Chinese Junk
By Jake Groby
Another piece of ‘JUNK’ saved from the mud of Katrina. This model lived in a plastic box for the past 20+ years. I picked up the kit back in ’89 I think from Toys-R-US in the Lake Forest Plaza.
The Instructions were toast, but all the parts survived the ages. Painting the sail bamboo reeds was a bit time consuming, but the weathering of the model and sails blended together nicely. The paint used was all Enamels from my Katrina Stash.
The Bamboo was painted using Floquil Water Base Spanish Yellow so the paint would not bleed into the Floquil enamel Boxcar Red. I replaced all the out of scale blocks with wooden blocks closer to the proper scale as well.
I learned several things about Chinese Ship Building, such as they never adopted belaying methods for securing lines nor did they tack the sails, like square rigged ship. Chinese junks tacked by steering the boat directly through the wind; the sail’s semi-rigid, battened structure automatically swung to the new side without the need for sailors to physically pull it across, adjust lines, or worry about dangerous, uncontrolled jibs.