Adventure Galley by Glen McGuire – FINISHED – 1/400 - BOTTLE

[Glen McGuire]

My original plan was to build a pirate ship after I finished the Independence, but then my son intervened with his junk ship request.  So now it’s time to circle back and take on a pirate ship.  I wanted a pirate with an interesting story as well as an interesting ship.  After considerable research, I decided on Captain Kidd’s Adventure Galley.  I was intrigued by his personal story of pirate hunter turned pirate.  Plus, the Adventure Galley was quite a unique ship.  Here’s some background on the pirate, his ship, and the SIB concept I have in mind.    
 

The Pirate:
Captain Kidd’s story is fascinating, although the particular details differ depending on the source.  Basically, he was a pirate hunter turned pirate.  He began as privateer commissioned by several noble lords of England (including King William III) to hunt pirates.  He weighed anchor in the fall of 1696 and over the course of the next couple of years, captured several ships.  In 1698, he took his greatest prize, the 400-ton Quedah Merchant, which was an Indian ship hired by Armenian merchants and carried a large treasure of gold, silver, silks and other valuables.  

Shortly afterwards, Kidd was declared a pirate by the same English Government that had given him his commission.  By some accounts, it was because the Government’s view of privateering had changed.  Others blamed it on his poor treatment of captured crewmen.  Still others insisted that the East India Company, which had ties to the Quedah Merchant, pressured the crown as retaliation for Kidd’s capture of their prized ship.  Regardless, he was lured to Boston with a false promise of clemency, but not before he supposedly stashed much of his treasure near Long Island, NY.  After surrender, Kidd was extradited to London in 1701 and hung for piracy and murder.    

 

The Ship:
Captain Kidd’s main ship was called the Adventure Galley.  It was launched in 1696 and purchased by Kidd a year later.  It was a 284 ton, 3-masted frigate equipped with 34 cannons and designed for a crew of 150 men.  After capturing the Quedah Merchant, Kidd scuttled the Adventure Galley and took over the Indian ship, renaming it the Adventure Prize.  I found the Adventure Galley unique because it was a hybrid, similar in a way to the steam/sail ships of the mid and late 1800s.  Kidd’s ship featured square sails AND two banks of oars.  The oars gave it maneuverability in calm seas – theoretically a significant advantage in combat.  

 

There are a number of fully assembled Adventure Galley models for sale by various makers.  I find it interesting that most do not show the oars or even have ports for them.   However, a company in Madagascar called Le Village displays a model on their website that does include the bank of oars.  See below for a picture of the Le Village version.  I will base my Adventure Galley loosely on their version but likely add some elements from other models and illustrations.   

 

 

[Glen McGuire]

The SIB Concept:
I know it’s more fake news than real history, but I always think of buried treasure when I think of pirates.  In the case of Captain Kidd, he is one of the few pirates that actually did hide his treasure (or at least part of it).  Some of his loot was found on Gardiner Island outside of New York before his hanging.  But rumors that Kidd buried additional treasure at various points along the Jersey shore persist today.  

 

So with that as inspiration, I came up with the idea of putting the Adventure Galley in a bottle and the bottle resting inside an open treasure chest that is barely sticking out of the sand.  See below for my crude powerpoint rendition of the concept.  

 

 

 

After looking at that picture, however, I wasn’t convinced the whole treasure chest scene was all that great of an idea.  So I decided to do a mockup to see if it would look any better.  I cut up a yardstick and made treasure chest sides.  

 

Then I made a base with a hole in it so I could adjust the angle of the chest.  I figured it would look better if it was off kilter sticking out of the sand.

Then I took a manila folder, shaped it into a lid, sloshed some brown paint on it, and taped to the chest in an open position.  

 

Next, I spread some sand around the base and I set my chosen bottle on a top of a bunch of chocolate gold coins.

 

After looking at the completed mockup, I changed my mind and decided this could actually be a cool project -  assuming of course that I can fashion a decent looking treasure chest peeking out from the sand.  That remains to be seen.  

OK.  That’s probably way more back story than anyone wanted to know.  So without further ado, here we go!  
 

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[Ian_Grant]

Highly original, as always!  👍🤙

 

That second symbol we ran into in Hawaii, when people were giving me it when the Hana highway on Maui dropped to a single lane at one of the many narrow bridges and I yielded. 👀 I asked one of our rental owners if they were in effect giving me the finger but apparently it means, loosely, "Stay cool". Interestingly one of the characters flashed it on CSI:Hawaii last night.

