Jump to content
New Publication - Ship Modeler's Handbook - This Opportunity Will Soon Be Over - Order Now!! ×

Glen McGuire

NRG Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,775

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Glen McGuire

  1. Glen McGuire
    I had not heard the term "Texas deck" before perusing your build log. Had to look that one up. Very interesting! And oh by the way, the detail and precision of your work on this project is incredible.
  2. Glen McGuire
    And then the final piece of this project puzzle hit me. Instead of just putting Zheng He’s main ship in the bottle, how about using the 3 bulbs of the bottle to give a representation of his larger treasure fleet? So his main treasure ship would be on the far left, a guard ship in the middle and a small patrol boat on the right. Something like this: My son’s reaction to the concept was, “that’s pretty ambitious, dad!” I think he’s right, but what the heck! Here we go!
  3. Glen McGuire
    In the meantime, we were trying to figure out what the 4-character inscription on the front of the stand meant. We started by looking up a Chinese character chart but of course there were literally thousands of characters to wade thru. Forget that! But then I thought, “wait a minute, maybe the Amazon listing said something.” Sure enough, it was right there in the product description. Duh!! The inscription means, “A Great Treasure in Your House”. We thought that was pretty cool. So now it was time to decide on a ship. I started researching historical Chinese junk ships and ran across the name Zheng He (pronounced "Jung Huh"). He was an official in the Ming Dynasty and a famous mariner of the early 1400’s. He led a massive fleet of 250+ ships called Zheng He’s Treasure Fleet because they sailed to the east coast of Africa to trade things and bring back treasures. I thought “Treasure fleet? Great treasure in your house?” Whoa! This was almost too perfect! The main ships of Zheng He’s fleet were called “treasure ships” and they were massive – supposedly each one was nearly the size of a football field according to some accounts. Other (smaller) ships in the fleet included equine ships, supply ships, troop transports, guardships, patrol boats, and water tankers. Here’s one illustration of his treasure fleet:
  4. Glen McGuire
    Next was choosing a suitable bottle. The base is just over 14” wide, so the bottle needed to be a couple of inches longer than normal. I went to Total Wine looking for bottles and an unusual one caught my eye. It was a bottle of Morey lemon liqueur that was the perfect length. I wasn’t sure if it would really work for an SIB project, but the shape was so intriguing I decided to grab it. I could always default back to a regular bottle if necessary. I put it on the stand and it was a perfect fit. Plus, I thought it looked really cool. So I decided I had to come up with a suitable ship that would pull it all together.
  5. Glen McGuire
    As I was finishing the Independence build, my son who is a student of Asian history suggested that I do a Chinese junk ship in a bottle next. So when the Independence was done, I started playing around with what to do for the project. I came up with a few ideas for the display base, one being a sword holder, which my son particularly liked. We found one on Amazon for a samurai sword with a Chinese dragon carving. He really liked the design and I thought the shape would work well with the profile of a bottle - the neck would rest on the dragon’s head with the end of the bottle resting on the dragon’s tail.
  6. Glen McGuire
    Just found this build log, Ian. Incredible work so far on a unique and fascinating project! Look forward to following the rest of the way on this.
  7. Glen McGuire
    Here's Mark...
  8. Glen McGuire
    That sounds really good, Ian! Gonna have to try that out when camping season gets here in 6 months.
  9. Glen McGuire
    Even if you zoom in it's hard to see, but just on the other side of the trees you can see what happened to the penguin.
  10. Glen McGuire
    Between SIB (ship in bottle) projects, I decided to try a different SIB project - a skier in bottle. I have a dear friend with a passion for snow skiing and also for Disaronno amaretto. On my last trip to Total Wine looking for ship in bottle bottles, I spotted a tiny glass bottle of Disaronno amaretto near the checkout line and an idea popped into my mind. Could I make a tiny ski scene inside that tiny bottle or has the Texas heat finally fried my brain beyond repair? Hmmmm. I figured it was worth a try. So I bought the little bottle of amaretto, got some mini trees off Amazon, stuck some white clay inside the bottle, made a little skier out of wire/clay, put her on brass skis, and stuffed everything inside. Here's the result. A bit crude, but my friend liked it. It’s the thought that counts, right?
  11. Glen McGuire
    Another dumb question from the rookie - do any modelers make builder's plates and put them on their model ship? I don't think I've seen any in the build logs I've followed. And before you suggest it Keith, nope, I'm not gonna put a fully engraved one that's half the size of a pinhead on my next SIB!
  12. Glen McGuire
    That is a very interesting piece of history. Where on the ship would a builder plate like that have been displayed?
  13. Glen McGuire
    I love that!!
  14. Glen McGuire
    Just now getting to look at some of your work. Absolutely fantastic! There's so much I can learn from your build logs. I've got some studying to do!!
  15. Glen McGuire
    Thank you very much, Adam!
  16. Glen McGuire
    Thanks, John. I may get bold and try your hidden hinge technique for the masts on my next effort. I love the way you did that for your Endurance in a light bulb project.
  17. Glen McGuire
    Welcome aboard, Brad! Look forward to seeing your work posted here!
  18. Glen McGuire
    Thank you, Grant! My son has asked me to do a Chinese junk ship. So I'll start toying around with that idea shortly. All those horizontal battens in the sails should make for a new and interesting challenge.
  19. Glen McGuire
    Thanks, Mark. Done!
  20. Glen McGuire
    And my rendition of the 1814 Independence is complete! I wish I was better at photography and knew how to take better pictures thru glass like this, but these shots will have to do. Huge, massive thanks to @Keith Black, @mtaylor, @Landlubber Mike, @BANYAN, @gjdale, @GrandpaPhil, @Ian_Grant, @John Fox III, @ccoyle, @Joe100, @Snug Harbor Johnny, @Roger Pellett, @CiscoH, @michael mott, @SUBaron, @AJohnson, @bdgiantman2, @Prowler901 for following the whole build or peeking in along the way. Your encouragement, ideas, and suggestions made the final result so much better than I could have have possibly done on my own.
  21. Glen McGuire
    Awesome dental work, Mark!
  22. Glen McGuire
    Thanks, Keith. I bet I spent an hour walking up and down every aisle of Joann Fabrics trying to find that breech rope. The thickest cordage I could find online from modeling sites was 4mm and I wanted something that was 6mm.
  23. Glen McGuire
    With the ship in the bottle and repairs completed, it's back to the display and finishing up the last few things. Namely, stropping the carriage blocks and seizing the ropes. Going from working at 1/500 to 1/12 is certainly a drastic change. I can't just fudge my way thru stuff knowing it's too small to notice! Only a couple of chores left - put the breech rope in place and string up the side tackle. Soooo close!!!
  24. Glen McGuire
    A new word - cascabel! I'd seen it called a knob and a button before but not that. I always learn things from you!
  25. Glen McGuire
    Thanks, Mark. I guess that's one of the advantages of working at this scale!

