Thank you gentlemen for your generous comments! Here are a few images of the completed junk “in action”:

Great job Tim,

Your build has captured the atmosphere of the vessel, have really enjoyed following along, and learned a lot from it too.

Thanks mate, will miss the updates.

Time to crack a or two

cheers.

Si

Excellent rendition of a coastal (I think) junk; I built one some years ago, but 'back dated' it a century or two and rendered it fit for riverine use. I started by omitting all armament and filling the drop down door to the rear gundeck, then added* two hand winches to the rear deck and attached a chain between them via the rudder to lift same when in shallower water. I thought it too small to fenestrate the rudder, another Chinese innovation. I decided not to flatten the hull, building it as a waterline model. A barred vent was added each side under the rear deck, as were sliding doors onto the main deck. I hope I still have the bamboo poles somewhere so I can add them; riverine craft in China used them (and probably still do) as punt poles.** These modifications were carried out as per my interpretation of period artwork. I must rig it one day...

I wish someone would reissue this kit; I think mine was an Otaki boxing, and I'd love to modernise one with details for an engine - the kit, as we've seen, has none - and maybe a pair of electric winches and cables for the (still unfenestrated) rudder. What an inspiring build yours was!

*No I didn't; like you, I concluded that the included winches were for that purpose. I forgot that they were included.

**The poles seem not to have been sculled - according to an account some time in the C.20 (I can't remember the book) instead, they were held while the crewmen on task walked along the deck. Useful to a motor vessel for fending off river and canal banks.

I also added a water cask to the boat, and a barrel of growing Coriander to the rear deck. A nod to ocean going practice of the time - this is why Chinese Medicine never discovered Scurvy.

BTW: I am aware of English Maritime terminology, but this is not used (obviously) in Chinese nor in English for riverine craft; they have a left and right, front, back and middle.

Just remembered - the "bales" included in the kit are, if Pyro read the same sources I used, fishing nets, tightly packed and leather bound. These were used as covert armour by pirates, so I suppose it would have been natural for their hunters to do likewise.

Forgive me if this has been mentioned, but what figures have you used for crew?

Hi John,

My unusual all girl deck crew started as HO scale railroad figures:

Oh! (Or should that be 'Ai ya!) really exquisite! I'll check Preiser for Male counterparts.

Adding to the Bamboo Pole Query: a few species can exceed 100 feet in height, and can reach about a foot (30cm) in diameter. I haven't measured the plastic poles. In China they are still used to produce scaffolding, limited to 6 stories, but allegedly more in Hong Kong. Sometimes seen on larger cargo vessels, they were carried tied to the hull as cargo to areas where these species didn't grow. Apart from the size, this would also help leach the sap from the poles.

Superb!

Thanks for sharing this awesome build, Tim!

PS. Don't forget to post some shots of what's happening in the Cap'ns' cabin

Thanks Russ, you're right. I should have mentioned, in addition to the crew on deck, there are two other figures aboard:


The junk may be a hard working fishing vessel, but all work and no play...

Ah, those are the shots Tim!

Always good to see humour find it's way into our hobby

And now; confession time.
I've made a complete idiot of myself here. I NEVER built this kit in any form. In fact, looking at your exemplary build, I thought I was having some serious memory issues.

I began to doubt myself when thinking about the keel thus: "Ah? I forgot I had to do that..."
Then I saw the side window in the cabin: "Hang on; why would I have carved off better representations than mine?"
Finally the hull bracing: It looks like cut, shaped timber, whereas mine looks as though the shipyard cut boughs into branch shaped planks. There were no holes moulded into screens or shades, and the baled nets were separate mouldings. Added to that, I think the Maxim guns are bigger and the stated scale was, IIRC, 1:60. The ship's boat is also different.
Although very, very similar, it's not the same kit; perhaps Otaki wanted an example of this class of vessel in their range and based it on the Pyro kit?
It was marketed as a Pirate Junk. So I did add the rudder winches.
The Pyro/Lindberg example looks better overall and more archaic in parts, so I will keep an eye out for one to 'regress'; my Otaki ship looks a bit modern, so I might just bring it forward, just to accommodate some rice farmers looking for adventure at sea!

Just to add that a build of the same kit I had is on Britmodeller, it was Imai originally and yes, 1:60 scale. And modern: a depiction of a junk of around 1880.

LOL!

