Junk Update!

Not too long ago I upgraded an old scratchbuilt Chinese junk that had languished unused for far too long. I followed up on that by adding masts to a resin junk model so it would be ready for painting, at the same time preparing some crew for both vessels. I’ve now made a bit more progress on these models and got some of the crew finished.

The scratchbuilt junk has never had any dedicated crewmen, so I’ve now finished four figures for it. I opted to give it a two man crew for the forward cannon and two jingal gunners to man weapons on the deck amidships.

The forward gun crew were converted from Newline Designs American Civil War figures, having their kepis removed and straw sun hats made from milliput.

The two jingal gunners were converted from Britannia Miniatures Viet Cong rifleman (jingals were essentially very large muskets or rifles fired from a rest; late 19th Century version were breech loading and look like big bolt action rifles). Their rifles were filed down and jingals added from plastic rod and card, wound round with paper strengthening bands (which are a bit overscale)! Paper cylinders were added to the underside of the weapons that fit over the wooden dowels/supports on the ship’s deck and they keep the crewmen in place (the supports used to have small swivel guns mounted on them).

The crew were fairly simple to paint and I opted for colours that would let me use them for Chinese or Vitenamese 19th Century armies or navies. Having got this old model renovated with its new sail I was really pleased to have now added some crew to it. If I can I’ll keep my eyes open for a figure that would make a good commanding officer for it, but so far I’m happy with how it looks!