Hannah by Glen McGuire – FINISHED - Amati – 1/300 - BOTTLE

[Glen McGuire]

This is my second build after the Mamoli Alabama.  I decided to try something different before taking on another large ship project.  For some reason, a ship in a bottle sounded interesting.  So I dug around and found this kit.  I was not going to post a build log because there are several good ones out there already for the Amati Hannah (I think @Landlubber Mike’s is particularly well done).  However, after I finished the ship’s hull and ornaments, I started deviating from the instructions a bit and thought it might make for a log that’s somewhat different from the others.  So here we go.  Please offer comments and suggestions.  Below is the kit as it looks out of the box.

[Glen McGuire]

I’ll fast forward to completion of the hull.  The work up to this point was pretty much following the instructions. However, I did a poor job of laminating the hull pieces and had to use some wood filler to get the proper shape.  Also, I had a little trouble with the cannons.  They were too tall for the barrel to fit through the gun ports so I had to file off fractions of a millimeter from their bases to get them to fit.  Otherwise, no real problems.  The biggest challenge is working at this small scale.  I thought the 1:120 Alabama was tiny but this thing is a whole new ballgame!

One other thing that I did early on was take a piece of 4mm x 4mm leftover timber from the Alabama, carve a slot down the center, and tape it over the bowsprit for protection while I was handling it and the hull.  Landlubber Mike’s log mentions how he broke the fragile thing off several times.  I had bumped it slightly and bent it a couple of times so I figured I’d better do something to protect it or I’d be snapping it off too.  So far it’s worked quite well.

[Glen McGuire]

Here’s where I started to do some kit bashing.  My ambitious plan is to have the boat sitting on fake water inside the bottle.  Since the keel should not show, I filed it off at the bottom to make it easier to fit inside the bottle’s neck and also lie flat in the water.

[Glen McGuire]

Next step is the sails.  I did not like the ones from the kit with the pre-printed lines trying to replicate the seams between the panels.  So more kit bashing.  I cut new sails from muslin, then used fabric glue to attach silk thread for the panel seams and bolt ropes (thank you to @Keith Black for the Gutermann thread tip).  The 3 sails I’ve done so far are still quite flexible, so I think they will be ok when I have to fold them later to squeeze everything into the bottle.

The first pic below shows what the kit sails look like with the pre-printed lines.

And that’s where I’m at for the moment.  Probably a few more days on the sails and then comes what I suspect is the first real challenge – bending the sails to the yards and masts and then figuring out the rigging. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by Glen McGuire

[gjdale]

Always wanted to try one of these, so I’ll follow along with interest.

[Glen McGuire]

Thanks, Grant.  I looked thru your Mamoli Victory build log.  All I can say is WOW.  What an amazing job and what incredible perseverance.  Every time I think I've done something really hard and really cool with this stuff, I look at a build like your Victory and realize that I'm just a boy among men!

[Glen McGuire]

I finished the sails but decided I did not like them.  I want the threads to show a little more - not like the dark lines on the kit sails but I think a light brown thread that makes them stand out just a bit will look better.  So I am reworking those. 

[Glen McGuire]

In the meantime, I figured out a couple more things to add to the ship itself.  I've decided my own rule for ship building is that if the model has cannons, it's got to have cannonballs.  The Mamoli Alabama did not have cannonballs, so I added them and I think it turned out ok.  I wanted to do the same for the Hannah SIB.  The 1/300 scale of the Hannah makes that a challenge, but I found some .5mm ball bearings on Amazon and put them in place.  I know they should be black, but the silver stands out more so I left them that way.  I also may have gone overboard on the number but if I'm on that ship fighting the Redcoats, I'd rather have more ammo than less!

[Glen McGuire]

I was also looking at some pictures of a few larger, non-SIB models of the Hannah.  I noticed that some of them had a lifeboat stored between the steps going up to the quarterdeck.  So I decided to see if I could carve out a tiny one to add to my Hannah.  I took the wooden base from the kit (since I'm not planning on using it) and made a very primitive looking lifeboat.  But unless you are looking at it with a camera zoom or a big magnifying glass, you don't really see how crude it is!  You can't really tell it from the picture, but the brown matches the color of the bulwarks, so it's got the same color scheme as the ship itself.  OK, back to the sails...

Edited September 12, 2021 by Glen McGuire

[Glen McGuire]

Finally finished the sails and got them looking like I wanted.  I also tied the yards, gaffs and boom to the masts and then attached the masts to the deck hinges. 