John, I must admit I was a little baffled by some of your comments, but now they make sense! Your confusion is understandable, though; there have been several very similar, but distinct, junk models in plastic issued over the years by Pyro (reissued by Life-Like and Lindberg), Revell, Aurora, Otaki, and probably others.

I looked over at Britmodeler but couldn't find your build - can you post a picture? I'd love to see it.

John, of course you may use the image - I am honored by the request!

Not actually my build, the one on Britmodeller - I did mine about 30 years ago - but try searching "1/60 junk", selecting 'content titles only'. Eleventh result down. The early entries will illustrate the differences - and similarities.

Are you thinking of the old Aurora Chinese Junk produced during the 60s as part of thier Ship line? I think it was 1/60th Scale as I recall.
VR, Russ

I doubt it, the box art is very different from the Pyro and Imai examples. It does remind me of the Revell offering, though, which I thought was awful.

I was heavily tempted to rig the large scale Revell Cutty Sark with Junk sails; I read that there were reports around the late 19th - early 20th century of Clipper hulled vessels thus equipped trading between China and India. This would have been guesswork however, as no illustration is known. Smaller vessels were built in Macau, called Lorcha, with a streamlined Western hull and Chinese running gear, combining the best features of both. More modern yachtsmen have also experimented with this rig: if anyone is interested, look up Jester.

John, the link below at "oldmodelkits.com" is to the 1/68 Aurora Chinese Junk. It's a totally different kit than Tim's Pyro (Imai) model depicted here, which is more like 1/100 scale. The Aurora kit builds out to be little over a foot long. There was a later 1/48 Monogram "armed junk" as well, but it was really an armed "sampan". And Revell Germany marketed a 1/144 version of a "Pirate Junk". LS also offered one, but im not sure of the scale.

https://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=21514&newlist=1

This kit was also marketed by Aurora as a Chinese "Pirate" Junk as I recall during the 60s. And I think there might have been a Lindberg offering of a Junk in about 1/60th scale as well. The Pyro kit is about the smallest offering of a Junk that I can recall.
VR, Russ

Ah, yes indeed; I see it now. Definitely not the Revell offering!

The two we've been discussing are Pyro (then Lifelike and Lindberg), and a similar kit, albeit different, by Imai then Otaki.

I like the look of that Aurora kit. I have searched for examples on the market, but can only find a couple of wooden kits.

Aoshima and another manufacturer (can't recall which) both did small scale junks. Aoshima's was of a defined merchant vessel; I used to know which. I haven't looked at my references for years.

I do recall, though, that the line between a large San pan (lit. three plank, equivalent to boat) and a small junk is greatly blurred.

In some areas, by the way, eyes were painted on so the junk/san pan can 'see' where it's going; after a wealthy English Chinese donated a tank to the British Army in WWI with eyes in situ, the tradition was continued by the 4th Royal Tank Regiment, the adornment being known as 'Chinese Eyes'.

Yá know, this kind of thing never happens to me!

LOL! You are right, I’ve never had quite that much fun aboard a fishing boat either!

This project has been a real kick from start to finish – and here’s one last little episode: After the model was completed I thought it would be cool to add some sort of nameplate. Having no idea what might be a suitable name for a fishing junk, I consulted a Chinese friend at work for some ideas. I showed her some pictures of the build, and she suggested “Gāocháo Háo,” meaning something like “high tide boat” or “high water boat.” It sounded good to me, and so she obligingly sent me the name in Mandarin which I printed up on some nice resume paper and attached to the base.



Imagine my surprise when, as I later showed her the above picture, she burst out laughing and refused to explain why.

Hmmmm. Time to hit Google.

“Háo”, meaning something like "mark” or "number," is a suffix traditionally added to Chinese ship names (like the Japanese “Maru”). Háo is used for both civilian and military vessels, and so for example the USS Enterprise would be called the “Qiye Háo” in Mandarin. So far so good. The other part, Gāocháo, as she had told me, does mean “high tide.” However, it is also commonly used to describe a climax point in other domains…

Well played, my friend…

Tai hao le!(Excellent)

Oh, yes, well-played, indeed!

This will remain one of my favorite builds for as long as I am a member of KMN. Well-done, Tim.

I love it! More pictures!

Thanks BK! I haven't taken any more pictures of this build, but perhaps this one is a fitting end to the blog:


This site is being shut down and archived today, but take a look at the NEW Model Shipwrights site at https://modelshipwrights.com/

I hope to see you there!