A Neolithic Passage Tomb (Ireland, 3500 BCE)

[Howard Whitehouse]

Continuing my recent spate of terrain making, here's a Neolithic passage tomb which I made at the request of the famous Neotacha (TMP visitors will know her) for her husband Michael as an anniversary gift this week.

It's not really fantasy, I know. It's very, very early ancient wargaming.

Here it is on my front porch table.



It needed some work around the 'join' between top and base.




She's a little glossy in the light of the flash! ::



It's based on the Boyne tombs of Ireland (Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth) which I visited this summer. H

[PeteMurray]

A nice looking structure! Michael was lucky to get such a good gift. I wouldn't sweat the joint between the roof and base. It is a wargaming piece, after all.

The Weavers are excellent people, generous and kindly, patrons of the miniature arts, and endless sources of bonhomme. It is impossible to spend five minutes in their presence and not like them. The same may be said for Howard, though his own bonhomme is of a more ebullient and schoolboy variety.

[Lowtardog]

Lovely stuff

[pnweerar]

I think its fantastic. How did you put it together?

Cheers,

N

[Howard Whitehouse]

I'll dig out the 'in process' photos, but briefly it is a circle cut from 2' thick pink insulation foam, with the top made of the same thing and shaped. The interior was cut out in a 'X' shape. I had to cut it into quarters to carve out the rock pattern on the walls, then glue it back together.

[Argonor]

Very, very nice. I visited Newgrange in Ireland (on a hiking trip 'round Scotland and Ireland with a friend) in 1995 - and apart from it having only one long passage ending in a kind of chamber, there's a great resemblance.

I think, the guide told us that the outer wall would have been covered with some kind of white stone (containing quarts?) that would reflect the sunlight as to make the tomb be visible from a great distance.

[Argonor]

How did you 'sculpt' the outcrop in front of the tomb, btw?

[Howard Whitehouse]

Hey Niels!

The whole thing about the white stones in the walls at Newgrange is confusing, and archaeologists disagree, so I stayed away from it completely.

The outcrop is simply a piece of pine bark glued in place and painted as rock - I cover it in grey paint, throw a little sand on it for texture, and drybrush. H

[zbyshko]

GREAT GOOGLY-MOOGLY!

fantastic stuph Howard!

now it has my little grey cells churning with ideas.  pity i an not Belgian.  mijn XACTO is niettemin nog scherp!

[Howard Whitehouse]

Interestingly, one of the many gods of Neolithic North-western Eurpope was known as 'Great Googly Moogly'.

But you probably knew that!  ::

[Argonor]

The outcrop is simply a piece of pine bark glued in place and painted as rock - I cover it in grey paint, throw a little sand on it for texture, and drybrush. H

Sounds easy enough for me to copy  

[Howard Whitehouse]

Pine bark is great for rock formations.

In N. America they sell it in big bags as a garden product to cover the bare earth (don't ask me the details - I'm nit a gardener at all) and is widely available. I also help myself tp bark from fallen branches when I'm out in the woods for my daily walk.

Gluing it together is the hardest part, since it is very porous - I use a product called Liquid Nails. I stack several peices of bark on top of one another on a thin base of wood or card, use some plaster to fill in the more obvious gaps between layers, then paint it either rock grey or tan, throw sand on it for grainy texture, and drybrush over it.

A bit of greenery on the base, and it's done! H

[Argonor]

Yup, we can also get big bags of bark/wood shrivels to cover earth.

And I think I've seen terrain tutorials, too, where bark is used to make rocky faces of steep hills...

And the Danish word for bark is... bark (this was free consumer information)  ::

[Howard Whitehouse]

I had no idea I spoke Danish  

[pnweerar]

Elegant and impressive Mr Whitehouse. I like em!