Queen Anne's Revenge with Greek Fire by Glen McGuire - 1/400 - BOTTLE

[Glen McGuire]

Time to get 'er in gear and start work on another SIB.  I was tossing around a few different ideas and I just could not get rid of this one image that was floating around in what's left of my mind.  In the 4th installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie (On Stranger Tides), there is a scene where Blackbeard is captaining his Queen Anne's Revenge when a mutiny breaks out among Jack Sparrow and the crew.  Blackbeard appears on deck and raises his sword, bringing the rigging to life which begins roping and hanging crew members from the yards.  Blackbeard decides to spare the crew but make an example out of the cook.  He sets the cook adrift on a long boat, points the Revenge at it, then unleashes a ball of Greek Fire from the bow, engulfing the cook and long boat in flames.  Here's a 5 minute video of the scene from the movie:

 

https://youtu.be/fO4ZLQmcXMU

My idea is to capture the moment where the Revenge is spewing out the Greek Fire.   Here's a screenshot of the moment from the video.  The scene is so dark that you don't get a good view of the ship, but you get the idea.

 

  
 

 
And here's my crude artist's rendition of the SIB concept.


 
Now, to bring the SIB to life, I want to actually light up my fireball.  So I'm going to try and incorporate some flickering LED lights within the fireball and run the wiring thru the bottom of the bottle and into the base where it will lead to a battery and power switch.   I think I've been reading too many of @Ian_Grant's build logs, which is why I can't get this crazy idea out of my head.

Obviously, this is going to require doing some things that I haven't done before - making a fireball, drilling a hole in a glass bottle, rigging up some electrical stuff, etc.  So put your helmet on and buckle up.  This is probably gonna be a rough ride!

Edited September 20 by Glen McGuire

[Glen McGuire]

Before fully committing to this project, I wanted to see if I could actually drill a clean hole in a glass bottle.  After watching several youtube videos, I found a technique I thought might work.  I bought these diamond coated, hollow drill bits off Amazon for $15.  

 

 

The suggested technique is to run cooling water over the bottle and start the drill at a 45-degree angle till you get a small notch cut into the glass.  Then slowly work the drill into a horizontal position.  Once the vertical orientation is established, you gently rock the bit back and forth while applying light pressure letting the bit do most of the work till the hole is fully bored.  It only took about 10 minutes.  Afterwards, I had a pretty clean hole with no cracks and just a very tiny amount of chipping.  The hole is 3/16 inches in diameter, so the chipping is only noticeable in these closeup pics.  

@Keith Black wants me to try and fit the ship thru this hole, but I’m not even going to try! 

 

 

 

 

I got some small, flickering LEDs from Amazon that run on a 9-volt battery.  One or maybe 2 of these will go inside the fireball to bring it to life.  

 

 

 

Here’s the LED wire extending thru the hole and out the bottom of the bottle.  When the time comes, I will be making the epoxy resin water a dark blue to hide the wire.

 

 

 

Now that I’ve got a good hole in the bottle, we are off and running.  Here we go!!
 

Edited September 8 by Glen McGuire

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Guess a 3D fireball (actually, there were two - port and starboard) will have to be something filamentary ... so it can catch and reflect light along its length emitted from LEDs mounted in the bow.  There are also illuminating flames along the ship.  I suppose tiny 'grain of wheat' bulbs used in HO train layouts might work for them.  'Should be awesome in a darkened room !

[Coyote_6]

First to follow!  Standing by!!

[Knocklouder]

Great Balls of Fire 🔥.  Lol it had to be said. Your going to light up MSW with this build , following along for morel support. 

 

 Knocklouder 😁 

Kurt ⚒️ 

[Paul Le Wol]

Glen, I’m all buckled up!

[Keith Black]

 I'm in.  

 

[Glen McGuire]

3 hours ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

There are also illuminating flames along the ship.  I suppose tiny 'grain of wheat' bulbs used in HO train layouts might work for them. 

Hmmm.  I was not even gonna try to incorporate any lighting beyond the Greek Fire.  Never heard of "grain of wheat" bulbs, so I will have to look into those and see if they might work.  I hope they are very small!  Thanks, Johnny!  

Edited September 8 by Glen McGuire

[Javelin]

Late to the party as ever. 

 

I've contemplated drilling holes in bottles for past projects, but always considered it cheating, just short of heresy. 

That said, and for the great purpose you have in mind, I fully approve of this hole and I'm glad you tested this because I was certainly curious whether it could be done without wasting a bottle. 

 

I love this project. Perhaps you could use cotton wool (perhaps coloured) around the leds to simulate fire? Should not be too difficult to get into the bottle as well. 

I have a cotton wool smoke trail of a missile that hasn't lost its shape in nearly 20 years and I didn't treat the wool with anything. 

Not really sure how it will spread or "contain" the light though...

 

 

[Canute]

Glen, I'm in, helmet on and straps fastened. Ride 'em, cowboy! This will be fun.

