Flying Dutchman/Black Pearl by Glen McGuire - FINISHED - 1/700 - BOTTLE

[BANYAN]

Congrats Glen, that is some accomplishment and it looks great!  I think this is your best effort yet and that is something as your past few builds have been superb.  The real challenge now is how to surpass this one (yeah, I know get back in my corner and shut up)   A case of Bundy to you and your crew.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Knocklouder]

@Keith Black The Truth is still out there!!!  I think everyone from the Captain to the helmsman on both ships are screaming "Hard To Port,  Hard To Port".

Glen, she is perfect.  The ships are going the same way as the water and the whirlpool. 

Again my friend, you have outdone yourself, Dang, you're good. Now that you have mastered putting more than one ship in a bottle, you can only top this with a famous battle of multiple ships. I don't remember details, but Keith Black had mentioned it to me in passing. Lol

  Sorry buddy, I started Ratlines today and I might be light headed from it. Lol.     Bob . M

         .             PILE

Goober is not here but says "Merry  Christmas GLEN."

 

Edited December 23, 2024 by Knocklouder
Guessing typos lol

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, Knocklouder said:

I think everyone from the Captain to the helmsman on both ships are screaming "Hard To Port,  Hard To Port".

No doubt! 

[Keith Black]

 Glen, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours.

[Glen McGuire]

On 12/22/2024 at 3:48 PM, Ian_Grant said:

Glen, sorry to disappoint but I don't know either. 😞 Hey, I'm an electrical guy not an aeronautical fluid dynamics guy........

OK, Ian.  But you are till my engineering superhero!

 

On 12/22/2024 at 4:45 PM, Keith Black said:

Wouldn't the Captains be giving commands to the helmsman to counter those forces,, Agent Mulder?

Agent Mulder?  How did the X-Files get into the conversation?  At least you didn't call me Mr. Chucklehead!!  😃

[Glen McGuire]

On 12/22/2024 at 5:06 PM, BANYAN said:

A case of Bundy to you and your crew.

Thank you, Pat!  A Bundy toast to everyone for Christmas and the New Year!  

 

 

On 12/22/2024 at 6:19 PM, Knocklouder said:

The Truth is still out there!!!

 

 

On 12/22/2024 at 6:19 PM, Knocklouder said:

you can only top this with a famous battle of multiple ships.

You are not allowed to offer suggestion for future projects while you are under the influence of ratlines.

 

 

On 12/24/2024 at 10:13 AM, Keith Black said:

Glen, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours.

Thanks, Keith.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and Maggie as well as everyone here in the MSW family!

Edited December 26, 2024 by Glen McGuire

[FriedClams]

Catching up, Glen and the whirlpool turned out great and no question about what we're looking at with the ships positioned around it.  Very cool.  Looking forward to the base.

 

Gary

[Glen McGuire]

I finally emerged from my ratline stupor on the Constitution and got to work on the base for this project.  However, I decided to change directions on the base.  Originally, I was going to set the bottle in the middle of that swirled piece of wood shown in an early post.  But looking at it now, I think the piece of wood is too large.  It swallows up the bottle and overwhelms the ships.  So I decided on a base that’s smaller in stature and ties more directly to the pirate/ghost ship theme.  So now the idea is to make a base that looks like a section of an old, weathered, pirate/ghost ship deck and have the bottle rest atop it.

 

I started with finished oak strips that are ½” tall by 2” wide and 24” long.  I only had 4 in hand that were long enough so I pieced 2 shorter ones together for the middle plank (the seam between the ends will be hidden under the bottle).

 

 

Next, instead of clean ends on each plank, I decided to make rough, broken edges to add to the old, weathered look.  Here, I found another use for my heavy pieces of railroad track.  I used 2 pieces of track to securely hold the oak plank down on a cinder block.  Then I took a hand sledge hammer and gave the extruding end a hard WHACK.  It broke off pretty rough but I figured I could clean it up a bit and soften the sharp splinters.

 

 

Here's all the planks whacked down to their proper length which is about 16”.