[Glen McGuire]

Thanks, Ian!!

 

32 minutes ago, Ian_Grant said:

Hana highway on Maui

I've been on that Hana highway a few times.  Gotta be one of the most scenic drives in the world, but also pretty nerve wracking when you're forced to play chicken with a semi on one of the countless one-lane bridges!  Yikes!!!

 

And I am also familiar with that hand sign.  In fact, I used to have a t-shirt back in the 80s that looked just like this:

 

 

[Ian_Grant]

Yup, we encountered no less than seven cement trucks coming from Hana, usually on a hairpin bend. I was starting to wonder if there was a cement truck factory there. 😄

[Landlubber Mike]

I'm in for another ride Glen!  This one is going to be another fun one to follow.  Your creativity on displays is incredible - I can't wait to watch you execute this idea!

[Glen McGuire]

7 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

I'm in for another ride Glen!

Glad to have you on board, Mike.  I always appreciate your help and insight!

[Glen McGuire]

First up is the treasure chest.  I’ll finish with the ship.  

A month ago I was getting rid of a cheap particle board/veneer desk when I noticed the sides of its drawers were actually made of oak.  I cut them up into small planks knowing I’d eventually find a use for them.  And now they will become the treasure chest for this project!

Using the mockup pieces of yardstick as a template for the treasure chest sides, I cut four of the oak planks into their odd shapes to simulate the chest protruding from the sand at an off angle.

Since the chest is supposedly 300+ years old, I wanted to weather the surface of the wood.  For the inside of the chest, I wanted only mild surface aging since it would have been sealed shut and mostly protected from the elements.  Borrowing some ideas from @gjdale and his amazing Shipyard at Foss’ Landing diorama, I used a stiff wire brush to give the wood a mildly roughened surface.  For the outside surface, however, I wanted significant weathering with deep grooves.  I’ve got an old shed on my ranch with wood planks that have the look I want.   

So I used my angle grinder with a wire brush attachment.  Here’s the setup along with the before and after results. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[Glen McGuire]

I used the same oak scraps for the lid and gave them the same angle grinder weathering treatment.  The second pic is the makeshift gluing jig.

[BANYAN]

What a great concept Glen; your imagination, and more importantly your ability to convert your ideas into practical projects, is to be commended.  I look forward to your adventures on this one also.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited October 9, 2022 by BANYAN

[Landlubber Mike]

Agree with Pat - you win the creativity award on MSW!  Nice job!

[Glen McGuire]

Thank you, Pat and Mike!  I never know if these ideas are going to work or not, but thanks to the help from y'all and all the others here on MSW they have come out ok so far. 

 

I got all the pieces of the chest glued together and stained.  

[Glen McGuire]

Next will be adding the metal straps and edge reinforcements that are typical for a pirate treasure chest.  For those, I'm going to try cutting up a rusted gutter from that same old shed I mentioned above (2nd pic).   

[Glen McGuire]

I cut the rusty gutter into strips and pieces using a dremel cutoff wheel.  The first pic shows all the cut pieces; the 2nd is a closeup of a few; and the third is a dry-fit sneak peak at the lid.

 

I think mother nature aged the metal to perfection for what I was looking for.  I just painted the cut edges with a matching rust color and then sprayed everything with 2 layers of clear coat.  I will probably use rusty nail heads to simulate the rivets since I've got an endless supply of them.  

Edited October 13, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[BANYAN]

Really nice Glen, very effective and realistic.

 

cheers

 

Pat

 

[Landlubber Mike]

Wow, this is all so very cool!  Clever use of materials!

[gjdale]

I somehow missed the start of this project (again!), Glen - but I’m in for the ride now. Glad you found some of the weathering techniques from the Shipyard to be helpful. I’d love to take credit for that, but sadly I was only following someone else’s instructions!

 

On that note, you really should try the “chalk and alcohol” method for colouring your weathered timbers - it’s dead easy, super quick, and produces great results.

 

Your progress so far is great. I’m looking forward to following along for the rest of the journey.

[Glen McGuire]

22 minutes ago, gjdale said:

I somehow missed the start of this project (again!)

Glad to have you aboard, Grant!  The real celebrities never arrive at the start of the party, always fashionably late so they can make a grand entrance, right?  😃

 

I'll do some experimenting with your chalk and alcohol method and see what it looks like.    

