Glen McGuire

Thanks for the diagram and explanation of all the wiring. That really helps to understand what I'm looking at in your model. Back to your original question about keeping that thin thread in the shape you want, rather than wrapping around itself. The thinnest thread I use is Uni fly-tying thread 72D, 8/0. To eliminate the natural curves and loops it has from being wound around the spool, I will cut a piece, drag it thru Aleene's Fusion Fabric Glue, pull it taut, and let it dry (the glue dries flexible so the thread is still workable). See pic below where I did all of that and then lay the thread on a piece of paper with a couple of smooth curves. It is just resting on the paper, not glued to it.

This is such a unique ship, I'm having a hard time figuring out what parts of the ship you are referring to. Is this the anchor hoisting wire you are talking about?

Lovin' the bling!! Bling it on!!

Nice recovery! Impressive work.

It's fascinating to watch your problem solving skills put to the test with each step! Such an interesting project.

Totally agree with Chris. The carving skills on display with the small parts are particularly impressive. Well done, John.

Hey O.B.one, sorry I'm way late to the build log. Just stumbled upon it today. That is a well-crafted ship. Looks very nice inside the bottle. I'm anxious to see how your sails turn out (I prefer fabric ones myself). I hope you are saving that polka dot material for your next build!

Beautiful work, Ian. I love the look of the X pattern.

Third time's the charm? I would say those booms are way more than acceptable. They look great and the uniformity of all three is superb.

Fantastic job, Bryan. A real work of art!

Lookin' good, Steven.

Sooooo true! If I had a dollar for all the times I've said to myself, "It's GOT TO be around here somewhere..."

Nice work on that helicopter, Bob! And your priorities are in good order - kiddos first!! Keep that ticker in good order too! If he ever changes his mind, the longhorns here will welcome him to the herd.

I agree with you. I like the look. Very nice work so far!

That is a beautiful model, Jason. Congratulations on your fine work.

Amazing work, Ian!!! This has been fascinating to follow!

... and the hits just keep on coming!! "You fancy a bite?" 🤣🤣🤣

Blue-footed boobies doing a mating dance?!?! OMG! Not sure how anyone will ever top that!

Welcome, Giuseppe!!

That planking looks really good, Bob. I can't believe how fast you got that done. As for this comment, however... Capt Marvin is welcome as long as he doesn't say those B words around my cows! They are very sensitive!

Thanks to each of you for all the kind words! That made me laugh!! And it will probably be the last time. Unless maybe @Keith Black or @Knocklouder or someone else gets a penguin in their pen. Whoa! 1400 done. Now THAT is cool! Thanks for sharing that info, Chris. What an amazing place this is! Thank you so much, Pat. I keep working on it, trying different things (most are suggestions from y'all), and trying to get better. Thank you, John. I have learned a lot (ok, stolen/borrowed 😃) from looking at your work!! Thank you, Thukydides. You had some really good suggestions along the way. Now if I could just figure out how to say your name! Thank you, Keith and Grant. And thanks for your helpful ideas during the build. Not sure what the next project will be. I don't have anything in mind yet, so I'll probably just sit back for a while and enjoy everyone else's work.

Your Albatross is a beautiful ship, Paul! I hope you will reconsider doing build logs for your future efforts. I'm sure some of us could learn some things from you!

More pics...

Actually, Ian, I think the build log will be harder to top than the build itself! This has been by far the most entertaining build log for me thanks to all of y’all. Over the last few months, we’ve somehow worked all of the following into the conversation: Historical figures like Eratosthenes, Polybius, Archimedes and Heron as well as Byzantine pictures of ancient vessels. Animals like penguins, war penguins, war dolphins, war pigs, climbing cows, Galapagos penguins, iguanas, and something called blue-footed boobies. 😲 Less than appealing animal related things like iguana snot, seagull poop, and my personal favorite - sacred scowts scat. Movies and TV shows like Indiana Jones, White Men Can’t Jump, Rocky, Toy Story, Mission Impossible, and Get Smart. Other miscellaneous topics like the Galapagos’ Post Office Bay, the calculation of manpower per oar, and the devil’s own green matchheads, just to name a few. And on and on and on… Seriously though, I want to offer a sincere thank you to everyone that took part in this build along the way: @Keith Black, @Ian_Grant, @Knocklouder, @Javelin, @Louie da fly, @BANYAN, @gjdale, @mtaylor, @Canute, @Thukydides, @GrandpaPhil, @John Fox III, @Landlubber Mike, @Roger Pellett, @CiscoH, @Bryan Woods, @gsdpic, @FriedClams, @Boccherini, @ccoyle, @Snug Harbor Johnny, @O.B.one, @hollowneck, @Ryland Craze, @JacquesCousteau, @VitusBering, @Chief Mark, @chris watton. Whether you popped in every so often or stuck with it for the whole dang production, your comments, suggestions, and encouragement on the myriad of issues I encountered pushed me forward and helped make the build so much better than it would've been had I just tried this on my own. And your sense of humor kept me smiling and laughing every step of the way. I simply cannot thank each of you enough. Y'all are my heroes. Here are pictures of the completed project. I'll start with the original concept drawing for comparison of the idea to the finished product.

The acrylic medium gloss gel finally dried, but I was not satisfied with the look. It just did not set up very well and did not really seem like natural looking water movement. Usually, I use it inside the bottle in a small, confined space, so maybe it does not work as well over a larger area. Or maybe I just did a poor job of working it into wave shapes. Regardless, I decided on a plan B and ordered some Woodland Scenics - Water Ripples and watched some Youtube videos on how to use it. The Woodland Scenics product definitely has a different consistency than the gloss gel I used previously. I started out by trying it on the far back corner of my base that will be mostly out of sight. I spread it on a small area using a little spatula to dab it around and then let it dry to see the results. I really liked how it kind of self-settled into more natural looking water waves and ripples. Satisfied with my test area, I covered the whole base with it. Going forward, I think it will be my go-to for water texture. Here's a good look at a larger area of the water after the Woodland Scenics product dried. So my water now has 4 layers to give it a real 3D effect – paint, epoxy resin, acrylic gloss gel medium, and the Woodland Scenics product. But I don’t think I’ll use the gloss gel in the future. I'm really happy with how the different colors of the water turned out. Next, I wanted to add some froth to the area under the bottle where the edge of the bottle meets the water. For that I used cotton unfurled from the ends of q-tips diluted with white glue. Next, I added a few random, small whitecaps around the deeper parts of the water. Then I finished it off by adding foam where the water hits the rocks at the shoreline. I made the whitecaps and foam with q-tip cotton and diluted white glue like I did for the froth underneath the boat. I like q-tips for this better than cotton balls because the q-tip cotton will unfurl into longer strings which are good for lining the edges of small waves. The last thing I did was revisit my grass on the other side of the wall. I thought the green looked too much like a golf course (too uniform) so I dirtied it up a bit with some random brownish splotches. And with that, I’m calling this beastie done. I’ll take some final pics and put them in the next post.