 

 

 

Now for the ageing and weathering.  I’ve learned 2 things about ageing and weathering wood.  The first was from @gjdale and his Foss Landing diorama when he taught me that ageing and weathering is not just about the color, it’s also about the texture.  To give my planks the proper texture, I used an angle grinder with a stiff-wire scraping attachment and cut deep, random grooves into the surface.  I also used it on the splintered board ends to soften them.  

 

 

Here’s all the raw planks after the angle grinder treatment.

 

 

 

The second thing I’ve learned about ageing/weathering wood has to do with the color.  There’s a lot of old barn wood at my ranch that’s been out in the elements for decades.  Studying the old barn wood, there are layers of colors that provide its aged look.  So that’s what I tried to do with these planks.  I had it in my mind that an old pirate/ghost would be on the dark side, with shades of brown, and gray showing through.  So I started with a layer of English Chestnut stain.  Then I hit the deeper grooves with a much darker Early American stain.  When that base coloring dried, I made several mixes of Tamiyo white and Tamiyo gray and thinned each pool with a bunch of acrylic thinner to make several fairly transparent washes.  Finally, I took a fan brush and very lightly applied the different washes across the surface of the planks.

 

In the pic below, the first 2 planks have the wash applied and you can see how the wash really adds to the layering of colors compared to the planks above them.  The last pic shows all the planks with stain and wash.  The picture makes it look a little more shiny that it really looks with your eyeballs.    

 

 

 

 

Here's all the planks with the washes applied.

 

 

 

The final task for the base was to add oakum between the planks.  For oakum, I used strands of hemp which I colored black before pushing them into the grooves.

 

 

 

And here's the completed base with cradles for the bottle added.

 

 

Not quite home yet, but the finish line is right around the corner!

 

 

  

Edited Monday at 05:08 PM by Glen McGuire

[Keith Black]

Nice look, Glen. I like it though I also liked the piece of wood. 

[Paul Le Wol]

Great weathering effects on the base Glen. Looks superb. Going to have to add Concrete Block to my list of shop tools to acquire 😀!

[gjdale]

Superb job on the weathering of those planks Glen!

[Glen McGuire]

5 hours ago, Keith Black said:

I like it though I also liked the piece of wood. 

Agree, Keith.  I still like that piece of wood so don't be surprised if it shows in some future project.

 

 

5 hours ago, Paul Le Wol said:

Going to have to add Concrete Block to my list of shop tools to acquire 😀!

We just never know what might come in handy, do we, Paul!   

 

 

1 hour ago, gjdale said:

Superb job on the weathering of those planks Glen!

Thanks, Grant.  I learned from a pro!  

 

 

 

[Canute]

I think you've captured the driftwood look very well. Very bucely done base.

[FriedClams]

Oh yea, that's going to look cool, Glen!

 

Gary

[Javelin]

I think it was a good call to change the base. The big piece of wood probably would have taken too much attention and make the bottle disappear.

 

The new base looks awesome and will make people focus on the ships (and whirlpool!)

[Keith Black]

 I know the original idea of using the piece of wood would probably swallow the bottle but isn't that what a whirlpool does? 

[Glen McGuire]

I was fumbling around for a couple of days trying to figure out how to finish this thing up.  I liked the weathered deck planks, but I wanted more than just the bottle sitting on a cradle on top of the planks.  The Final Jeopardy music kept playing and nothing was coming to mind.  The next day, I was walking through an old shed out at my ranch and noticed a discarded, rusty chain and some scraps of a rusted gutter lying in the corner.  Hmmmmm.  I wasn't exactly sure what I could do with them, if anything, but they were interesting enough to take home and ponder further.

 

 

I got them home, started playing around, and finally stumbled upon a way to use them to enhance the presentation.  After sealing the chain with spray poly, I coiled it around the bottle's cradles to where it hid the cradles and made it look like the bottle was resting on the chain.  OK.  I liked that.  Now, the only thing left was the nameplate.  I was sizing up various small pieces of wood to glue a nameplate to when another light bulb went off.  Why not use a piece of the thin, rusted gutter to glue the nameplate to?  So I found a piece that had rough edges and was about the size I needed.  I bent the bottom edge of it backwards so it could act as a base.  Then I printed out my paper nameplate and Mod Podged it to the rusty piece of gutter.      

