Charles W Morgan ship in a bockle

[Bobby Conkers]

Hi all.

Thought I'd do a quick knock up of a ship in a bottle which I've had for 20 years and hogs cupboard space for no good reason.

Not doing anything special on this, it's more to see how much I enjoy it, and whether it's worth the effort to do a 'good' one.

I've already put the boat together, so am now on to the stringing and will see if the mechanics work!

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[Jim R]

Interesting and unusual. Looking forward to seeing if you can get the ship in ok :hugging-face:
Jim

[Bobby Conkers]

Thought I'd do my review now:

Instructions, terrible and very lazy (how much extra does it cost to NOT print "do second and third masts in the same way"?) but eventually worked out with some common sense.

It's also a whaling boat. For some reason, Airfix think having a boat full of badly moulded blokes in a small boat trying to harpoon a whale is an attractive ornament. As I'd happily harpoon the whalers myself, and couldn't find a way to have the whale harpooning the whalers, they'll be omitted.

[Tim Marlow]

Thought I'd do my review now:

Instructions, terrible and very lazy (how much extra does it cost to NOT print "do second and third masts in the same way"?) but eventually worked out with some common sense.

It's also a whaling boat. For some reason, Airfix think having a boat full of badly moulded blokes in a small boat trying to harpoon a whale. As I'd happily harpoon the whalers myself, and couldn't find a way to have the whale harpooning the whalers, they'll be omitted.

Fully agree with that last bit……whalers should be whaled!

[Bobby Conkers]

This is the first Airfix model I've made. The instructions are so bad it almost seems deliberate! Out of 8 threads, four have an insufficient length specified. If I hadn't spent the past month rigging I'd have had to redo the whole damn thing...experience helps!

[dave]

Good luck, I tried building this about 10 years ago. Wound up breaking masts trying to get it into the bottle, don’t know if it was something I did wrong which is quite probable, but I needed to try and angle the masts to get the yards through.
i do have photos of the real boat if you wanted, she is in Mystic Seaport, the last wooden whaler in the world.

[Bobby Conkers]

Good luck, I tried building this about 10 years ago. Wound up breaking masts trying to get it into the bottle, don’t know if it was something I did wrong which is quite probable, but I needed to try and angle the masts to get the yards through.
i do have photos of the real boat if you wanted, she is in Mystic Seaport, the last wooden whaler in the world.

Thank you. I'd be interested to see those photos, although what I've done will look nothing like it!

I've done a test run - one string snapped so I'm having to repair that, and the holes are very oddly angled in the deck so there is no way to get everything straight. I was fairly lazy with it though, I expect I could have done it better.

I will spend approximately 20 seconds seeing if I can get it in the bottle, as I'm at the stage where I don't really care! I've learned enough to know how it should be done, and it was the mechanics I wanted to check. If it takes a hammer to get it in, that's what it'll get.

It's interesting enough for me to want to do a decent model, so I'll either keep my eye out for a decent quality kit, or do a Boatman, swallow hard and do one from scratch.

No cork in the kit (which was sealed from new), another plus for Airfix. I will therefore have to nail a nice Chablis over the weekend to complete the kit.



(P.S. I've finished my Spanish Galleon, just waiting to get to my photo space.)

[Bobby Conkers]

Oh, these are the sails. Not sure if they could be more rubbish...

[dave]

Here you go, 3 shots of the real ship taken in 2008, the brick built object is the boiler used for rendering the whale fat to oil.

[Bobby Conkers]

Well I'm glad I got this out of the way. Terrible in so many ways, comparing it to a "proper" job is embarrassing. Spindly, weak, badly thought out and amateurish. I didn't do my best with it as a perfect execution would be little improvement. Avoid.

I did learn about the mechanics though and have lessons for furure attempts. It will not be an Airfix.

[Bobby Conkers]

Here you go, 3 shots of the real ship taken in 2008, the brick built object is the boiler used for rendering the whale fat to oil.
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Thank you sir. Bit of a shame that the model is such an appalling rendition of the real thing - I'd happily build that as a standalone.

[boatman]

OH HI MR Conkers well done i think but pity you dint fit the sails but a very good effort from you
well done sir this is something ive never attempted but you have managed it
brilliant work an looks very nice in yon bottle
chris b