Yakhchal

[marianas_gamer]

In my continuing quest to have the most quirky terrain in the BOB I recently started constructing a Yakhchal. Yakhchals are Persian/Central Asian ice houses that preserve ice through the hot months. They work through a combination of design, specialized plaster facing, and catching wind. I first became aware of these buildings after Juergen Olk first posted a Central Asian Yakhchal on the BOB Facebook page. I believe that this example is from modern day Turkmenistan.


I started with a layered cork core.


Then I cut and modeled the door and drilled in dowels for the supporting structure (maybe a little more than required in after sight)


This was followed with the requisite plaster overcoat


Finally the paint.


I still need to construct a door and am thinking of one more dry brushed layer to lighten it up a bit. Still, I am pleased with the general ambiance. The Dogmeat General's section of the Back of Beyond is an arid, desolate slice of the world    I am also leery of posting the completed project as it may catch the attention of the Beast of Bukhara and his "agricultural advisors" as he seems a man in search of a cold drink 

[Alcide Nikopol]

That looks much bigger than I expected it to be. How tall is it?

[marianas_gamer]

Alcide,
The Yakhchal is about 7 inches/17 cm tall.
LB

[SaltBrushBill]

I don't know how many people watched the BBC4 biographical film on Gertrude Bell, but it contained some superb contemporary newsreel footage from the Middle East for anyone wanting to see how buildings and people of that area in the early 1920's should look.   It was also fascinating for background information on events in the southern Ottoman Empire and later Iraq etc.

[Svennn]

Nice one Lon, imaginative and well executed.  Are you hoping this dog meat general is Winalot then?

( UK dog food brand )

[Dr DeAth]

Interesting build of an unusual subject.

[juergen c. olk]

I love it //the cork works so well..now you have a Objective for a Game...

[marianas_gamer]

Thanks folks and thank you for explaining Svennn. I would never have understood the reference   
Lon

[Hammers]

Cool idea!

(sorry...)

[sukhe_bator]

Most impressive! If I had one criticism it would be that the plaster rendering was too patchy. This was no doubt because it was difficult to fill between the projecting timbers. I modelled a similar building in 15mm, using expanded polysterene as the core. In this case it was to represent 50 foot high dovecotes from Lower Egypt. This is a lower more modern version spotted in a book on world architecture.

My versions were based on drawings of settlements in Lower Egypt done by Napoleon's savants and published in the Description de L'Egypte. They are shown towering over the single and double storey mud brick and adobe houses. The drawings can now be viewed online http://descegy.bibalex.org/ Napoleon in Egypt fans please note...
I found it much easier to sculpt the 'cone' first and then drill holes for the projecting timbers to be glued in (matchsticks in my case). These represented the perches in front of the small apertures for the doves to enter the building).

[Alcide Nikopol]

A very interesting build. It adds quite a bit of flavor. Well done.

[sukhe_bator]

I couldn't agree more. With every period I game I try and recreate a piece of unusual and idiosyncratic scenery to add flavour to the table. In desert regions, vantage points could be scarce, so quite often scouts and artillery spotters used old ruins etc. from which to conduct operations.
Well done!