Oseberg and Kraken by Glen McGuire - FINISHED - Bottle - 1/250

[BANYAN]

Impressive work Glen, I think you have a very near match for the ocean colour you were shooting for.  If you go down the path of water from the bottle's mouth, perhaps some clear nylon fishing line CA'd to the mouth of the bottle would provide a starting framework/ligature for the water?

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Glen McGuire]

On 3/24/2023 at 6:58 PM, BANYAN said:

perhaps some clear nylon fishing line CA'd to the mouth of the bottle would provide a starting framework/ligature for the water?

Thanks, Pat.  Interesting technique to try.  Hmmmm.

[Knocklouder]

Yes that's it.  Lines from the bottle.  And maybe a few flightless birds tangled up in the lines. To show how our oceans are poluted.  Just saying  😌  yep I Know what's your fixing to do next 😉 

[Ian_Grant]

Or maybe a short piece of clear tubing?

[Knocklouder]

13 minutes ago, Knocklouder said:

Yes that's it.  Lines from the bottle.  And maybe a few flightless birds tangled up in the lines. To show how our oceans are poluted.  Just saying  😌  yep I Know what's your fixing to do next 😉 

Sorry thought it was going email lol

[Glen McGuire]

As Jerry Garcia said, “What a long, strange trip it’s been.”  More strange than long though.  When I look at the build logs on MSW for full-size ship models, I am constantly amazed at the perseverance the craftsmen have focusing on a project that can take years to complete.  It makes the 3 months I spent on this Kraken SIB pale in comparison.  So we’ll just call it a strange trip. 

Before I describe the final efforts of this past week, I want to take a moment and give a big THANK YOU to all the amazing people that have been a part of the adventure:  @Keith Black, @mtaylor, @gjdale, @Ian_Grant, @Landlubber Mike, @Knocklouder, @FriedClams, @BANYAN, @GrandpaPhil, @Louie da fly, @gsdpic, @Javelin, @O.B.one, @Snug Harbor Johnny, @ccoyle, @John Fox III, @Roger Pellett, @Prowler901, @BLACK VIKING, @Charter33, @Paul Le Wol, @woodrat, @Jim Lad, @The Gimps Chimp, @Auger, @bolin, @Bryan Woods, @AJohnson, @DonBMichigan.  When I post entries to this log and see your interest, likes, comments, suggestions, and humor, it's a large part of the enjoyment I get from these efforts.  As with all my other SIB projects, y’all made this one much better than it would have been had I just stumbled thru it on my own.  I cannot thank each of you enough.

Now, the final chapter - the last pothole on this trip was trying to turn the water into a living, breathing, ocean.  My thought was to have relatively calm water around the Kraken’s head with churning, active water underneath the bottle and around the tentacles.

   
First, I added some minor froth where the head and tentacles of the Kraken meet the water.  The froth was cotton pulled from the tips of Q-tips and heavily diluted with white glue.  Then I did some paint shading on the waves to achieve a gradient of dark sea blue at the base to a lighter blue/turquoise tint at the tops.  I used various mixtures of acrylic ultramarine, lake blue, yellow, and gel gloss for the different shades.  Next was adding touches of white paint to the tops of the smaller waves and ripples, followed by adding wave crests to the tops of the larger waves (cotton again with diluted white glue).  The final step was adding cotton splashes at the bases of the tentacles to give the appearance of tentacles violently coming out of the water.  Here's an in-progress pic.

 

I finished all that work on Tuesday and thought I was done.  However, when I backed away and looked at it, something was not right.  But I could not put my finger on it.  I got up Wednesday morning, looked at it again, and it hit me.  Instead of ocean waves, my water looked like snowy mountain ranges.  And what’s the main thing about mountain ranges compared to ocean waves?  Mountains are static.  My ocean looked static.  Blah.  It needed some excitement, movement, churn, swirl, chaos.  

So back to google and studying pictures of ocean waves.  Then it was a matter of repainting the sides of many of the waves and redoing a lot of the crests and froth.  At the end, I think I was able to add a decent amount of life to the water and sort of make it look like it’s being whipped into a frenzy by thrashing tentacles.  Comments and criticisms (good and bad) are much appreciated on the result.

I was breathing this YUGE sigh of relief when a friend reminded me of something I’d mentioned to her a while back.  She asked me, “What about the bit of water running out of the bottle’s mouth?  Are you still going to do that?”  Of course she was talking about @Javelin's suggestion which I had told her about.  I had pretty much decided not to bother with that.  But my friend pointed out that the water in the bottle would not just stop at the mouth’s edge, especially with the angle of the bottle.  

