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

[Ian_Grant]

Hi Glen - another awesome build! Just got back from vacation and saw this thanks to your mention of me. 😏

 

Probably moot now, but when I read about your new idea of lit flames I thought of this build I had admired before:

 

 

 

[Canute]

For some reason, I get some old Talking Heads tune, "Burning Down the House", running around inside my head when I look at these explosions and fires in our models. 😁

[Glen McGuire]

On 9/23/2025 at 10:23 AM, Ian_Grant said:

Probably moot now, but when I read about your new idea of lit flames I thought of this build I had admired before:

That is a really cool build, Ian.  And my fireball is similar to the explosions on that sub with LED lighting and cotton balls for the explosion.  Plus, that builder did a nice job with his colors using a paint brush.  And glad to have you aboard here!

 

 

On 9/23/2025 at 11:13 AM, Canute said:

For some reason, I get some old Talking Heads tune, "Burning Down the House", running around inside my head when I look at these explosions and fires in our models. 😁

At least you had the courtesy of not saying it reminded you of Disco Inferno!  Any references to disco should be grounds for suspension from MSW.

 

 

The next step for the ship is making the channels, which is always a painstaking chore.  I'm not sure I've ever gone into much detail on how I make the channels so I'll give a little more info here.  I start with bamboo stir sticks that I borrowed from a Panera Bread restaurant.  I like to use bamboo on things I'm drilling tiny holes into because it does not splinter easily nor does it have any fuzz.  You can make very tiny and very clean holes.  

 

 

The shape of the stir sticks is almost a very flat ellipse.  So before drilling, I sand the tops and bottoms flat and square off the sides.  Next, I mark the channel holes 1/16" apart - 6 holes for the fore and main (4 shrouds and 2 backstays) and 4 holes for the mizzen (3 shrouds and 1 backstay).  Then I drill pilot holes with a .015" drill bit followed by the final hole at .018" diameter.  Uniform spacing and straight alignment of the holes is the biggest challenge for me.

 

 

To finish off the channels, I cut them apart then file down the sides as close as I can to the holes.  The narrower the channels, the easier it should be to push the ship in the bottle.   Without fail, however, my channels always seem to scrape the inside of the bottle's neck when I am inserting the ship.  Ugh.  After I took the pic below, I realized that I could get the margins closer to the holes on some of those channels, so I did.

 

 

Once I was happy with the channel construction, I glued them in place and decided it was time to give the Queen's outer hull her first coat of paint.  I took a screenshot from a movie clip to give me a color to try and match.  The sides are kind of a dirty, faded red (with ugly sails to match).

 

 

 

So here's my attempt at a color match.   I think I got fairly close, but I still may do a bit of smudging to dirty it up just a bit more. 

 

 

   

Edited September 25 by Glen McGuire

[Keith Black]

She's looking great, Glen. 

[Javelin]

Now THAT is what I was talking about! Those pics (and explanation of bamboo) of the channel making process are gold! 

I assume you are using CA glue for this and not PVA? 

 

Thanks! 

[Glen McGuire]

8 hours ago, Javelin said:

Now THAT is what I was talking about! Those pics (and explanation of bamboo) of the channel making process are gold! 

I assume you are using CA glue for this and not PVA? 

Thanks, Roel.  Your earlier comment is the reason I went into detail on the process.  Glad you found it worthwhile.  And yes, I use CA glue for just about everything because I'm too impatient to wait for PVA glue to dry!  The main exceptions are gluing the hull layers together (where I used wood glue with clamps) and when I need extended drying time like when I'm gluing things inside the bottle and need extra time to position things.  For inside the bottle gluing I use 30 minute epoxy, which I've found really gives you about 15 minutes before it becomes unworkable.

 

Also, you may be interested in what I use to drill the smallest holes.  For a long time I tried regular regular hobby drill bits, fitting them into the smallest collets on my Dremel.  But on the smallest bits, the collet could not keep the bit perfectly aligned and I would always have a bit of a wobble while spinning.  And even the tiniest amount of wobble makes it very hard to drill precision holes that small.  Then I discovered these circuit board routing bits on Amazon.

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWCPXYNP?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2&th=1

 

 

They fit into a standard Dremel collet, have zero wobble, and are very cheap.  I got the 6 pack in the link above because I break the tiniest ones fairly often. 

  

          

[KennyH78]

Been lurking for a while, following along silently; but I have to say that your SIB is coming along nicely.  I am quite amazed as to how anyone can make a model that detailed in such a small scale and then make it fit into a bottle.  Well done, Sir!

[Glen McGuire]

2 hours ago, KennyH78 said:

Been lurking for a while, following along silently; but I have to say that your SIB is coming along nicely. 

Hey Kenny!  Thanks for the kind words and I very much appreciate you following along.  I've still got a long ways to go here but so far so good!    

[FriedClams]

Excellent progress, Glen!  Thanks for the link to those micro drill bits.  Many of the bits I currently have are useless junk and I'm eager to try something else. 

 

Gary

[Keith Black]

 Glen, I've used those drill bits in the past but have since moved away from them because they won't fit in a pin vice. I wish they did because they seem to be good quality bits. 

[Canute]

And I think they are carbide, so they're brittle. Using them in a drill press should keep them workable for your holes. Hand drilling with a pin vise will learn you some new cuss words. Been in that game, glad to be out .

[Glen McGuire]

4 hours ago, Canute said:

And I think they are carbide, so they're brittle. Using them in a drill press should keep them workable for your holes.

You are right on both counts, Ken.  They work great in my Dremel drill press and are also very brittle.  If I drop one from more than an inch above my workbench it breaks.  Or if I do anything more than push it exactly straight in and straight out, it breaks.  But with careful use they work great.   

