The Garden of Kama - Incoming!

[LeadAsbestos]

Nice! Will add that one to these:


Once in a blue moon they still pop up for sale...

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

The Mara will be going off for mold-making and casting tomorrow.

And the galleys and boats have been molded and now just need to go to the sculptor for some funky Khmer designs...

http://lohwand.blogspot.ca/2012/08/war-galleys-and-canoessome-progress.html

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

Received the boat models today and immediately sent them on their way to Andrew for customizing.

If all goes well there will be "plain jane" versions plus modular versions with several variant prow and stern pieces.

Meant for fighting on Cambodia's inland waterways the galley has short oars (compared to a Greek galley) and the model is only 12" long. The Canoe is 8" long. This means they should fit comfortably on the average tabletop.

Some of the galleys had Makara heads carved into the bow and the horns protruded almost like rams. The usual tactics though were showering the enemy with missiles (from bows and javelins) and grappling the opponent's vessel (with hook and line) and then boarding.

Artist's impressions can be seen on the blog:

http://lohwand.blogspot.ca/2012/03/khmer-galleys.html

[WuZhuiQiu]

Alright! How convertible might they be to something like these admittedly stylised designs from a Dong-Son Culture bronze drum?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8772408@N06/3729262099



Or see Figure 3.B. in this paper:
http://asiapacificuniverse.com/pkm/shipprehistory.pdf

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

Hmm... you'd first have to figure out what you actually want them to look like. Those stylized are not very useful. In basic form I think they will work.

[WuZhuiQiu]

Most of the detail would seem to be warriors in elaborate headdresses. However, one can make out a sternpost with a sort of curlicue, and a curved stempost. Towards the stern, there is a small platform above a bronze drum.

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

"Stempost?"  Where does that go?

The pics looked like they might have two sternposts - or the was something wierd going on anyway. I wondered if they might be catamarans?

The Khmer stuff has Naga (or Garuda?) tails for sternposts and Naga or (Garuda?) heads for the prows. The hulls also have Makara carved into the sides.

I have a basic "plain vanilla" mold for both the canoe and galley, and if the plan works there will be plain versions of each of the three parts. So, in theory, other variants could be made.

Better concepts would have to be determined, however.

[WuZhuiQiu]

A stempost is at the opposite end to the sternpost.

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

Oh - so at "the Prow". Got it.

Anyway, do you see what I mean? In those sketches there appear to be two possible things that [may] be stern posts...

Note I am not adverse to doing other variants. Lets see how these turn out first. What would the crews look like?

[WuZhuiQiu]

Yes, catamarans might be one possibility. Another interpretation of the prow is that there is a more or less vertical stempost and a close to horizontal spur of some kind.

Re. the stern (and the rest), it can be hard to distinguish between the crew (and their ornate costume) and actual parts of the boat!

Unfortunately, the pictures that I linked-to may not be the best or most representative sample.

I have yet to find a modern reconstruction, graphic or physical, of Dong-Son boats, but suspect that they were part of the long local tradition of dug-out vessels.

The Roskilde Ship Museum in Denmark has published some informative books on near-contemporary Southeast Asian dug-outs, and there is some incidental coverage on Victorian-era dug-outs in a couple of the Foundry books.

Re. costume, there are some suspect reconstructions (worn by models) online, but I have not yet come across much in the archaeological literature (must re-check, though). However, besides bronze drum engravings, there are lots of bronze figurative sculptures from the neighbouring Dian and Kunming cultures.
[reaching the end of the posting window - LAF's interface tends to hide the last lines of long posts as one writes...]

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

Commissioned the galley oarsmen and rowers for the canoes today. Basic figures - port and starboard versions and the steersman. Also the fighting crew and Amazon versions of the same poses. 22 figures in all.

They will be in simple Khmer costume. These will later be used to make variants, including the Cham, all taken from the Armies of Angkor book.

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

News Flash - the master mold for the Mara has been completed. Now I have to work out how to do the production molds...

The crews for the galleys and canoes have been derailed slightly by Kickstarter - that is, the sculptor is doing stuff for other people. 

Hopefully, later this Spring/Summer they'll get done...

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

Small update...

I hope to be able to push on with the galley prows and sterns (and hulls) soon - that is, get finish getting the sculpting done on the fancy bits: Garuda, Makara and Naga heads and tails, that sort of thing. I've got a bunch more blanks coming from JTFM. Some of the final boats will be one piece items but I am hoping to offer a large variety of options with different prow, hull and stern designs that will all be mix-and-match.

I've also made the seat template for the galleys. This will be a resin insert that the rowers will sit on with a gangway down the middle.

I have a plan for doing the screens shielding the rowers but I haven't tried it yet. It promises to be very fiddly so it may not actually work...

I'm also moving forward on the crew. I've asked David Soderquist of Bronze Age to work on some as my original sculptor is too busy.

Regards,

Howard

[dampfpanzerwagon]

I look forward to seeing the boats finished.

Tony

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

A few pics up on the blog...




Here showing the rowers benches and gangway piece. With one of our Swamp Folk giving the gangway a try. :-)

http://lohwand.blogspot.ca/