you are working on it. Put a layer of blue or green colored putty in the bottle after adding a little varnish to make it more tacky and to insure that it will dry firmly.

The best way to place the putty in the bottle is to roll it into a thin "sausage,”lay it on a strip of paper or thin tin, and, holding the putty in the bottle with a wooden paddle, withdraw the paper or tin. Then spread the putty in position.

Sit in a good light and slide the hull with its gear into the bottle (see Fig. 5.). With a long, stiff wire, press it into the putty sea. Untangle the ends of the stays which extend from the neck and, still holding the model down, pull them one after the other, but be careful to do all the straining on the lower stays (see Fig. 5). At the same time, help the masts to rise with a bent wire.

When you have all the masts up, fasten the threads to the neck of the bottle, outside, and put a touch of glue where they come out of the hawse pipe and through the jib boom. Next, use the wire hook to swing the yards into position.

After the glue is dry, cut the lines off close with a sharpened wire such as is shown in Fig. 4.

Additional picturesque touches can be added by inserting a lighthouse on a rock, a pilot boat or tugboats, and one or more fishing smacks in the water alongside.

As the ship is to be without sails, one or both anchor cables should come from the hawse pipes to the water.

If you desire your model to be fitted with sails, the procedure  will be practically the same.  When the model is completed outside of the bottle, cut the sails from tough tissue paper to fit the yards, allowing sufficient slack for the belly, and glue them to the yards and stays. The sails then can be folded or rolled for insertion into the bottle. Later, when the putty sea has hardened, make a hook of steel wire long enough to reach the end of the model inside the bottle. Dip this hook in boiling water, and, starting with the mizzen sails, quickly insert it between the mast and the sail and pull gently with a slight up and down motion to iron a belly in the sail. You probably will be able to iron two sails before the hook cools.

Finally, heat the hook until you can just touch it without burning yourself and repeat the ironing process on the dampened sails.

Many expert ship-in-a-bottle makers prefer window shade cloth to tissue paper. By rolling each sail between your fingers before attaching it, you can form the belly.

Incidentally, not all ships are put in quart bottles. Some are made to stand upright in squat bottles, square bottles, and large and small flasks. A particularly attractive lamp can be made by mounting a ship in the base of a decorative three-cornered bottle or pinch flask and providing the open mouth with a suitable attachment.

Making a Mysterious Stopper

To make your ship-in-a-bottle model even more mysterious, you can cap the open mouth of the bottle with a novel unremovable stopper. It consists of a wooden plug having a wooden pin passing through its center and a short piece of string running through both plug and pin. In appearance, it seems like an impossible freak of construction, but by following the simple steps outlined in Fig. 6, the model maker should have no difficulty in assembling one.

Turn a wooden plug about 1/16 in. smaller than the opening and about 3/4 longer than the neck. Make the pin wedge-shaped and also tapering in width. Cut a hole for it in the plug so that it will slip in without hitting the bottle. It should fit the hole in the plug as accurately as possible. Put the pin in the hole and drill a small hole not more than 1/16 in through both.

Twist a short piece of string quite tightly the way it was originally spun, catch it in the middle, bring the two ends together, and let it twist on itself. Measure from the loop end about twice the diameter of the plug, tie a knot, and cut the string. It should be large enough to fit the small hole fairly tight. Now take a piece of stout cord such as braided fishline and thread it through the loop of the other cord as you would thread a needle. Draw the ends even and slip them through the small hole in the plug and pin, but do not pull the short string through. Next push out the pin, and put pin and plug in the bottle (see Fig. 6). Lay the bottle on its side with the larger end of the hole in the plug down. If you have made the pin correctly, it will hang with the point up. Slowly pull the string and shake the bottle, drawing the pin into the hole. When the pin is in place, pull the short string through as far as the knot will allow and saw the line back and forth until you have cut through the loop. Pull the line out, leaving the short string extending through plug and pin to mystify all observers.

Mounting a Ship-in-a-Bottle Model


The ship-in-a-bottle model can be mounted in an ordinary cradle, or the special mounting shown in Fig. 7 can be made. It has the advantage of furnishing a secure support without preventing the bottle from being rotated for inspection. In fact, by removing two screws, the bottle can be removed completely.

The molding shown can be a waste piece of foot or bed molding. The profile of the sides should be repeated at the ends by hand. Of course, any kind of molding of suitable size may be used; or two plain pieces of wood, one smaller than the other, may be glued on top of the 1/2-in. base.

The ends of the stand, which conform to the size and shape of the bottle, are fastened to the base with mortise and tenon joints. The top bar should be slightly hollowed out on the underside to fit the bottle, and the base is hollowed out on top in a similar manner. After being pressed down on the bottle, the bar is kept in place by two small roundheaded brass screws, as shown.

A coat of dark mahogany stain followed by a coat of shellac can be used as a finish.

A Novel Ship Model Plaque

Another ship model novelty consists of a miniature whittled ship sailing in a realistic setting of sea and sky and so mounted that it can be placed on a mantel or hung on the wall. Made in the form of an artistic plaque, it can be used as a decoration where other models would be too large.

The spherical surface which forms the cyclorama for sea and sky is a 12 or 13 in. diameter wooden chopping bowl (see Fig. 8). These are obtainable at hardware and housefurnishing stores. First, sandpaper the inside of the bowl smooth and give it a coat of dark blue oil color of the type used by artists and sold in tubes. This will form the base color for the sky.

Although any type of ship can be mounted in this way, a long slender clipper ship in full sail is probably the most decorative. The hull is whittled from a block of soft wood. Cut the top of the hull out to form the bulwarks and glue bits of shaped wood to the deck to represent the deck houses, lifeboats, and other deck fittings. Since the hull is to be embedded in a putty sea, it is not necessary to fashion the complete hull; a depth of 1/4 in. below the water line will be sufficient. Paint and varnish the hull carefully. For a clipper ship, black with red below the water line gives a good effect.

The tiny masts can be made in one piece, small steps being cut in to simulate the joints between the lowermast, topmast, and topgallant mast. The masts are glued in holes in the deck. The yards and boom are nicely rounded sticks, tapering toward the ends. Black and white silk thread can be used for the rigging, and window shade material or heavy paper for the sails.

Before placing the putty sea, drive a half dozen brads into the inside of the wooden bowl where the sea is to be, so that their heads are lower than the plane of the bowl rim (see Fig. 8). Wind wire around these brads, looping it from one to the other, to form a reenforced base for the putty. The sea material is made by mixing colored pigments green and lamp black with ordinary putty. Mix enough of the pigments to obtain the right tint and to bring the putty to a stiff consistency. Place the putty bit by bit, working it in between the wires and nails. At the upper edge of the putty sea, shape an almost square shelf to accommodate the model.

When the putty has been built up flush with the rim of the bowl, the surface can be marked with the fingers and a knife blade or a pencil point to represent waves. After the model has been pushed into place, the putty should be pressed up tight against the sides of the hull.

While allowing the putty to harden, place the bowl at an angle so there will be no tendency for the putty to slip out of the bowl. When hard, the putty is painted green, and the tips of the modeled waves are touched with a bit of white to simulate whitecaps. The sky can be touched up to represent clouds, and if desired, a coast line may be painted along the horizon. If much painting is to be done to the sky, it will be well to complete it before the model is set up.

To enhance the nautical effect of the plaque, a length of rope can be attached around the rim as shown. The rope and rim of the bowl are painted white, and the rope fastenings, which are canvas, red. If the plaque is to be hung on the wall, two screw eyes and a length of picture wire must be added to the back. To support it on the mantel, a suitable wireeasel can be arranged on the back.

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