 

The grain of wheat bulbs are small but becoming harder to source. The LEDs have lots better longevity and they come in pretty tiny sizes. And they do make flickering modules, if you want

[Glen McGuire]

On 9/12/2025 at 5:45 AM, Javelin said:

Late to the party as ever. 

I've been been procrastinating, waiting for you to get here, Roel.  Now we can get this party started!      As for your suggestion about using cotton balls for the ball of fire, you're right on the money as usual.  That is what I'm going to try first as you will see below.

 

 

On 9/12/2025 at 7:54 AM, Canute said:

Glen, I'm in, helmet on and straps fastened. Ride 'em, cowboy! This will be fun.

Welcome aboard, Ken!  Glad to have you along for the ride and glad you got your safety gear on!  As for the LED lights, like Roel, you are on the money as well.  After some research, the grain of wheat bulb lights seem to be about the same size as the LEDs I got, so I'll likely go with them.  I also found some flickering ones as you suggest.

 

 

It's been quite a busy September around here and I have not completed any subassemblies or sub-steps yet.  My progress has been kind of scattershooting so far, but I will post a few updates below.  First, like Roel suggested, I'm making a run at the fireball using cotton balls.  I heavily diluted some acrylic orange and yellow paint to dip the cotton balls into.  After tightly squeezing the out the paint, I teased the cotton balls back out and let them dry.  I plan to pull apart small pieces and fluff them up to give the fireball its final shape.  I've still got to do some dusting of red and black paint onto the cotton.  An airbrush would probably work best but I don't have one.  I'm going to try with a fan brush, but if I can't make that work I may have to invest in an airbrush.

 

 

I also began work on the hull for Queen Anne's Revenge.  For those that have followed previous builds, I'm doing my usual laminated hull process.  I lined in the deck planking and stained it but I haven't sanded it down to size yet.

 

 

At the same time, I'm also testing out lighting ideas.  As Ken suggested above, I've got flickering LEDs.  These have a yellowish tint and a soft slow flicker which I think will work well.  I also got some rocker switches and wired things up for a test light show.

  

 

 

So no major milestones completed yet, but the work in progress seems to be heading in the right direction.  

     

 

 

Edited September 15 by Glen McGuire

[Javelin]

Found some old pictures of my cotton wool thing. I did use larger pads of cotton wool, they were less dense. This was of course a smoke effect, I guess you will need to play a lot with the colouring to make it look like dense fire. 

 

Love the colours you've already applied, very strong pigment, and that's what you'll need I guess. 

[Glen McGuire]

On 9/16/2025 at 4:53 AM, Javelin said:

Found some old pictures of my cotton wool thing.

Those are cool pics, Roel.  Thanks for sharing.  But the project seems to be missing something, to me anyway.  Oh yes, a bottle!! 

 

 

I'm making a test run at a small fireball.  For the test, I made a dummy hull with bowsprit and drilled a hole from bow through the stern to insert the LED light and wires.  For the real thing I will run the wires thru the bottom of the hull, but running them out the back is easier for now.  

 

The fireball is going to be around 2" long, but the LED is only 3/16" long so I need a way for the LED light to travel the length of the entire fireball.  For this test, I decided to see if the light would travel through clear plastic and provide a sufficient glow.  I broke off the tine of a clear plastic fork and glued it to the tip of the LED.  Then I glued it onto the bow just below the bowsprit and ran the wires out the back to the battery.  The plastic fork tine did not provide a uniform distribution of the light, but it's not too bad.

 

 

Now for the fireball.  I decided the orange cotton balls were too dark for a base color, so I went with the yellow ones.  I tore one into pieces and built up (CA glued) the fireball around the LED and fork tine.   Then I took a fan brush and gave it some red and black highlights.

 

 

 

 

And here's how the test fireball looks with it lit up by the LED.   The picture really glares the spot where the fireball is coming out of the bow.  It's a much softer glow in person.  I think I can do better with my red and black shading (an airbrush might help too), but I also think I'm on the right track.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 18 by Glen McGuire

[Knocklouder]

You are one amazing  fellow, I just showed this to the First Mate and she said, wow is he ever talented.  I agree, 

Bob  M.

[Keith Black]

You appear to be on the right track, Glen. To me, inserting all that into a bottle would seem like the real nightmare of this build but then you always pull it off in the end.  

[Kauz]

On 9/15/2025 at 6:16 PM, Glen McGuire said:

An airbrush would probably work best but I don't have one.

Hello,

you might try a mouth atomiser. I used one in my youth for application of fixative to pastels. No airbrush then🦣.

[gjdale]

I’m late to the party (again) Glen, but I’m in for the ride now. Once again, you’ve found a way to take your art to another level.

You’ve mentioned several times about not having an airbrush. I think this is nature’s way of providing you just the excuse you need to acquire one………(just sayin’ 😉…….)

[Keith Black]

8 minutes ago, gjdale said:

You’ve mentioned several times about not having an airbrush. I think this is nature’s way of providing you just the excuse you need to acquire one

 

 Grant, Glen's power of suggestion has me wanting to buy one but I DON'T NEED ONE!   

