A Few Pictures from Mongolia

[Aesthete]

Not quite the right period, being from 1960, but there could be some details people here might find interesting:









... with a few more here: http://news.wenxuecity.com/messages/200911/news-gb2312-957924.html

[Ignatieff]

Interesting.  What are those weird buildings? 

[Poliorketes]

Stupas from a temple complex.

[Ignatieff]

Stupas from a temple complex.

'Stupas'

[sukhe_bator]

Urdene Zu Monastery, built using the remains of the Mongolian city of Karakorum. It has 108 stupas around the perimeter wall. I've loosely based my monastery in 15mm on them. I could only manage 4!

[Ignatieff]

AWESOME!!!

[argsilverson]

AWESOME!!!

indeed!!!!!!!

[former user]

beautiful pics and scenery

I heard many mongols still live traditional, so the pics should be useful for a big time-span

still don't know what a "stupa" is

cereal depots?

[argsilverson]

and how these stupas were made?

[Wirelizard]

That's amazing scenery, far cooler than most 15mm scenery - better than anything I've managed in 15mm!

The stupas look like they're built up with horizontal layers of card or plastic sheet or something?

[Plynkes]

still don't know what a "stupa" is

It's a sort of reliquary. There's the bones of a Buddhist saint or something else of religious significance inside each one of them.

[former user]

thx

many saints around there...
definitely a piece of scenery to enrich any buddhist context

[sukhe_bator]

Plynkes is right. A stupa or chorten is a sort of reliquary/shrine and focus of worship/reverence. In effect it is an almost abstract and highly stylised sculpture of the Buddha seated on a throne. The number of steps/levels are symbolic and highly significant (a fact I found out half way through the build - much to my annoyance!)

As for the building of my models. I made them by constructing a foamcore shell of the main dias and steps and covered it in milliput, then achieved the brick layer effect using a plasticard tool. The dome is foam covered in milliput and the 'spire' is carved balsa with a green stuff finial.

For every period I game I want to have some scenery recognisably idiosyncratic to give the game character.