how do you get a ship into a bottle?

Answer 1

You need to be verrry skillful and verrrry patient.
You need a bottle (you already knew that didn't you?).
The water is the last thing to put in the bottle after the ship is in place and all of the to-be-raised things are affixed, glued in place after the ship is pushed backwards through the neck of the bottle.
First make a hull that will fit through the neck of the selected bottle.
Then you make the masts, people you want to put on the ship (if any) and all the other things that you want on the ship, which you can make all of them or cheat a little and buy some or all of them (or cheat a lot and buy a kit).
Everything that isn’t too tall to fit through the neck is painted, placed and affixed to the ship so that they won't move (Lepages glue in a tube works), the mast and anything else that's too high to go though the neck needs to be 'hinged' in place with little-bitty hinge set-ups that leave the top of the 'thing' pointing towards the back, with a 'stop' in the location in front to prevent it from going past a right angle to the deck when it's raised. Those 'things' to be raised need to have looooong strings/threads looped somewhere, say, like an inch up from the base of a mast or whatever, looped around the back of the item with both ends of the string to be pulled out after the ship is in the bottle. Each string needs to be somehow identified (color coded or numbered or however you do it) in the order that it will be pulled on to be raised.
All of the hinged things to be raised will lay back flat against the deck with a stopper in front of the base to prevent it from being pulled over too far and falling forward on the deck and lousing up the job. The long color-coded strings/threads are gathered and left sticking out in front of the ship
Just before insertion of the boat through the neck of the bottle Lepages or other appropriate glue is put where the raised item will set against.
The ship is then inserted through the neck and setting in the dry horizontal bottle on its base with the color coded strings ending up strung out though the neck and laying outside. The strings are then pulled to raise each item into its glued position before the glue sets – the strings are later pulled out of the bottle after left long enough for the glue to set on all the raised things.
When all is ready a rubber bulb squeeze syringe is used to put colored water in the bottle which is then plugged tightly with its cork and left setting on its stand – a miracle of the ages.
Whew, that was long winded, huh?

Answer 2

I cant believe the answers here!

The ships are made outside the bottles and each mast has a flaxible base, normally a thin piece of wood or metal. When the boat is pushed into the bottle the masts pull back and lay against the deck. You then use a long pair of tweezer like snips and a hoot like a knitting tool to rearrange the masts and rigging.

If you don't believe me, take a look at some, you'll never see the boats hull to be bigger than the bottle neck. You cant blow molten glass round a small wooden or plastic model, it would melt.

Answer 3

I think they make it bit by bit and it goes into the bottle flattened and there are strings attached to different bits of the ship and the other ends of the string are left hanging outside the neck of the bottle then they gently pull each section of string i.e. masts etc and they all stand up section by section until the ship is complete - genius I say!

Or I could be completely talking mince!

Answer 4

The masts are hinged, you flatten out the boat, put it in the bottle, glue in place, when dry you pull the string, the mast's rise up, glue mast base, dry, cut string, Ya not supposed to tell the secret, thats the fun, and wonderment of "A ship in a bottle". The details of any model are what make it great.

Answer 5

Take the easy way.

Find a very small ship or a very big bottle.

Answer 6

You either make the ship inside the bottle with ling tweezers or you can make it with the rigging down, than stand it up in the bottle.

Answer 7

You make ship with all the rigging down , put it in the bottle , then pull the back stay on the rigging to pull it up !!

Answer 8

From my experience, I always found it easier to get a bottle
into a ship!

Answer 9

They put the ship in with the sails down, tied to a bit of string then they pull the sails up when it is inside. I saw it on 'How its made'

Answer 10

it is puzzle,you build it ,inside the bottle.

try out with very long tweezers ,without the bottle fisrt.
severals slices of the ship ,one in top of the other.