This is the Roman Bireme from Heller--no longer available to my knowledge.  Built in four weeks of spare time before a contest, it was the first kit I built to take a first place (twice actually).  I never gave the awards much credence since there was little or no competition at the time.  Until recently though, I did consider it my best effort.

Built out-of-the-box with no modifications, this kit went together easily.  A little extra care with the details involving the rigging and some weathering is all the kit required.  Above you can see how I tied each line to the supports and wrapped the ends into coils, as though a sailor had just tended to the rigging.  This kit contained no decals, so all the details were painted by hand.

The sails are vacuum-formed styrene the were included with the kit.  Naturally, the stark white of the plastic wouldn't do.  To weather the sails I brushed on a heavy wash of Floquil stain (normally used for wooden model railroad structures) and wiped to excess off almost as soon as I had the entire sail covered.  Two applications were enough to achieve the effect I wanted.

All paints used were Floquil enamels--my favorite paints by far.  The bright work was all hand painted using Floquil Gold and the "eyes" were painted with Sky Blue and a light pink color mixed from Scarlet Red and Reefer White.  Everything else was airbrushed with colors straight from the bottles.  Some light weathering of the woodwork and I was ready to call it finished.

Seen head-on, the eyes seem to be staring directly at th viewer.  When you consider the superstitious nature of the seamen in those days, you can see why this would have such an impact on the enemy!