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

[mtaylor]

My mind is truly boggled at the detail. Very well done, Glen.

[Glen McGuire]

4 hours ago, Alva004 said:

of the cow names I only think I know one Dimples, I think it's a whiskey.

Dimples whiskey?  I had not heard of that so I had to look it up.  Very cool looking bottle!  Maybe part of a future project!!

[Glen McGuire]

11 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Are you actively trying to increase your herd size? The cows I've know didn't respect fences, are yours any different? 

Funny you should ask those 2 questions, Keith.  So here's the quick story on the longhorns:

 

Being a University of Texas grad, I had this lifelong dream of owning my own small herd of longhorns.  About 2 years ago, I bought 3 young longhorn heifers.  I finally had my longhorn herd and was thrilled at fulfilling a lifelong dream.  I was good with 3 and had no plans to increase the herd size. 

 

Seven months later, to my utter (or udder) shock, one of my heifers (Allison) had a calf.  Unbeknownst to me and probably the seller (otherwise he would have charged more), she was pregnant when I bought her.  OK.  Now I had 4 longhorns.  Not what I planned but it was pretty cool having a new calf to raise from birth.    

 

Eight months later, Dimples did not respect my fence as you said, and escaped into the neighbor's pasture where there was a nice herd of charolois cattle with a sizeable bull.  Apparently she had a one night stand because 9 months later, out popped Shiloh.  So he is actually half longhorn and half charolois.  Fortunately, horns are a dominant trait and his are starting to pop out nicely.

 

So the answers to your questions are no and no!! 

 

And the answer to what might be your next question is yes, I spent a lot of time fixing the fence!!  Nobody has escaped in well over a year.  

Edited August 18, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[Keith Black]

 I watched a herd of stupid cows get their tails up and run through the best wire fence a guy can build and it wasn't just one fence, it was several. I think pipe is the only thing that will work for sure to keep em in. Electric won't work either if they get their minds set. 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Keith Black

[Alva004]

1 hour ago, Glen McGuire said:

¿Whisky de hoyuelos? No había oído hablar de eso, así que tuve que buscarlo. ¡Botella de aspecto muy chulo! ¡Quizás parte de un proyecto futuro!

I recommend a Brigantine and I'm going to put the Brigantine Leon from Norway in the Gallery of finished models so you can see the effect.

[Roger Pellett]

When I was growing up we had a farm where my father bred Aberdeen Angus cattle.  The farm was in tough shape when he bought it and over time we replaced all of the fences.  Woven wire mesh topped with two strands of barbed wire kept the cattle where they belonged.

 

Roger

 

 

[Keith Black]

 What type of post, Roger? 

[Glen McGuire]

22 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

Woven wire mesh topped with two strands of barbed wire kept the cattle where they belonged.

I've got the same setup on 3 sides.  Unfortunately the fence on the fourth side is 5 strands of rusty barbed wire that is probably 50 years old.  Whoever put up that fence used a lot of trees as posts and now those trees are 2 feet in diameter with the wires running thru the middle of their trunks.  I patched the weakest spots so it should be good to hold my cows in place.  Now if a large bull was determined to come visit, that would be another story!     

[Glen McGuire]

Back to the ship project!  The last thing I wanted to try and do for the treasure ship was come up with some representation of the elaborate, metallic Chinese artwork that the Model Shipyard model has on the bow, stern, and forward sides (see first 2 pics below).

 
Obviously trying to paint something like that was entirely out of the question.  So the first thing I did was try and find small designs from the labels of Chinese food and beverages.  Fail.  Then I saw a young lady with small, intricate designs on her fingernails.  I asked her how she did that and she said “nail stamping”.  So I youtubed it, bought a cheap stamping kit, and tried it out.  I was able to get the design to transfer but could not get it applied straight or even.  I made a freakin’ mess.  So another fail.  But then I found some tiny fingernail stickers/decals which sounded much easier.  So I got a set with Chinese designs and the third time was the charm.  I think the end result came out pretty good!

 

It's just about time to see if we can put this whole thing together!!        
 

 

Edited August 19, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[Roger Pellett]

Fence posts-  I don’t remember.

