In reworking the Atlantis Black Falcon plastic model ship kit, I had thought about making her into the Kathryn B, the real hero of my novel The Diary of Phineas Caswell.
It’s vaguely ironic, because the Kathryn B was based on the Black Falcon, so you sort of get this dog chasing its tail kind of a thing… anyway, not the point.
Back in Black Falcon’s day, sailors were most often a poor and illiterate lot. These chaps routinely traded in their freedom and safety in exchange for a solid three square meals a day by signing up to serve on His or Her majesty’s royal naval vessels. And that was a very tough gig.
Because they couldn’t read, they could tell their ships in port by the figurehead. As often as not, the figurehead symbolized the ship’s name.
Not so the Black Falcon! If you were a teenage boy, the breasts on the naked figurehead were enough to make you shell out your $.98 in a hurry!
Oddly, the busty figurehead on my Black Falcon was missing… no further questions, your honor.
The real Kathryn B behind the ship’s name in the novel was fictitiously a character’s mother, but in real life is my wife, so the busty naked wench was out anyway.
This girl came from a boxed set of English Pirates, Sea Warriors 18 Century from a Russian company called Orion. You get 44 folks in 22 different poses. Four of the 44 folks are actually a pair of very nice cannons, and another two are scary skeletons.
But there are six women in the set, two each of three poses. You get “Pirat Woman,” brandishing a sword and a dagger, “Lady Resisting Pirat” – she accompanies a fellow called “Pirat Pulling Lady’s Hair,” and you get “Woman Waving.” They are very nicely sculpted, with to s of detail and animation.
I hacked Woman Waving in half at the waist and mounted her upper works onto the plinth abandoned by the busty wench. A little bit of Squadron putty faired her hair into the bowsprit support, and she was aboard!
Tales of the Black Falcon is part of the John D Reinhart content family. Writer, illustrator, videographer, and accidental filmmaker — find the whole story at JohnDReinhart.com.
©2026 John D Reinhart/talesoftheblackfalcon.com – all rights reserved