 

The instructions say to "solder" the ends of the threads instead of tying knots (to avoid an excessive # of knots).  I did not like that idea.  If one of the soldered ends gave way when the ship is in the bottle and I'm raising the masts, adjusting the yards, etc., it would be game over.  So I tied knots and dabbed with a tiny amount of glue.  I actually threaded each junction twice for some added strength.

[Glen McGuire]

OK.  I may have gone off the deep end here but I blame it on all of y'all in this forum and your amazing build logs.  Rather than leave well enough alone, I decided to add some rope hanks along the inside of the bulwarks.  I'm not sure any of these extras will even be visible once the ship is in the bottle and all the sails are up but what the heck, right? 

 

Also got the flying jib sail hung.  Wow, this rigging job is tedious! 

[gjdale]

Looking good Glen. Your log prompted me to drop a heavy hint to my wife as I have a birthday coming up in a few months time….😁

[Glen McGuire]

Thanks, Grant!  I hope she comes through for you!  I'd love to see what somebody with your skills could do with this project.  

[Glen McGuire]

I continue to make slow progress with the rigging.  Getting the thread thru such tiny holes is a challenge to say the least.  I'm using Guttermann all-purpose thread for the standing and running rigging which is small enough for all the holes but just barely.  If I had to do it over again, I think I would drill out the holes just a bit more before putting anything together.  Too late now, as I'm not letting a spinning drill bit get anywhere near this ship!  

 

Some times I can get it thru ok but other times it just won't work.  So my last resort is to put a dot of CA glue on the end of the thread, glue it to the end of a #78 drill bit, and push it thru the hole hoping the thread stays attached (see pic).  It works, but is a pain. 

 

Got a couple more sails strung up plus the shrouds.    I'm also making an attempt to add ratlines to the shrouds.  For the ratlines, I'm using the white thread that came with the kit because it's slightly thinner than the thread I'm using elsewhere.  It's about the same color as the sails so the ratlines are hard to see in the pic below.  I'm using fabric glue to attach the ratlines to the shrouds.  The spaces are way too tiny for any kind of knot that I could tie. 

 

Will the ratlines survive when I wad everything up to put the ship in the bottle?  Who knows.  The sea around my ship might be littered with tiny little bits of thread.  If I get lucky maybe they will look like whitecaps!

 

   

 

      

Edited August 16, 2021 by Glen McGuire

[Eurus]

Looks fabulous!

[gjdale]

Glen,

 

You might try dabbing some thin CA directly to the end of the thread and carefully rubbing it in. This will give the thread end a solid “needle” like form that may help with threading it through those tiny holes. Once threaded, you can snip off the hardened end.

[Glen McGuire]

5 hours ago, gjdale said:

You might try dabbing some thin CA directly to the end of the thread and carefully rubbing it in.

 

That's a great idea, Grant.  I will give it a try.

[Landlubber Mike]

Looks really great Glen.  Love the details you added.  Good luck on the next part of the build!

[Glen McGuire]

@Landlubber Mike Thanks, Mike.  The more sails and stuff I install on the ship the smaller that bottle opening looks.  Is it cheating to go buy a bigger bottle?  😲

[Glen McGuire]

@gjdale Hey Grant - your CA idea for threading worked perfectly and helped speed things up for me.  Thanks for the tip!

 

The ship is complete.  Now I just gotta get up the nerve to mash it all down and see if it's going to fit inside the bottle opening.  I will give that a try and if it looks like it's going to work, I'll start on the water effects.  

[gjdale]

Glad to be able to help Glen. The finished ship is looking good. Can’t wait to see her go into the bottle.

[Glen McGuire]

I did a test smash to see if I could get the ship into the bottle opening without breaking or bending anything.  It's kind of like trying to fold a fitted sheet, there's just no good, smooth way to do it.  But I got it in pretty far so I think I'm good from that standpoint.  Now whether or not it will stay in the little insertion tool I made,  we will see about that when it's really game time.

[Glen McGuire]

On to the water.  My water is a mix of acrylic paint and medium gloss gel.  I did a small test last week where I put a dab of the mixture on a small pane of glass and then pushed a small wooden practice hull into it.  After drying, the mixture adhered to the glass really well and the hull was quite secure.  

 

So now all I had to do was figure out the best way to get the water into the bottle.  Thankfully I decided to do a test run on a scrap bottle.  I filled a plastic squeeze bottle with the paint/gloss gel mixture and attached a long piece of surgical tube to the bottle's nipple (since I would need to reach all the way to the back end the bottle).  Then I stuck the tube into the bottle and started squeezing.  Things worked nicely at first.  But after I had gotten some of the mixture in the bottle, things clogged up a bit.  So I squeezed harder.  Then harder.  Then harder.  Then BLAP!!  The clog gave way and I splattered my water all over the back end of the scrap bottle (2nd pic below).  This would have been impossible to clean up in the real bottle. 