 

She was right.  Furthermore, now that I looked at it, the water in the neck of the bottle looked kind of static just like my ocean had earlier.  It needed an element of movement as well.  So I mixed some epoxy and set up some various ways of capturing a drop.  When they got good and sticky, but not quite hardened, I peeled off the one I like best and stuck it on to the lip of the bottle.

 

 

And with that, my strange Oseberg/Kraken trip comes to an end!  I will add some final pics on the next post.
 

Edited April 1, 2023 by Glen McGuire

[Glen McGuire]

Final pics:

 

 

[Landlubber Mike]

Holy squid Glen!  That looks amazing!!!  So creative and well done.  Congratulations!

[FriedClams]

Congratulations Glen on the completion of this amazing project.  It turned out fantastic - love it!  So fun and creative!

 

Gary

[gsdpic]

Wow, that is amazing creativity and execution!  The revised, frothier ocean water is much better, very convincing.  

[Keith Black]

 Glen, my friend, you nailed it, ab so lute ly nailed it! Of all your SIB's and their presentations this is by far and away the best. I was a bit worried you wouldn't be able to pull off making the water dynamic enough to match the scene. Obviously I need not have worried, the wave actions you've created brings the whole scene to life and the drop is the pièce de résistance. To say I'm impressed is an understatement, to say I am in awe is getting there.

 

 I don't know what you're gonna do for an encore but if you ever beat this, you be the Magic Man.  

[GrandpaPhil]

Awesome build!

[ccoyle]

What an awesome, whimsical, and thoroughly engaging result!

[Knocklouder]

By Kraken, I think you go it. Congratulations, Glen, the First Mate  agrees with me too , and that doesn't happen often  lol. The water is so very well done wow.

Thank you so much for your log , nicely done even with all the outside distractions lol. 

So whatcha fixing to do next , I want to get a front row seat. Plus you don't have to send me the 20 us dollars you promised if I write you a glowing  review  lol.  Thank you for the memories it was a lot of fun.

 Well done my friend 

[Javelin]

Great job Glen, love the water effect and a funny solution for the water coming out of the bottle! 

The water and waves appear in scale with you Kraken, which is not an easy  thing to accomplish 👍

[Paul Le Wol]

Glen, congratulations on finishing your incredible Oseberg / Kraken. This build has given many people lots of smiles. Thank you 

[gjdale]

Congratulations Glen, a real masterpiece in miniature. As others have already said, whimsical, creative, amusing, and highly skilled execution. You’ve set a high bar my friend - I’m looking forward to your next creation.

[John Fox III]

Greetings Glen,

All I can do is echo the others, an outstanding job with this model! Besides being extremely creative, you did an excellent job!

Anchor's A Weigh!

John

[Ian_Grant]

Words fail me......stupendously imaginative scene....water looks fantastic, love the wave crest frothing....bottle mouth dripping looks great....how can you ever top this, I don't know.

[BANYAN]

What a voyage of epic proportions you have taken us on Glen.  It has been a joy to follow-along on your many adventures.  An excellent result and a display that I am sure that will be the subject of many discussions and perhaps a 'tot' or two.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[mtaylor]

Spectacular doesn't do this build justice, Glen.   It's beyond that.   Thanks for letting us follow along.

[Glen McGuire]

Thank you for all the kind words.  Each of you had a helping hand throughout this build and were truly instrumental in bringing my crazy idea to life.  I am really blessed to be surrounded by so many incredibly talented (and entertaining) modelers.  My hat tips to all of y'all!      

[hollowneck]

XLNT! Lovely work, Glen. I have only one question though: do you like calamari?😂

[Glen McGuire]

23 minutes ago, hollowneck said:

I have only one question though: do you like calamari?

LOL!!!  Like just about everything else, if you deep fry it long enough, it tastes pretty good! 

[Glen McGuire]

On 4/1/2023 at 7:16 PM, BANYAN said:

and perhaps a 'tot' or two.

Once again I fail the Aussie vocabulary test.  What is a "tot"?  A drink of some kind maybe?

[Ian_Grant]

A small amount of alcohol, like "a tot of rum for this fine crew!".

[BANYAN]

Ian beat me to it   Not so much Aussie, but a Brit sailor's term I think.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Keith Black]

 From Wikipedia........."The rum ration (also called the tot) was a daily amount of rum given to sailors on Royal Navy ships"

[Glen McGuire]

20 hours ago, Keith Black said:

"The rum ration (also called the tot) was a daily amount of rum given to sailors on Royal Navy ships"

That is very interesting!  And I was certain Pat and the rest of the proud Aussies were trying to confuse me again with their lingo.  Too bad they don't sell that Bundaberg rum here in Texas or I'd help myself to more than a tot!   

[O.B.one]

You really outdid yourself. Well done👍😄