How'd they do that?

A Ship In A Bottle

Well, coming home last night, I had somewhat of a discussion with Katie and Kristen-- a random, out of the blue-where did that come from--on how people get a ship inside a bottle. Hmm? I was wondering this when I got home because, frankly, it seemed impossible to do. So, I went to Ask.com and found this site. If you don't care, too bad, this is my blog! Enjoy...

(Taken from http://home.att.net/~ShipModelFAQ/smf-q079.html)

You lay the masts backward, then twist the yards as parallel to the masts as possible. All the forestays run thru loops on the bow sprit.
I made the "water" base from rubber mold stuff, sat the hull into it while it was still wet, peeled it from the hull after drying, then air brushed water effects on the rubber, rolled the whole thing up and slipped it thru the neck. Since the bottle is round, I had used a piece of styrene rolled to the shape of the bottle, and held round with plaster of paris cast over it, to act as the bottom of the mold for the water base, which I poured the liquid rubber into, guaranteeing a proper fit to the inside of the bottle.
Taking rubber cement I applied with a brush taped to a 1/4" dowel, I glued the water base piece inside the bottle. This was the hardest part. Since the cement was for all intent "contact cement", I had to hit the exact spot the first try. Since I only have one arm, I had to get some help. A friend held the base upside down, taped to a dowel rod, as I brushed on the glue to both the bottle and the base, then we rotated the bottle till it lined up to the base, then jammed it together. We stopped for a beer after that part!
I inserted the completed ship thru the neck after painting rubber cement to the keel, allowing all the forestays to hang outside the bottle neck. I set the ship into it's depression in the water base and allowed it to dry while returning for another beer!
Next day, I set up the masts. First I applied yellow elmers glue to the inside if the mast hinges. This was difficult because of the sails being in the way, but by lifting them up out of the way with a piece of coat hanger, I got all three masts glued, them began to draw on the forestays, which raised the masts up. The mizzen and main stays were already tied to the fore and main masts so they rose up right along with the foremast.
I raised the masts to the full posture then taped off the forestays to the bottle neck till the glue dried. I had also glued the forestays to the loops on the bowsprit. All this gluing is done one dab at a time by putting a drop of Elmers on the end of a coat hanger wire. After drying for a day, I went back in with a razorblade (out of a disposable razor) taped to a dowel rod, and cut the forestay draw strings off as near the bow sprit as I could. Next I prodded the yard arms to a level position. I had tied the topsail and topgallant yards to the main yards with a line connected to the tips of each so that as the main was leveled, the rest followed. I could not glue these since the fore mast masked the main and the mizzen from being reached by a glue dabber. In spite of this, they stayed level anyhow (I used straight pins for pivots connecting the yards to the masts).
I did two of these and sold both. I saw one last year and after 10 years it still looks good (I was afraid of the mold rubber being able to retain paint).
The bottles were antique whisky bottles about 18" tall, 6" neck with a generous 1 1/4" neck opening.
The ship hull was a bit more than 4" long with a 1 1/2" bowsprit. The masts are about 3" tall from the deck. The hull was made from a Revell "Kearsarge" quarter boat. The whole works barely fitted thru the neck.
That is how you put a ship in a bottle.

Possibly the most useless, pointless, dumbest post ever posted in the history of blogs.
Well, atleast now you are informed and educated so next time somebody asks you how they get that darn ship in that bottle, you can tell them exactly how it's done.

Thanks for wasting the time to read that...
Have a stinkin' awesome day!