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, gjdale said:

I somehow missed the start of this project (again!)

 Grant, I'm right there with you. I didn't discover Glen's latest till yesterday afternoon. I've got a old cowbell we need to tie around his MSW profile to help keep tabs on his activities. 

[Glen McGuire]

6 hours ago, Keith Black said:

I've got a old cowbell we need to tie around his MSW profile to help keep tabs on his activities.

Speaking of cows, Keith.  FYI, if you look at that picture of the old shed with the rusty awning and gutters above, the shallow bed of hay on the right is where I found Shiloh about an hour after he was born.  It was a really cold day (cold for Austin anyway) and mama Dimples picked a good sheltered spot to have her baby.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[Keith Black]

 Speaking of Shiloh, did he get banded? 

[Glen McGuire]

59 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

Speaking of Shiloh, did he get banded? 

Yes.  he is now officially a steer and doing very well.  At 7 months he's as big as his momma and still growing fast!  Gonna be a large one. 

[Glen McGuire]

Fastening all of the straps and pieces onto the wood was more time consuming that I thought it would be.  I should realize by now that nothing is gonna fit the way I think it should and half of the things I build in advance will require rework.  One of these days maybe I'll spend more time in the design phase and reduce my rework time.  But probably not since impatience always gets the best of me. 

 

The side handles are cut away since they will look partially submerged in the sand once the base is finalized.  I am happy with the aged look of the chest so far. 

 

Now I'm working on the rivets and the 2 hinges that will go on the back of the chest.      

[gjdale]

Looks great Glen!

[Ian_Grant]

It does look great!  Glen, what size is that chest - what's the grid on your cutting sheet?

[Glen McGuire]

39 minutes ago, Ian_Grant said:

Glen, what size is that chest - what's the grid on your cutting sheet?

Thanks, Ian.  Those are 1 inch increments on the cutting sheet so the chest is 12" x 7".  Probably 7" tall depending on how high I open the lid when it's done.  

 

The bottle I will be using is 9" by 3.5" so it will fill up a good portion of the chest's inside area.

 

1 hour ago, gjdale said:

Looks great Glen!

Thanks, Grant.  Today I've been testing a variation of your chalk process to age (rust) my rivets and hinges.  My preliminary results look pretty good so I think it's going to work out.  Final results on the next post!   

Edited October 20, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[mtaylor]

That chest is becoming a work of art, Glen.

[Keith Black]

 Glen, that is really sharp, spot on. 

[Glen McGuire]

On to the rivets.  I tried rusty nail heads as mentioned above but they just didn’t look right.  Too flat.  Most images of classic treasure chests I found had rivets with rounded heads.  So I started digging around for ideas and decided brass upholstery tacks were the answer.  I picked up 2 packs of 25 off Amazon for about $7 total.  After cutting the pointy part off at the base of the tacks, I thought they looked too rounded (come one, make up your mind!!).  So I flattened them just a bit with a hammer.

 

 

Now, how to age/rust them to match the straps.  Hmmm.  Here’s where I went back to @gjdale's Foss' Landing build log and reread his well-written instructions on using chalk and alcohol to weather wood strips.  Even though I needed to age brass instead of wood, I thought his idea of chalk dust might work for me.  But instead of chalk dust, I decided to make actual rust dust from the same gutter pieces I used for the straps.  Grant made a great point that weathering is as much about the texture as it is the color.  My thought was that the rust dust would give me the both the color and texture I wanted.  So I used a putty knife and scraped a bunch of rust chips into a bowl.  Then I took a hammer and pounded it into a fairly fine powder.  

 

To affix the rust power to the tack heads, I tried CA glue, white glue, and epoxy.  None of them worked very well.  Then I got the idea of painting the heads and sprinkling the dust on while the paint was still wet.  I mixed a couple of Testors enamel colors (rust and flat black) to create a rust color that pretty well matched my rust dust.  I wanted a color that blended with the rust dust in case any of it showed thru.  Then I sprinkled the rust dust, waited for it to dry, then sprayed it with clear coat to seal and lock everything in place.    

 

Here's the chest with all the rivets attached and set in some sand to get a preliminary look.  I'll probably go with a more whitish sand for contrast in the final setup.

 

  

 

Edited October 23, 2022 by Glen McGuire

[gjdale]

Fabulous Glen - the rust looks just right.