Edited September 26 by Glen McGuire

[Canute]

Yes and they are sharp, too. (said Thumbs)

[Javelin]

I'm using something similar too, however I don't use a pin vise. I use the directly with my fingers. Works great, most breakages is when I push them too hard into the plastic I'm drilling. 

I'm scared to put them into any machinery. Plastic rapidly melts and makes a mess of any drill bit when high drilling speeds are used. 

 

Don't know why you'd try dropping them from an inch high though? You have to rotate these things to make it work...

 

Edited September 26 by Javelin

[BANYAN]

Glen, your build has gone on for a little while with no suggests (where are you Keith B?). Noting the theme of this build can I dare to hope to see a couple of 'pirate' penguins, perhaps one with an eye patch and the other with a peg "flipper"    Long shot over the bow!  

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Glen McGuire]

11 hours ago, BANYAN said:

Glen, your build has gone on for a little while with no suggests (where are you Keith B?). Noting the theme of this build can I dare to hope to see a couple of 'pirate' penguins, perhaps one with an eye patch and the other with a peg "flipper"  

We made it dang near 2 pages before penguins got mentioned, which I think is a record! 

 

Maybe instead of the ship's cook getting roasted by the Greek Fire, I'll put a couple of penguins in the long boat.  Y'all would call that penguins on the barbie, right Pat?  😄

[Keith Black]

 

[Paul Le Wol]

On 9/26/2025 at 3:37 PM, Javelin said:

On 9/26/2025 at 3:37 PM, Javelin said:

Don't know why you'd try dropping them from an inch high though? You have to rotate these things to make it work..

😀

[Glen McGuire]

Penguins aside, it's time to work on the Queen's armament.  I'm using the diagram below as a guide.  It shows 7 gun ports on the main deck bulwark and 8 gun ports on the gun deck, so I'll make cannons to fit that configuration.

 

 

 

I start with the 14 carriages needed for the main deck guns.  Taking a thin (0.4 mm) piece of planking from my Constellation kit, I narrow it to 3mm wide.  Then I cut a bunch of pieces 1/8" long and an equal bunch of pieces 1/16" long.

   

 

 

 

Next, I glue the 1/16" pieces on top of the 1/8" pieces to give each carriage the semblance of the stairstep look you see from the side of carriages.

   

 

 

Next I take a small diamond grinding bit in my cordless rotary tool and hollow out a cradle for the cannon barrel.

  

 

 

 

The next step is making the cannon barrels.  I start with 20 gauge veterinary needles that are 0.8mm in diameter.  I like using vet needles because they are hollow like a real cannon barrel.  It's hard to see inside the bottle, but when you look at them close enough they look much better than the solid wire cannon barrels I used in my first SIB efforts.  I mark them off in 4mm lengths, then use a thin cutting wheel on my Dremel drill press to cut them into pieces.

 

 

 

The last steps are gluing the barrels into the carriage cradles and painting.

 

 

 

The gun deck cannons are much simpler since I don't build carriages for them.  I just cut slightly longer cannon barrels from the needles.  When the time comes, I will drill holes into the ports on the gun deck and insert these cannon barrels.  Here's the full armament ready to equip the Queen.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 10:29 PM by Glen McGuire

[Glen McGuire]

On to the mast and yards.  Again I start with bamboo toothpicks since I have to drill small holes for the pull threads and the shrouds.  Here are the mast sections.  I already hinged the lower masts using a crude version of the hidden hinge method that I borrowed from @John Fox III.  I've covered that in several previous build logs so I won't go into detail here.

 

 

 

 

For the mast tops, I take another bamboo stir stick and shave it down to about .5 mm and square off the sides.  Then I carve out a hole in the middle, drill tiny holes for the upper shrouds, and cut them to shape.

 

 

 

 

Here are the masts fully assembled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KennyH78]

WOW!  I just can't help, but be amazed by the level of detail you are able to show at such a small scale.  Really can't wait to see the completed project.

[Keith Black]

 Glen, the Queen Anne is looking hot!................someone had to say it.   In all seriousness, she's looking really sharp. 

[Paul Le Wol]

Beautifully done Glen!

[Glen McGuire]

On 10/1/2025 at 10:01 AM, Keith Black said:

Glen, the Queen Anne is looking hot!................someone had to say it. 

She's my hunka hunka burning love, Keith!

 

 

 

The next task is to try and create something that resembles the railing on the bow.

 

 

I went to a dear friend's wedding in Philly last summer and they were handing out little fans because the temps were a bit warm.  The 90 degree weather felt like a nice fall afternoon for me but I took a fan anyway.  Then I noticed the ribs were made of super-thin bamboo, so I kept it knowing I'd find a good use for it.

 

 

 

The ribs are 0.4mm in thickness which I thought might work well for the railing.  For the 2 curved portions of the railing, it's way too small and frail to try and bend, so I took a diamond crusted grinding bit and gently carved it to shape.  It's shaved down to about 0.5mm in the 2nd pic below.

 

 

The vertical sections of the railing were pretty much specks that were difficult to pick up and put in place even with my finest point tweezers.

 

 

 

Here's the railing in place..

 

 

 

It's here where I realized I should not have painted the hull yet.  It was a varying mix of 4 different colors plus some thinner to get the look I wanted, but now I needed to match it and unfortunately, I didn't pay much attention to how I mixed things earlier.  So I did my best to get a match.  I will have the same problem when I build the tall, rising back end of the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

    

Edited 12 hours ago by Glen McGuire

[Keith Black]

 The railings look fantastic, Glen. As to painting, I don't understand the issue, after the stern is finished why can't you match the paint as best as you can and paint the whole? I must be missing something other than the obvious.