Ship In Light Bulb Model Area

All of the models shown in this area are for sale by John Fox III through his business Lothlorien Crafts & Design. In almost all cases more than one model was built. However, all were completely hand crafted using techniques John developed for building ship in bottle models. Larger and more detailed digital photographs are available for some models via email. Models are added to these pages periodically when new ones are completed. Models are removed if they are no longer available. Commissions for a model of your favorite sailing ship or boat are gladly accepted, on a first-come first-served basis. Please visit the Commissioned Model Area for more information.
This ship in light bulb model is of the Yawl "Sea Bird".  The model portrays the 27'-5" Sea Bird as she probably appeared in 1911, the year she crossed the Atlantic Ocean with a three man crew. The model is at the scale of 1:160, built in 2000 and housed in a 3" vertically oriented globe light bulb. The model measures 3" in diameter x 5 1/2" tall, including the 3 1/2" square stand. The top of the model stand is covered with a specially made compass rose. This model won First Place in the Miniature Division of the Internet Model Shipwright Society Online Competition in 1999, and won a Silver Award at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum's 25th Annual Model Ships & Boats  Competition.

Pricing for "Sea Bird" in light bulb model:
$450.00, plus shipping  (these models are temporarily unavailable)

 
These ship in light bulb models are of the famous Schooner Yacht "America". The models portray the America as she probably appeared in 1851, the year she won the "Hundred Guinea Cup" race and forever changed the name of the race and the trophy to her own. The models are at the scale of 1:600 and housed in 3" globe light bulbs. There are two versions of the mounting of the models, one vertical and the other horizontal, as depicted in the photos above. The vertically mounted models measure 3" in diameter x 5" tall, including the stand. The horizontally mounted models measure 3" wide x 4" long x 3.5" tall, including the stand. One of the vertically oriented versions of this model won a Silver Award at the annual Model Ships & Boat Competition of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.

Pricing for "America" in light bulb models:
Vertical model....$350.00, plus shipping 
Horizontal model....$320.00, plus shipping

 
These ship in bulb are of the modern Sandbagger "Bull". The Bull is one of two sandbaggers built to race each other, and to experiment with the sandbagger type of racing boat design. The original sandbaggers were quite popular in the Northern East Coast of the US in the 1800's as racing boats. The models are at the scale of 1:264 and housed in 3" globe light bulbs. There are two versions of the mounting of the models, one vertical and the other horizontal, as depicted in the photos above. The vertically mounted models measure 3" in diameter x 5.5" tall including the stand. The horizontally mounted models measure 3" wide x 4" long x 3.5" tall including the stand. One of the vertically oriented versions of this model won a Silver Award at the annual Model Ships & Boats Competition of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. 

Pricing for "Bull" in light bulb models:
Vertical model....$320.00, plus shipping
Horizontal model....$285.00, plus shipping

 
This  is a ship in light bulb model of the famous Armed Transport "Bounty". The model's scale is 1:590, making the entire model less than 3" long. This model was built as part of a set of three models, one ship in bottle and one ship in light bulb model which were commissioned and can be viewed in the Commissioned Model Area here. The model shown here for sale is housed in a 3" diameter, globe light bulb and is mounted on a wooden stand with brass trim and a special compass rose. 
Bounty was originally built as a commerical sailing ship called Bethia. She was purchased by the British Royal Navy for the single purpose of bringing living breadfruit trees from the island of Tahiti. It was during this voyage that the mutiny occurred that made Bounty a a household word. The model is based largely on the book and plans by John McKay. 

This model won a Silver Award at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum Annual Model Ships & Boats Competition in 2003.
 


All available models have been sold. If you would like to commission a model of "Bounty" for yourself, 
please follow this link to the Commissioned Model Area

 
 
This is a ship in light bulb model of the Polar Wooden Screw Yacht "Endurance". Built as the "Polaris", her name was changed when she became involved in the exciting adventure story of Ernest Shackleton's failed Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Plans were obtained, and used along with the published Hurley photographs of Endurance to produce the model.
This model is housed in a sodium vapor light bulb and is 11 1/2" long with a height of 5 1/2", including the horizontal stand. The model was built at the scale of 1:400, or 1"=33 1/3'. Two previous versions of this model were built under commission as ship in bottle models. A few additional photos of Endurance are shown on the commission model page. 
One of the commission models of Endurance won First Place in the Miniature Division and Best In Competition for 2001 in  the Internet Model Shipwright Society Online Competition. This model won a Gold Award at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum Annual Model Ships & Boats Competition in 2003.

Pricing for "Endurance" in light bulb model:
$2,250.00, plus shipping

All available models have been sold. If you would like to commission a model of "Endurance" for yourself, please follow this link to the Commissioned Model Area

 
If you are interested in purchasing one of these models, please check the "Purchase Information" by clicking on the hotlink below or in the logo at the top of the page. The Purchase Information page gives details of the payment options and shipping methods available.
A list of the awards won by John Fox III for these and other models at modeling competitions is in the "Awards & Articles" area, click on hotlink below, or in logo above. There is also a list of John's published magazine articles on building his ship in bottle models on this page.
If you'd like to learn more about how these models were built, please use the "Construction" link below or at top of page. In that area you can see more detailed photos of different models, as well as construction techniques and materials. There is an animated .gif showing a model ship being put into a bottle in stages in the "Construction" area. Also in this area you will find two free "Web Articles" made from re-edited, previously published, magazine articles. These articles can be downloaded and then viewed with normal web browsing software. They are beginner level modeling articles showing techniques John has developed for building ship in bottle models.
If you'd like to learn a little bit about John, please visit the "Bio Sketch" area.