Hello fellow modellers,

Here is the first instalment of my ship in the bottle build and the ship inside the bottle will be the Mayflower. It's worth noting first of all, that putting small models of ships in a bottle, was born out the old seaman's art of whittling.

Whittling, was usually where a usually a sailor or it could be anyone with a connection to the sea would use a pen knife to carve a representation of a ship from an old bit of driftwood or any scrap that was due for the fire. We see an example of this in the period film 'Master and Commander', where two of the ships hands produce a plank on frame model showing the hull design of the 'Acheron' for Captain Jack Aubrey, an excellent example of the art, although a bit more technical than usual.

We see then that a ship in the bottle model is the next logical step on from plain whittling. It should be noted however that 'ship in a bottle' was a branch off from whittling which remains as the parent of this.

Although today the answer of how the ship gets into the bottle could be discovered with a click of a mouse, in the early days it was a source of fascination to children and adults, how the ship got there. I hope you will enjoy the experience as much as I

The picture above shows the completed model as standard, although I intend to do a few upgrades. As you can see the box has faded with age as it dates from circa 1976

Here we have the first bit of construction the base for the bottle to rest on. I have to say that even though it is plastic, I'm very impressed by the quality as it looks very wood like and won't need any painting. I have stuck the ships name sticker on the base and glued the resting arms into the base. Should I leave the sticker or do something else with it? What do you guys think?

I love the idea of this kit.

Can`t wait to see it all pop up in place.



Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Look forward to seeing this one come together. Never seen one built not even watched a video. So this will be great to see how its all done.

Chris 😎😎

Never seen one of these go together, so should be educational as well as inspirational

Regards Gray

Make sure you watch the you tube video, it's fantastic quality.

Perhaps it's something we should bring to Modelspace, there seems to be interest, what do you guys think?

Will be watching this one come together with great interest! We have a ship in a bottle featuring an ocean liner with Mum's name "Elizabeth" on the bow. It was given to Mum by a German POW who also made one named Marjory for her sister. (Dad was disabled but joined the Home Guard and often escorted the 'better' POWs to work in the local community).
The Mayflower looks a nice little model too!

Best of luck!

Robin.