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Rolling Sloop in a Bottle

- by Frans Dekker

 

A Sailing Sloop was used until about 1975 by the Dutch navy. It had 2 masts and one sail but instead this one I have built is used for rolling. I made the sloop hull in two parts. The keel, bow and stern are made in two part and hold together with two little pins. The trusses are made in triplex and glued on the keel. The ship’s hull is made of wood 5 x 0,5 mm.

 

The hull for this rolling sloop in a bottle is made in two parts the same way as the sailing sloop. The navy personal are in the dingy to salute an officer. Original there are more bends in the hull. So I put between each bend 2 more bends. On the floor there are 5 foot supports to make rowing much more comfortable.

 

De sailors are made of copper wire 2 mm thick for the body and 1.2 mm for the arms and feet. I put some wood glue on each part to give the body and the other parts the right dimensions. The copper wire for the feet are 2 mm linger than necessary. I drilled some holes in the floor were the sailors are standing in.

 

The plateau ware the single officer is standing on is the disembarkation platform of the multipurpose ship Johan de Witt no L 801 of the Dutch navy. The navy museum in Den Helder were not able to give me information about this salute.

 

The following is a pictorial guide showing the steps Frans Dekker took in building his Rolling Sloop in a bottle. It is best viewed by clicking on the first picture and then moving your curser to the right middle side of each picture to reveal the ">"  (forward symbol).  Click on the > symbol to advance to the next picture in sequence. There are five pages.