About us

Modelshipworld - Advancing Ship Modeling through Research

SSL Secured

Your security is important for us so this Website is SSL-Secured

NRG Mailing Address

Nautical Research Guild
237 South Lincoln Street
Westmont IL, 60559-1917

Model Ship World ® and the MSW logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,929,264 & No. 6,929,274, registered Dec. 20, 2022)

Helpful Links

About the NRG

If you enjoy building ship models that are historically accurate as well as beautiful, then The Nautical Research Guild (NRG) is just right for you.

The Guild is a non-profit educational organization whose mission is to “Advance Ship Modeling Through Research”. We provide support to our members in their efforts to raise the quality of their model ships.

The Nautical Research Guild has published our world-renowned quarterly magazine, The Nautical Research Journal, since 1955. The pages of the Journal are full of articles by accomplished ship modelers who show you how they create those exquisite details on their models, and by maritime historians who show you the correct details to build. The Journal is available in both print and digital editions. Go to the NRG web site (www.thenrg.org) to download a complimentary digital copy of the Journal. The NRG also publishes plan sets, books and compilations of back issues of the Journal and the former Ships in Scale and Model Ship Builder magazines.

Our Emblem ®

Modelshipworld - Advancing Ship Modeling through Research

Nautical Research Guild ® and the NRG logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,999,236 & No. 6,999,237, registered March 14, 2023)

×
×
  • Create New...