[Paul Le Wol]

Wow Glen, this build is going to be spectacular!

[Glen McGuire]

20 hours ago, Knocklouder said:

I just showed this to the First Mate and she said, wow is he ever talented. 

Tell the First Mate thank you very much, Bob!!

 

 

19 hours ago, Keith Black said:

To me, inserting all that into a bottle would seem like the real nightmare of this build but then you always pull it off in the end.

Well Keith, you made me anxious to try a test run so here it is.  It fit just fine without masts, yards, sails, etc.  Hopefully I can say the same thing after the ship construction is completed.  One thing I'm pretty sure of - the stern/poop deck area of the ship rises so high that it will have to be a separate piece and installed after the ship is in the bottle.

 

 

 

17 hours ago, Kauz said:

you might try a mouth atomiser. I used one in my youth for application of fixative to pastels. No airbrush then

Thanks for the suggestion, Kauz.  I had not heard of those.  I found a marker sprayer on Amazon that I think is similar to what you are talking about and just ordered it.  Much cheaper than an air brush.  We will see how it works.

 

 

16 hours ago, gjdale said:

I’m late to the party (again) Glen, but I’m in for the ride now. Once again, you’ve found a way to take your art to another level.

Glad to have you here, Grant!  Thanks for following along.

 

 

16 hours ago, Paul Le Wol said:

Wow Glen, this build is going to be spectacular!

Thanks, Paul!  Glad to have you here as well.

 

 

Now that I've made a decent hole in the bottle and convinced myself I can make a reasonable looking fireball with the requisite wiring, it's time to begin the real construction of the ship.

 

[Keith Black]

 The dry run looks good, Glen. 👍

[Canute]

I was going to suggest a piece of fiber-optic material, but while it transmits light from end to end, it's not too good at glowing out the sides. Your idea is better. 😉

[Javelin]

That fork piece is a brilliant idea. Never thought about that! 

 

Please do make a lot of pictures of the build process,as I'm likely to check this log (and all your other logs) in detail for my next SIB. 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

'Just saw this idea that can neatly open the base end of a cylindrical bottle ... an easier way to insert a ship into a bottle, CA the glass back together and perhaps conceal the join with a turk's head knotting of scale rope around the bottle there. ...  What I saw had sound, but the link is without sound.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1274656010633947

[FriedClams]

An interesting project, Glen - well, all your builds are creative and interesting. Best of luck on this toasty hot new SIB.

 

Gary

Edited September 20 by FriedClams

[Glen McGuire]

On 9/19/2025 at 4:34 PM, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

an easier way to insert a ship into a bottle,

Yes, that would sure make these projects a lot less stressful!!

 

On 9/20/2025 at 9:44 AM, FriedClams said:

Best of luck on this toasty hot new SIB.

Thanks, Gary.  Glad to have you join the fun!

 

 

Continuing the construction of the hull.  I stacked my hull layers and sanded the down to the hull's basic shape.  Before doing the final shaping, I decided to cut the tunnel for the LED and wires.  I also decided to wait on gluing the layers together until I was satisfied with the tunnel, hence the heavy clamping below.  The toothpick helps keep the layers aligned and gives me a way to secure the assembly in the vise for drilling the tunnel.

 

 

I used a 1/8" drill bit for the tunnel.  My main concern was keeping the bore straight and just below the gun deck (you can see the pencil marks for the gun ports below).

 

 

And a test fit of the wires:

 

 

Satisfied with the tunnel, I pulled the layers apart and cut the notches in the gun deck (2nd layer from right) where I will insert the cannon barrels later.

 

 

The next step was to glue all the layers together.  

 

 

Next was additional shaping of the hull followed by work on the bulwarks. 

 

 

 

Bulwarks installed:

 

 

Bowsprit added and another test fit of the LED (with light saber attached) and wires.

 

Edited September 22 by Glen McGuire

[Kauz]

On 9/19/2025 at 3:28 PM, Glen McGuire said:

I had not heard of those.  I found a marker sprayer on Amazon that I think is similar to what you are talking about and just ordered it. 

Sorry for being too late, here is a video:

https://youtu.be/81OJdv73thQ?feature=shared

[Keith Black]

A dolphin skewer!   

 

The Queen Ann looks really sharp, Glen. 👍

[BANYAN]

I missed the kick-off yet again Glen; great to see another project up and running. And, what a great idea, that will be quite an unique display. It's looking great already.

 

So what are you drinking when you get these 'inspirations'?

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Glen McGuire]

12 hours ago, Keith Black said:

A dolphin skewer!   

I decided it looks like a light saber!  

 

 

12 hours ago, BANYAN said:

So what are you drinking when you get these 'inspirations'?

LOL!  Well, I can't blame it on the Bundy you sent me as it's gone!  But don't be surprised to see that bottle show up in a future inspiration, Pat!  

Edited September 22 by Glen McGuire