Shohei Maru by Josh44 - FINISHED - Bottle - 1/450 scale

[josh44]

It was time for me to make a Ship in a Bottle for dear ol' dad.  He's been through quite a bit recently, and I think a gift like this will do some good! 

 

Dad always liked a Japanese asthetic; when I was a boy, he designed and built a Japanese tea house in our garden in Connecticut , and his yards always feature a  Japanesse Rock Garden.  

 

After a few fore and aft SIBs, I wanted to return to the square rigged ships, to see if I can improve upon my technique.  Fore and aft SIBs are easier because you only have to worry about one plane of folding, ie the masts. The square rigged ships have the added challenge of all the spars folding or twisitng on the masts.

 

It seems a perfect pairing to try a Japanese Warship from the 19th Century.

 

According to my not-so-very-extensive research on Wikipedia, the Shōhei Maru  "  (昇平丸) was a sailing frigate constructed on orders of the Tokugawa shogunate of Bakumatsu period Japan by Satsuma Domain in response to the Perry Expedition and increasing incursions of foreign warships into Japanese territorial waters. She was built from 1853 to 1854 at Sakurajima in what is now Kagoshima Prefecture. Shōhei Maru should not be confused with the World War II passenger/cargo vessel of the same name, sunk by the submarine USS Spadefish off of Korea."

 

 

"The Shōhei Maru was a three-masted barque-rigged sailing vessel, with an overall length of 31.0 m (101 ft 8 in), beam of 7.3 m (23 ft 11 in), and displacement of 370 tons. Of wooden construction, she was depicted in contemporary artwork as being armed with five cannon on each beam. Her sails had black bands, characteristic of Tokugawa naval vessels. She was depicted in an 1855 print as flying the rising sun flag. "

 

The pictures above are the only representations I could find of Shohei Maru, but there were other similar Japanese Warships commissione during the same period of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

 

These include

 Asahi Maru, and

 Hoo Maru, whose image was my true muse for this project.

 

 

 I really like these Japanese Nikka Whiskey bottles! Perfect for the job!

 

 

To start, I decided to fashion and use a plank a working board. This is used in some American SIB kits, and should give me tighter control of the masts and sails as I make her.

[josh44]

Part II - Hull, rigging, and bottle prep.

 

The Lower hull on the working plank

Upper and lower 

I decided to have the masts fold aft on a hinge rod running athwart the upper hull.  I drilled out space in the hull for the masts and rigging to fold back, scooped out - not unlike - how the Missus likes her Subway sandwich bread!

The Mizzen mast is fore and aft rigged

 with two gaff rigged masts. 

Main mast up, and

Fore mast up.

I tried to keep the rigging simple, leaving the yards alone, and attaching running rigging as beckets on the lower corners.

Also no channels, dead-eayes of belaying pins for me;  with my crude skill set, any attempts at those features would just be more ways for me to junk it all up.  Instead, I drill some holes aft of each mast and uses them as pull-throughs.  

 

As for the bottle prep, I wanted to try something new for me: Drilling through the base, and inserting   brass eyelets to secure the hull posts. The holes will be in the same configuration as on the working plank

 

 I exprimented on thos bottle of Calverts Special.

Needed a bit for glass drilling, low speed, and lubricant for the bit.  

it worked well. Taping or having a label over the hole helps as well.

In go the eyelets, CA'd. All part of the plan to create a firm base for the ship, for when I want to tighten the rigging after launch.  

Sturdy dowels are filed to fit into the eyelets, resembling a belaying pin!

After much filing and cajoling, they are CA'd in as well.

And finally, the lower hull snuggly sits upon the well-secured posts!

 

 

Next: The launch

 

 

[josh44]

Part III: Launch, Repairs, and Finish

 

 She folds nicely - a good start!

Even better!

The Stern was too wide for the bottle neck, so I had to grind it down a bit.

No snaps or cracks - music to my ears.

Secured by CA onto the 2 posts drilled up from the bottle bottom.

 

 

The next part - the fixing and finishing of the yards and rigging -  is the where I experience the highs and lows of these projects.

 

Inevitably, and despite my sometimes careful planning, there are major repairs. Some of these repairs ar a result from the folding, and some from the insertion: I always fix from stern to stem, so some damage is foreward from my attempt to fix aft in the bottle.

 

Below, in red the major damage came from folding and squeezing into the bottle.  Three sails, the main-lower , fore-lower , and for-upper topsails,  all came off during insertion.  This was probably because the knots I made in the fishing line were too small, and got pulled through the holes I drilled in the yards.  

 

I think I simply glued these yards to the masts. The more elegeant option of rethreading inside the bottle with hartmanns clamps was proving too time consuming and unnecessary.

 

 

 

 

Here the mizzen is up, and the main mast is set and glued, but the bowsprit has inadvertantly been torn from the hull during the repairs.

Because many of the rigging lines passed through the bowsprit, I had to get it reaffixed before I completed the Foremast.

 

Many hours later, all is completed. 

I decided not to take pictures of the model  in various states of repair and frustration. 

 

A proper custom base.  My new thing is laying felt down tohave its color picked up and reflected, as if it were the ocean.  

 I kept the whiskey label on the bottom of the bottle. I might choose to remove it to improve the optics of the feaux-cean.  

The Jibs look better from this - the windward -  side.

 

 

Can't wait to give it to Dad!  He will Love it!

 

Thanks for reading!

[GrandpaPhil]

Very cool!  Well done!

[Landlubber Mike]

Josh, sorry to have missed this one before.  What a fantastic SIB and gift for your dad.  Hope he liked it!

[Omega1234]

Hi Josh

 

Lovely job and a great gift for your father!  
 

Cheers

 

Patrick 

[josh44]

On 4/22/2021 at 11:26 AM, GrandpaPhil said:

Very cool!  Well done!

Thank you, Phil!

[josh44]

On 4/22/2021 at 1:26 PM, Omega1234 said:

Hi Josh

 

Lovely job and a great gift for your father!  
 

Cheers

 

Patrick 

Thanks, Patrick! So glad to see your new luxury yacht in the works.

By the way, when I made Parsifal for my MIL I remembered your haunting words: Once you make a luxury yacht, you'll never be able to stop! (or something like that! 😁)

[josh44]

On 4/22/2021 at 11:33 AM, Landlubber Mike said:

Josh, sorry to have missed this one before.  What a fantastic SIB and gift for your dad.  Hope he liked it!

Thanks, Mike!

Yes , he was very touched!

[Omega1234]

5 hours ago, josh44 said:

Thanks, Patrick! So glad to see your new luxury yacht in the works.

By the way, when I made Parsifal for my MIL I remembered your haunting words: Once you make a luxury yacht, you'll never be able to stop! (or something like that! 😁)

 

 

Thanks Josh!

 

I’m just going to check out your Parsifal now!

 

All the best.

 

Patrick