 

Before I post the final pictures, I want to extend a sincere THANK YOU to everyone that took part in this project.  I would have never made it to the finish line without your comments, critiques, suggestions, encouragement, and humor.  What an amazing group of people we have here at MSW and I’m fortunate to be a part of the community.  Whether you popped in and out or suffered through every post of this build log, I owe you a debt of gratitude:   @BANYAN, @Keith Black, @Knocklouder, @Ian_Grant, @Javelin, @Canute, @GrandpaPhil, @FriedClams, @gjdale, @Paul Le Wol,@mtaylor, @Bryan Woods, @tmj, @Landlubber Mike, @BLACK VIKING, @JacquesCousteau, @Old Collingwood, @Dan Poirier, @Kauz, @CiscoH, @herask, @ccoyle, @John Fox III, @Baker, @Snug Harbor Johnny, @PvG Aussie, @Desertanimal, @Thukydides, @gsdpic, @firdajan, @vossiewulf, @DanielD, @Pfälzer, @Ainars.

 

 Oh, and special thanks to Plumber Paul, PFC Gnomer Pile, and Goober for their support (even though Mr. Goob had his doubts about me).

 

One more.  Extra special thanks to my friend Eric.  He is an extraordinary artist/carver/creative genius, etc and is the one that came up with the idea of building the whirlpool in layers outside the bottle and then inserting them piece by piece.  That was the key to pulling this whole thing off.

 

Here's how all that came out.

 

   

    

 

 

Edited 19 hours ago by Glen McGuire

[JacquesCousteau]

Congratulations on an inventive and unique build! The chain base looks great and fits the mood of the piece quite well.

[BANYAN]

That is a masterpiece of SIB modelling Glen.  Love your explanation and execution of the weathering; those pieces of wood and the rusty chain look the 'real' deal mate.  

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Landlubber Mike]

Holy cow Glen, that came out so well!!  Your creativity is amazing, not just for the SIB itself, but the overall composition with the display base.  Well done my friend!

 

The only problem I see is that you keep upping the bar for yourself.  You're making it harder and harder to top your last efforts, but I have faith in you  

[GrandpaPhil]

Glen,

  That’s incredible!  I sincerely believe that is one of the absolute best SIB displays that I have ever seen!  I can’t wait to see what you make next!

Edited 18 hours ago by GrandpaPhil

[gjdale]

That is just outstanding Glen! Congratulations and well done on yet another fine example of the SIB art.

[Ian_Grant]

I've said this before, but you've outdone yourself yet again, Glen!  Love the chain and rusty nameplate; they go perfectly with the ambience of the tattered sails.

 

Waiting to see what you come up with next!

 

Regards,

Ian

[Keith Black]

 

 Glen, this photo of your SIB is the best and most incredible SIB I have ever seen, I am absolutely blown away. 

[Knocklouder]

I agree 100% with you @Keith Black totally blowin away.  It is absolutely amazing. Gobsmacked perfection.    Congratulations my friend!!!

 

Bob M.  & Crew.

 

Goober says he will never doubt you ever again. Your the best!!!

Edited 13 hours ago by Knocklouder
More info

[Old Collingwood]

Superb beyond words  Glen,  it is  such a shame  that  the people over at  Pirates of the Caribbean  can not see it  - they would be  impressed  as  we  all  are

 

OC.

[Baker]

Congratulations on this very nice diorama in a bottle.
It was very pleasant to follow the whole story of building it.

[Bryan Woods]

Great Job Glen!  The ships and the whirlpool are amazing by their selves. Thanks for setting them under the glass so us with poor eyesight can see them even better:-)

[Canute]

Most excellent, Glen. And the chain base was the icing on the cake!

[Javelin]

Apart from the excellent build itself, the display is very nicely balanced and puts the ships nicely on center stage. 

 

Congratulations on a perfect build. 

 

I vote for a complete battle of Trafalgar in a bottle for the next build.

Admit it, the only way you're going to top this is by having at least 4 ships fighting in a bottle!