Zheng He's Treasure Fleet by Glen McGuire – FINISHED - 1/1000 - BOTTLE

[Glen McGuire]

Now on to the sail, which I believe gives the junk boat its signature look.  The sail itself is red shirt cloth with a thread bolt rope attached to the edges with fabric glue.  For the battens, I put a bamboo skewer into the drill lathe and smoothed it down to a 1/32” diameter.

[Glen McGuire]

The patrol boat (or scout ship depending on the reference source) is complete.  The mast is dry fitted for now and you will notice there is no hinge.  I'm going to try something different this time.  My plan is to secure the hull inside the bottle and then insert the mast with sail into the hull.  Since there are no stays, and the ship is small and will be so close to the mouth of the bottle, I think I can pull it off.  I've still got some thinkin and figurin to do on how to handle the small amount of rigging.  But lots of time to figure that out as this will be the last of the 3 ships to go in the bottle.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[Keith Black]

Cute little bugger. 

[Glen McGuire]

@Keith Black - you had asked earlier about Shiloh and his transition from bull to steer.  So in further research on this project, I discovered that Shiloh and the subject of my build, Zheng He, have something in common.  Zheng He, sadly, was captured as a prisoner of war when he was a youth and castrated (as was customary at the time).  But instead of a virtually painless band like Shiloh got, Zheng He lost his parts with a sword. 

 

Yet another reason why I am thankful to be living in modern times!      

Edited July 2, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[BANYAN]

I'm late to the log (again) - sorry Glen.  A very interesting subject you have chosen.  I'll follow along with delight.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited July 4, 2022 by BANYAN

[Glen McGuire]

6 hours ago, BANYAN said:

I'm late to the log (again) - sorry Gen.  A very interesting subject you have chosen.  I'll follow along with delight.

Glad to have you looking in, Pat.  I always appreciate your insight.

[Keith Black]

22 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

He lost his parts with a sword.

 Pretty delicate job with a sword, not something you'd want left to the village goof and have the countryside populated by a bunch of lads with the nickname "Stubby".

Edited July 3, 2022 by Keith Black

[Glen McGuire]

I spent time over the past week or so trying to figure out what to do for the middle ship of my mini treasure fleet.  With 250-300 ships in the original fleet, I gotta believe there was a lot of variation in not only size but shape and characteristics.  Which means I’ve got a lot of latitude in deciding what the ship #2 will look like.  I want all 3 ships to be unique because they served different purposes in the fleet, but still have some commonality so they look like they belong together.  At this point, I'm thinking the commonality will likely be the color scheme of the boat and color of the sails.

As you can tell, I’m kind of making this up as I go.  So after looking once again at a variety of ancient junk ship illustrations, I’ve decided on another composite build for ship #2 that uses features from several different ships.  The main shape/profile will follow the one on the below left.  I like the prominent quarter deck and forecastle plus the unique half-pipe structures on each.  However, I want a sharper curve in the bulwark like the one in the 2nd picture as this seems to be a common attribute of many ancient junk ships.  Last, I’m gonna try for 4 masts like the boat on the right with sails of a similar shape to my small patrol boat.  That’s the plan anyway!! 
 

Edited July 8, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[gjdale]

Can’t wait to see what you’ll do next with this one Glen. 

[Glen McGuire]

Good progress on the hull for ship #2.  I pretty much got the profile and bulwark curvature I was hoping for.

 

My original plan was to put the forward-most mast on the forecastle, but there's just not enough room for it and one of those half-pipe structures from the picture above.  So I'm gonna go with 3 masts on the main deck and 1 on the quarter deck just in front of the half-pipe thing there.

[Keith Black]

 Glen, ship #2 is a Zhenger. 

[Glen McGuire]

32 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

Glen, ship #2 is a Zhenger. 

That is too funny, Keith!  Along those lines, my grandpa would have called it a real hum Zhenger!

[BANYAN]

Looking good Glen, this will make a nice diorama within a bottle - a real 'hum Zhenger' as you say

 

cheers

 

Pat.

[Glen McGuire]

On to the deck fittings.  Like ship #1, there's not a lot happening on top.  I'm going with the 2 half-pipe structures on the forecastle and quarter deck as mentioned above.  Also, I'm adding a narrow shelter in the middle of the main deck.  And then ladders to reach the forecastle and quarter deck.

 

In previous builds, I made chumpy little ladders by just drawing horizontal lines (for steps) on a narrow strip of wood.  I tried to do a little better this time by making ladders with actual poles and rungs.  The ladder poles are .15" music wire and the steps are the inside strands of flexible 12 gauge copper wire.   

 

In the 3rd pic below, everything is dry-fitted.  I'll secure them after I figure out what I'm doing with the 4 masts.  I have not decided yet if I'm going to hinge them or try to install inside the bottle.  

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[mtaylor]

Amazing details,. Glen.  

[Ian_Grant]

Looking wonderful already!

[Keith Black]

 The ladders turned out looking great, all of  the second ship looks convincing. Nice job, Glen.  

[Landlubber Mike]

That's really great work Glen, nice job!

[Glen McGuire]

Amazing accomplishment yesterday - I managed to drill about a hundred holes with my #80 drill bit without breaking it!  Normally I break one about every 5 tries.  WOOHOO!  Afterwards, it took an adult beverage or two to uncross my eyes from all that tiny drilling, but then it was time to spend a few hours up close and personal with the drill lathe and a pile of bamboo skewers to make the masts and sail battens. 

 

The 1st picture kinda shows the stages of how the battens for the sails are made.  I cut the skewers into lengths that will cover 2 battens, drill 4 holes in each for the rigging (#80 bit), slap it into the drill lathe, sand it down to a little bit less than 1/32", and cut it into the 2 pieces.  Rinse and repeat.       

 

The masts are dry-fitted in the 2nd picture.

[gjdale]

That’s quite a feat on the #80 drill bit Glen - no wonder you needed the adult beverages! Even greater feat to achieve the batten making after said adult beverages! 😊

 

Looking good.

[Glen McGuire]

Finished up all the sails and now Junk ship #2 is complete!  

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[Glen McGuire]

[Keith Black]

 Those are really neat, Glen. 

[gjdale]

Looking good Glen.

[mtaylor]

Impressive little fleet you are doing.  

[Glen McGuire]

Thank you for the comments and the likes.  I’m pretty happy with how these first two turned out.  But they were definitely just a warm up.  Time now for the main event which is the main treasure ship.  

A site called The Model Shipyard has a finished version of the main treasure ship for sale.  I've attached a few of their pictures below.  It looks like a beautiful piece of work.  The pictures also make it clear that the ship is going to be a doozy to try and replicate for this bottle project.  

      
Seriously, look at the dang thing.  It’s like a floating farm!  The quarter deck has plowed furrows with row crops growing.  The main deck has various animal corrals (and before @Keith Black asks, there’s probably a refrigerated hold below where the penguins hang out).  On top of all that, there’s 9 masts to deal with.  OMG, what was I thinking!    😵
 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[Ian_Grant]

Glen, looking forward to being amazed by your miniaturization of this "farm".....

[Keith Black]

If there's not a corral for a miniature Shiloh incorporated on the main deck I'm gonna be highly disappointed. 

[Glen McGuire]

1 hour ago, Keith Black said:

If there's not a corral for a miniature Shiloh incorporated on the main deck I'm gonna be highly disappointed. 

OK Keith, you got me on that one.  Some how, some way, there's definitely gonna be a mini-Shiloh on the deck!

[Keith Black]

No penguin, no polar bear, third times a charm.