Russ, Sean, & Jan, I appreciate your comments - after a bit of a slump, this project is getting fun again!

The sampan at the stern is next. Chinese small boats were squarish, flat bottomed craft apparently intended for calm inland waterways and harbors. This 1976 image from Hong Kong shows a typical sampan of the type carried aboard larger junks:

Pyro’s version, molded as a single piece, is a reasonable but simplified representation. It received the same tan acrylic and Raw Umber oil stain as the hull.

Mounted aboard, the little sampan was busied up with a pole, some tan thread ropes, and a random piece of fabric made from a white glue-soaked bit of facial tissue painted Tamiya Field Grey.


Gotta love the atmosphere of these old Pyro kits!

Tim,
I really like what you did with the sampan. Appropriately busy. It really fits in with the rest of the boat. Looking forward to the masts and rigging. Have you decided if the sails will be furled or deployed? Either way it's looking great!
John

Also further obscures the view in the cabin window to prevent anyone from "accidentally" seeing inside...

You'd really have to be looking for it....

Very tidy job on the sampan Tim,

Simple but looks just right.

Cheers

Si

Tim,

Really amazing work. The Sampan looks great, busing it up makes it look the part.

Really enjoying watching this build.

Dave

The kit came with lots of nice molded-in detail, including some passable depictions of ropes molded to the decks. I’d intended to just paint these up and use them as is, but after installing the winches with their thread cordage, those molded-in ropes started to seem a little weak. I covered them over with new rope piles of the same thread used for the winches.

Other molded-in details included crates on the main deck. They have some good detail on the tops, but the sides are completely smooth. This isn’t too bad, but the sides are also unrealistically sloped (because of the “draw angle” to enable the polystyrene part to be pulled from the molds.) I had trimmed the ends to square them, but the slopes on the middle crate were still pretty ugly. A tissue tarp like the one in the sampan now camouflages this.

With the deck squared away, the next step will be to sort out the crew...

Your attention to detail is just brilliant, Tim!

Nice work Tim,

The canvas to cover the dated moulding is classic, looks great.

cheers

Si

Back when I settled on the scale of this Junk, I bought some figures to make up a crew. Although there are a ton of 1/87 “HO scale” railroad figures available, the closest thing I could find to Chinese sailors was this set of female agricultural workers from Preiser:

These beautifully sculpted figures came neatly assembled and prepainted, but the bent over “harvesting” poses would be a challenge to adapt to shipboard use. I started with the walking figure.


After cutting away the plants in her hands and test fitting the figure in various places on the deck, I found she fit pretty well at the helm. I cleaned up the mold seams and turned the head to give her a more dynamic stance. Since the colors provided on the figures were good, I just repaired the paint damage done by my alterations and and added some shadows and highlights.
The hat, which I knocked off during clean-up, tended to hide the beautifully sculpted face on the figure, so I left it off.


Placed back aboard, my dedicated helmswoman leans into the tiller to put the junk into a starboard turn.

Tim....

This has to be one of my favorite build blogs of all time, and from a confirmed armor guy that is saying something. I love the combination of great building, fun and education that make it one of the things I look forward to reading.

As for the ladies bent over harvesting.... how about reaching down for one of the ropes you just so carefully placed on the deck? or straightening out the tarp that is working its way off of the boxes?

The young lady at the tiller definitely looks the part, and is more realistic than, yet another, German tank commander pointing "that a way"...

Whatever you do with them.. I am looking forward to the result.
Bob

Tim,

I missed out on a couple of your updates - awesome work!! This is really artwork, they way you are transforming this rather basic kit into something very special!! I just love this build log of yours!!

Cheers,
Jan

Hi Tim,

Nice job with the figure, the pose looks just right for someone leaning on a heavy tiller.

Cheers

Si

great work on the helmswoman Tim!

I wonder if she knows what's going on below deck

Bob, Si, Jan, and Russ – thank you!

Figure number two was supplied bending over pulling up plants.

After removing the plants, cleaning up the mold seams and touching up the paint, I set her to work securing a line to the belaying posts.

Placing a foot on the raised post rack helps make her look a little less like she’s harvesting crops!

The third figure was also depicted bending over pulling up plants, but this one could be rotated into a natural-looking sitting position.

I’d thought to show her sitting there mending nets or rope or something, but while trimming away the plants I noticed that the remnant in the left hand started to resemble a fish head... so I went with that, scratchbuilding a tiny fish body to go along with it.

Adding a knife to the figure’s other hand, this agricultural worker becomes a sailor preparing a nice salmon dinner for the crew!

The ship’s cat looks on with interest.

Tim,
So cool what you're doing with all those figures. Looking like an all female crew so I guess the Cap'n's on top...

Thanks Mark - you're probably right. There is one male coming aboard presently... but he's definitely not on top!

Tim,

This just keeps getting better and better.... I love how you are not only making the crew members fit in by actually doing something useful, but how they actually fit the spaces you have them in. Each of the last 3 crew fit the deck and fittings like they were made for those locations.

Oh, excellent fish.... and I am sure that the cat won't miss out on a bit either.

Bob

Tim,
The base you did looks great, but with all this action on deck, having it sitting in the water would really make it come to life. Have you considered doing something like that?

Tim,

what shall I say?? That's just marvellous, your creativity on playing with those figures!! Fantastic and great fun to watch!!

Cheers,
Jan

Real character in crew Tim,

The cat in a superb touch too.

Cheers

Si

who'd have thought the world of modelmaking could have so much double entendre? absolutely hilarious and brightened my day!

Mark, Bob, Jan, Si, & Russ – thanks for your comments about the figures. I actually lucked out with the crew; Preiser’s HO scale figures are all first rate, and with just a little coaxing those farm workers turned out to be handy little sailors as well!

Here’s an overall shot showing the all-girl deck crew in action:

Next up: the action below

As I prepared to place the figures inside the cabin, I noticed a visible knock out pin mark that I had missed before.

Doh!

Way too late to repair at this point, my thought was to conceal it; I hit upon the idea of a jacket hanging on a peg.

Cutting out a bit of facial tissue to about the right size and shape, I crinkled it a little and soaked it in a thin solution of water and white glue. While it was still wet, I added another smaller piece to it to depict a sleeve, and another over the end of the sleeve to suggest a cuff.


The shapes are pretty basic, but once dry and painted they become a passable representation of a hanging jacket.

Looking very good Tim,

Excellent save with the jacket, adds more character to the stern cabin too.

Cheers

Si