"Malta Temple Model: Terrain Fit For CONAN???" Topic

Check this out:

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This temple model in Brussels is a miniature of the Mnajdra temple in Malta.

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One of several megalithic sites in Malta:

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Almost makes me want to get some really early bronze age European figures, like those Foundry and others have:

cgi101.com/~lkw/pre.html#A

CC
PS. I get to Malta one day!

This other range is done by Monolith, but the figures are 36-40mm:

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I wonder what scale is that temple model.

CC

Or maybe even mix in some figures like those from 10,000 BC?

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CC

Hmmm yes thats a fine model, gives me ideas…

Stunning! Malta is on my list of places I'd like to go but this boosts it way up. Very cool stuff. Thanks much for the tip!

"This other range is done by Monolith, but the figures are 36-40mm:"

All of Monolith's stuff is lovely but 36-40mm, WHY?

Mark

That does look like a wonderful spot for visiting.

On a gaming note, first thing I thought was Hirst Arts should have the molds/bricks for making something like that temple?

Lovely stuff… Conan, Cthulu, and Raquel Welch in a fur bikini would fit right in there.

I go to Malta almost every year for the diving. (I live on the North-East coast of England… plenty of good dives, but it's nice to get some sunshine and clear water now & then.)

Terrific place, thoroughly reccommended for a visit.

Aaw! Cute!

What's the scale I have to ask? By the appearance of the model "tourists", it seems to be at least 54mm….

I've been to these temples in Malta, they are the oldest free standing buildings in the world and are hugely evocative.

Malta is a great place to spend a holiday: good food and wine (Maltese wine is surprisingly good)everyone speaks English and from a military point of view it's fascinating.

Wow, that model is awesome – and inspiring. I want to build something like that…

OK, I've been looking around a bit, but I can't seem to find any pictures (even sketches) of what the temple might have looked like when it was intact and in use.

I realize that anything so old as Mnajdra or Tarxien needs a bit of guesswork when trying to draw it in it's heyday, but surely someone has tried…?

Anyone have better luck searching the interwebs than I?

The tourists in the model look like O-scale model railroad minis – maybe Preiser? They definitely look larger than HO-scale. So I'd go with a scale of 1/43 to 1/48.

Very nice work. You can easily imagine one of the Call of Cthulhu beasts lurking around that temple.

Nordic Bronze age is way to late for Maltese temples. Mnajdra (Im-nay-dra) was my favourite site but Gjantia on Gozo is good too. Malta and Gozo are great & I hope to go back (We couldn't get into the Hypogeum this time round- go there and book your visit slot as soon as you arrive or you can't get in!)

If you stopin the Temple Hotel in Bujibba there is a temple in the central courtyard…

A small clay model shows that the shrines were originally thatch rooved by the way

Steve, how much higher were the walls on the clay model, compared to the ruins? Just roughly – Same height? Twice the height?

Found the answer to my scale question!

"Mini-Europe is a park located in Bruparck at the foot of the Atomium in Brussels Belgium. Mini-Europe has the reproductions of the most attractive monuments in the European Union on show, at a scale of 1:25. "
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"The scale (1/25) and the tremendous precision demanded of the model-makers called for accurate scale drawings and thousands of photographs of details."
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So those must be pretty big miniature tourists, then.

CC

Wow. I'm on a roll!!!

Check out this other model:

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CC

What's that of?

Yes, Malta's ancient monuments and medieval fortifications are extremely cool. Managed to visit Malta on my vagabonding honeymoon around the eastern Med.

Do make it a priority and visit Malta sometime.

Chick

Another one!

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Still one more!

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CC

Doug Larsen: "What's that of?"

The topic started with Mnajdra, but I think some of those might be of any of Malta's 23 megalithic sites:

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CC

Other Megalithic sites good for making terrain.

stonepages.com

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Jpattern2, best interpret it yourself! The above link will help…

Cool, thanks, Steve.

By comparing that picture, which seems to show the thatching as vertical lines: link

And this carved facade that seems to show the thatching as horizontal lines: link

With this photo of the ruined gate: link

I'd guess that the original walls weren't too much higher than those stones flanking the gate. So, maybe three times the height of a man, or about 16 or 17 feet.

Then the thatched roof would add another 10 or 15 feet.

Glad to help. The surviving Gjantia ruins are about the size of a duble decker bus as I recall.

Tarxien is disappointing. Its smack bang in the middle of modern housing- not very atmospheric. Hagar Qim (Pronounced Agar'im by the way) is also not a patch on Mnjadra. It stands on this open cliffland, overlooking the dark islet called The Isle of the Dead in Maltese folklore. Very Conan, I agree

Hmmm, I have a trip to Greece next spring, maybe I can squeeze in a side trip to Malta. (Because there just aren't enough ancient ruins to see in Greece. Hah!)

Easier to travel from Sicily or Italy or North Africa… not very near Greece

Yeah, I know. Bummer, because it will be years before I'm in the Med again.

Well, I say that, but not a long flight. Not a long flight from England to Malta. For a tiny island there is so much to do. We had a really full week but would gladly go back to see the Hypogeum and we only briefly stopped by in Valetta and there's loads to see there. The only off-putting aspect is the birds in tiny cages everywhere and the feral dogs lefts to roam the highways in agony, but otherwise its great- I even heard two Maltese speaking English to each other, they drive on the left like civillised people and they actually like the British!

My other Cunning Plan is to take a lot of friends & family out for Xmas there and share a large villa.

Oooo did I mention the food is awesome?

However ignore the claims that they have British-style beers. It is Mediterranean fizz. Wine is good tho' and I've never found any in UK

Has anyone seen any reconstructions of what the inhabitants of Malta dressed like back then?

If so, is it all based on the attire on the goddesses, or have they found any other carvings?

CC

Don't recall any. But lots of evidence for Bronze age Sardinia.

I have a feeling they did not look like this though:

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CC

Are you kidding, CC? That's a documentary, as far as I'm concerned. Crom!

:)

US Megalithic site

stonehengeusa.com

Just found another set of cool models here:

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Wouldn't that be awesome as a central objective in a game?

Dan
TMP link

Some great images there – a good blog. The canopies don't really spoil the sites. If anything they show case the Hagar Qim ruins (which rather underwhelmed me) but the exposed nature of Mnajdra would be missed. I hope the canopy doesn't conceal the view from there.

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Just spotted this Wiki image off your orginal link. Would improve any temple no end!

June's NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC features a Turkish temple from 9600 BCE – now the oldest known. Malta's cherry is picked.

Google on Gobekli Tepe

I've started a thread on this on Fez

Malta – nice food, good museums etc, lots of pluses. Worth a visit.

Self inflicted downside? It's a building site. Basically there's some kind of tax thing where houses get taxed less if you are doing building work on them, so everyone seems to be living in half finished houses…