Not junk.

I have done the prototype for my first Sampan. It needed to be much smaller than a river junk, and have the distinctive curved roof. I wasn't so bothered about the sail for this one. In the end I settled on it carrying two bases. Four made it look too chunky. The next problem was that using the thick card I used for the junk for the sides meant they looked unwieldy as well, so I needed something stiff but thin.

I drew up a net of the design on DrawPlus, which I inexplicably failed to save it once I'd printed it out, and then hunted round for materials.

The solution to the construction material for the sides and roof were left over Battlefield Society membership cards. These are 450 gsm and are fairly robust. The hull base is folded thin card round a foam core insert made up of offcuts, like for the junks. If you look closely you can see that the hut is just tall enough for a musketeer or archer base to slide underneath. the spearman will just have to put up with standing outside in all weathers. 

Here's the painted version. I'm really not sure about the colour scheme, but leaving it plain grey looked a little non-descript. This will do for now. I will try something different with the next one and then make a decision. The truth is, based on my experience of South Eastern waterways, that Sampans are hard working river craft and tend to look a little dowdy, regardless of their original paint job.

Here it is, next to one of the junks. It's probably a bit bigger in proportion than I want it. The obvious solution is to increase the size of the junk. However, if I do that the sidewheel steamer will need to be REALLY big, so I guess this is it.

I probably need to put them on the table top to get a proper feel for the designs.