Chinese fishing junk crew

[Tim Reynaga]

These figures were part of a Pyro Chinese War Junk build from a few years back, which I actually completed as a fishing junk. The kit was “box scale” at around 1/72-1/100 or so scale. Chinese sailor figures are hard to find in any scale, though, so I settled on 1/87 in the hope that some railroad figures might work.

 

 

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 pre-painted, but the bent over “harvesting” poses would be a challenge to adapt to shipboard use.

 

 

I started with the easiest, 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 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.

Edited September 17, 2022 by Tim Reynaga

[Peter2]

Well done. Those figures are certainly not "junk". 😏 She's a Great Helmswoman, so to speak (that's a Mao reference). An idea to use the straw hat: I sometimes see images of persons in rural fields where, to get a better view around them, say, people have pushed back their conical hat behind the head, so it lies across their shoulder blades, held on by a chin string. A piece of thread might do on the model as a chin string?

[Tim Reynaga]

12 hours ago, Peter2 said:

Well done. Those figures are certainly not "junk". 😏 She's a Great Helmswoman, so to speak (that's a Mao reference). An idea to use the straw hat: I sometimes see images of persons in rural fields where, to get a better view around them, say, people have pushed back their conical hat behind the head, so it lies across their shoulder blades, held on by a chin string. A piece of thread might do on the model as a chin string?

Thanks, and good idea about the hat. The 1/87 figures are so small (less than an inch high) that the strap may not even be needed!

[Tim Reynaga]

 

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!

[Tim Reynaga]

 

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 Reynaga]

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!

 

[Tim Reynaga]

In addition to the hard working deck crew, I thought it would be fun to include some off duty sailors as well.

 

 

I found some figures from Noch of Germany that would work nicely.

 

 

After cleaning up the seams and a quick repaint, the cavorting couple were ready to come aboard.

 

 

Tucked away inside the cabin, they are just visible through the side windows...

 

 

...although the view from aft is more revealing!

[Bertie McBoatface]

So rude! 😉

 

They all look very good indeed. Your conversions and painting are excellent especially in this small scale

[Tim Reynaga]

And here are a few images of the completed fishing junk crew “in action”:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and the action below decks:

 

[Peter2]

Great work. As a finishing touch, I wonder if the dragon carving on the hull could be painted typical lucky red and/or gold, unless it's inappropriate? Curious about the history of women living and working aboard junks, I found a website https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ching-shih-chinese-female-pirate which describes the life of an historical Chinese woman, sometimes called"Ching Shih" (her Canonese name being Shek Yang) who became a leader of sea pirates, while another site https://www.localiiz.com/post/culture-history-cheng-i-sao-the-flower-boat-girl describes how before becoming a pirate, Shek Yang had been active, so to speak, on a "flower boat", a type of junk where the scene you modelled "below desks" might be a common occurrence, in the more commercial sense. [Though I'm puzzled about why that "Noch-ty" pair, as I call them, are supplied for model railway layouts, unless they're meant to be like those newlyweds Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint symbolically going into a Freudian train tunnel at the end of Hitchcock's film "North by Northwest"?]

[Tim Reynaga]

Quote

...I'm puzzled about why that "Noch-ty" pair, as I call them, are supplied for model railway layouts...

 

 

I'm not sure either how Noch intended these figures to be used... they even came with a little brass bed.

 

 

For that matter, the Prieser agricultural workers are a bit of a mystery too - really, how often do you see rice paddy fields in model railroad layouts?

 

 

Anyway, I'm grateful that these unusual "railroad" figures were produced - the are a simple, fun way to help bring a model ship to life!

[perdu]

Brilliant!

[Tim R-T-C]

On 10/5/2022 at 4:55 PM, Tim Reynaga said:

 

 

I'm not sure either how Noch intended these figures to be used... they even came with a little brass bed

 

German railway manufacturers have a long history of these naughty figures. Indeed the term Preiser Nude is common parlence in model railway circles.

 

I think the joke is to hide them, much as you have, inside scenes to reward the observer.

 

Superb thread by the way and some lovely work on all the figures.

[bissyboat]

Your vessel is like delicious take-away. It´s very good junk. Well done! ⚓🙌