 

Fortunately, this was only a test.  So I finished putting my water in the scrap bottle, swirled it around a bit for waves, and place another practice hull in the middle of it.  I like the way it looks.  I've just got to figure out a safer way to get my water in the bottle. 

 

Things don't always go smoothly with this hobby, do they!     

Edited September 16, 2021 by Glen McGuire

[Glen McGuire]

The thrill of victory...  Today was the day I planned to get the ocean in the real bottle and get the ship in the bottle.  For the ocean, I used the 3 thick acrylic paint products in the first pic (mixed roughly 1-1-1).  I squeezed the ocean in the bottle without making a big freakin mess like I did on the practice bottle.  I used long wooden handled Q-tips to push the ocean around inside the bottle.  I used more of the same Q-tips to swirl the ocean around for waves.  It came out looking pretty much like I had hoped.         

Edited September 16, 2021 by Glen McGuire

[Glen McGuire]

And the agony of defeat...  The moment of truth was here.  Could I get the ship in the bottle and placed in the right spot in the ocean?  I got the ship in the bottle just fine.  My tool for holding the ship worked perfectly and I was able to position the ship right where I wanted it - between the 2 pieces of blue painters tape in the pic below.  And then things went south - in a hurry.  I lowered the ship into the ocean expecting it to sit right on top of the water.  Instead, the ship plopped down way too deep.  The paint mixture was too thin to hold up the weight of the full ship (unlike on my practice run where it held the practice hull ok).  Now I had paint way above the waterline, covering all the white of the hull, plus some spots of blue on the sails.  NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

 

My first thought was that the whole thing was ruined.  But after a lengthy cussing session and resisting the urge to spike the thing on my driveway like a football in the end zone, I somehow managed to get the ship back out of the bottle.  Remarkably, the ship was still in good shape other than blue paint all over where it should not be.  So I cleaned it up, washed out the blue spots on the sails, and repainted the hull.  Of course when I pulled the ship out, I left blue streaks of paint all over the inside on the bottle.  It took a while, but I was able to get all those cleaned up as well.  

 

So time for plan B.  I carved out a small wooden base matching the underside shape of the hull.  Then I stuck it in the middle of the ocean where I'd been trying to place the ship hours earlier.  When everything is dry and solid, I'll lay some epoxy on the base and then drop the ship onto it.  

 

     

Edited September 7, 2021 by Glen McGuire

[gjdale]

Wow! You had me holding my breath for a while there Glen. Glad you were able to recover the situation. Hope it all goes well with the next attempt.

[Glen McGuire]

OK.  I took my lumps (and a vacation) and got back in the game this week.  The first thing I decided to do was add some white highlights to the water to show some churn at the stern and some scattered  whitecaps elsewhere.  I had to reconfigure one of my paintbrushes to reach all the necessary spots inside the bottle as shown in the 1st pic. 

 

My tool for lowering the ship onto the base is shown in the 2nd pic.  It's the 2 square wooden poles that came in the kit, but I added some carefully bent brass rods to go around the hull.  It basically holds the ship up by the shroud channels.      

[Glen McGuire]

And now it was time for the rematch!  Man vs Model.  The score was Model - 1, Man - 0, but I was determined to even the score after the debacle a couple of weeks ago. 

 

I bought some Loctite Extra Time epoxy.  This gave me an hour to spread the epoxy on the base, mash the ship, insert it into the bottle, lower it on the base, remove the tool, and adjust the ship to its final position.

 

And.......everything worked to perfection.  WHEW!!!  RELIEF!!!  Deep breath.  Immediate lowering of blood pressure.  Ahhhhhhhhh.

 

It took about 20 minutes from mixing the epoxy to getting the ship in its final position as shown in the 1st pic.  After letting the epoxy dry overnight, I pulled the strings to raise the masts, yards and sails.  Then I tied it all off and snipped the thread.

 

Next step is making a display base that hopefully will do justice to all the hard work and frazzled nerves!

 

New score is Man - 1, Model - 1.

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by Glen McGuire

[Keith Black]

 Glen, well done! 

[gjdale]

Given that you got the ship in AND successfully raised the masts, I’d say the score is now Man 2 - Model 1. 👍

 

Well done Glen!