[mtaylor]

Thinking outside the box is good, Glen and exploring the options is even better.  Those designs do add a lot to the model to increase the "wow" factor.

[BANYAN]

That decoration/gingerbread is looking great Glen; a great left-of-field solution.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[gjdale]

Yet another Wow! factor Glen, to go with the many already achieved.

[Glen McGuire]

Well heck.  I thought I was done with the ships, but when I posted the picture of the Model Shipways bow I noticed there were 2 hanging anchors that I never noticed before.  So it was back to work to make a couple of small anchors and complete the treasure ship.  Also, since I really liked how the fingernail decals turned out on the treasure ship, I went back and added some ornamentation to the first 2 ships.  

 

And with that, the ship construction is complete!  I am going to go add a little bit of texture to the water inside the bottle.  Once it dries then it's go time!  Anxious moments await!!!

 

The last picture is a bit of a preview. 

Edited August 21, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[Glen McGuire]

Here's closeups of each ship.  In case things go south, at least I will have record of what they were supposed to look like!  😃

[BANYAN]

Lovely work Glen; wishing you good luck in getting them into the bottle without 'drama'.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Glen McGuire]

1 hour ago, BANYAN said:

getting them into the bottle without 'drama'.

Thank you, Pat!  That would be a first!!

[gjdale]

Looking forward to the bottling Glen.

 

In the meantime, there is a treat for you in my signature block........

[Glen McGuire]

3 hours ago, gjdale said:

there is a treat for you in my signature block........

Thanks, Grant!  I checked out your diorama beginnings.  What a cool project you have chosen.  I'm on board to watch that one come to life.

[Keith Black]

 Glen, I just waiting for you and Grant to try and stick something like what Grant is currently starting in a bottle. 

[Glen McGuire]

22 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

just waiting for you and Grant to try and stick something like what Grant is currently starting in a bottle. 

HAHAHA!!  Keith, I'm pretty sure there is professional help available for people with minds like yours!!!

[Keith Black]

[mtaylor]

12 hours ago, Keith Black said:

 Glen, I just waiting for you and Grant to try and stick something like what Grant is currently starting in a bottle. 

Hmm.... need a very large bottle for that.  Depending on the contents, I'm sure there would be volunteers to help empty it. <raises hand to assist in emptying said bottle>

[Landlubber Mike]

Glen, I just caught up with your log and wow, this is incredible work!  Your ingenuity is really inspiring, and how fortuitous that you ran across the woman with nail art.  Well done!  I am feeling the pressure and suspense of the bottle insertion all the way over here!

 

On those Dimple bottles, they are a favorite of SIB builders.  It might be because they are triangular in shape so you can have a flat base.  They aren't the easiest to find, but they are around.  In VA, hard liquor is sold in state-run stores.  They usually don't carry them, but occasionally you can find them.  You can also buy empties on eBay.

[Keith Black]

Glen and Grant, if you get bored with SIB's you may wanna try this but with a ship instead. 

 

 

[Glen McGuire]

1 hour ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Well done!  I am feeling the pressure and suspense of the bottle insertion all the way over here!

Thanks for checking in, Mike!  Yes, the pressure and suspense is mounting as I impatiently wait for the texture I added to the water to dry.  I know you understand what it's all about!!!  😬

 

Regarding the Dimple products, looks like my local stores hear carry them so I will check them out.

[Glen McGuire]

41 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

Glen and Grant, if you get bored with SIB's you may wanna try this but with a ship instead. 

 

WOW!  That is amazing stuff.  Her work requires real artistic talent which automatically disqualifies me.

 

For the most amazing miniaturist I've ever seen, check out my addition to MTaylor's post on Impressive Miniatures:  https://modelshipworld.com/topic/32342-impressive-miniatures/#comment-929824

 

[gjdale]

3 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

Her work requires real artistic talent which automatically disqualifies me.

…and me……😪

[Keith Black]

 Oh, horse feathers you two. 

[mtaylor]

3 hours ago, Keith Black said:

 Oh, horse feathers you two. 

Agreeing with Kieth...  I'll a " and balderdash" to what he said.