All the best day and good mood! A new bust from Altores is available for orders.



B-104

THE HAWAIIAN KOA WARRIOR

1:10

Resin kit

Sculptor Alexander Deryabin


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Please allow me some words about the historical background of this very nice figure...:

Ethnic groups from the South Pacific are so far miserably underrepresented on the figurine market. Except the Maori Warrior by DG-Artwork (1:10)...



... and the already older bust of "Pegaso (200 mm), which also shows a Maori ...



...there is nothing!

And now "Altores" with this beautiful Hawaiian Warrior!

The Khoa warriors were the elite fighters of the Hawaiian people. Her name comes from the native Khoa tree ...



... whose wood is particularly hard and from which they made their weapons.

In addition to spears, they mainly used a dreaded club, which provided a blade with razor-sharp shark teeth ...:



They wore helmets made of a coconut bast weave from the fibers of the trunk of the coconut palm, which seems to us almost Roman ...:









Incidentally, the most prominent victim of the Khoa fighters from the Western point of view was Captain James Cook ...:






Cheers

Just finished re-reading (last read late 60s) Michiner's monumental novel Hawaii*, so this rings some bells... right down to the whale-tooth pendant.

Looks an interesting and unusual figure and some real painting challenges (including, if you want, tattoos: https://www.larskrutak.com/embodied-symbols-of-the-south-seas-tattoo-in-polynesia)

It seems that high status helmets (mahiole) and cloaks (ahu'ula) were usually covered in feathers. The BM and NZ museums do have several bare helmet frames (once be-feathered- left hand pic below) but I can't find many unadorned ones. So, adding feathers to this model would be an interesting project.



Otherwise, for reference, this guy still makes the plain ones (including peculiar mushroomy ones), although I don't know how authentic they are: https://www.facebook.com/I-Kū-Nā-Hana-Lima-Noʻeau-Hawaiʻi-1409130429341444/

The shark-tooth (leiomano) club/swords came in a whole range of weird shapes, so plenty of extra options there as well (see above link plus those below).

USEFUL REFS:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?searchText=Mahiole
https://www.britishmuseum.org/resea...=Mahiolehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahiole
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/620441286137126233/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/85498092901920425/
https://www.art.com/products/p34931...met-with-a-mushroom-ornamented-crest-1819.htm
https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/search/Mahiole/results?pager=0
https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?searchText=hawaii cape
https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?searchText=hawaii weapon
https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3063239&partId=1&searchText=hawaii weapon&page=1
/

*a good 1000+ pager with a peculiar mix of historical and fictitious characters, but largely recounting real events: strange however is that is jumps straight from earliest days to US missionaries without evening mentioning Cook et al (it's a very USA perspective)

Altores once more proves that it stands on the forefront in our mini-universe.Always versatile and innovative and always with a new surprise for us.This new bust is exceptional on all accounts and I bet we will see some mind blowing renditions of it in the near future.Altores still rising!!!!!

Oda.
P.S:Martin,great documentation mate.

Here is another very nice miniature for the Altores range! Very beautiful sculpture, dynamic and always of an indisputable realism!

Another quality piece from Altores a company going from strength to strength with each new release.
TERRY

I know I'm in danger of rivet counting, but the last 'death of Cook' picture in Martin's useful offering is reversed (either that or Hawaii had a genetic disposition towards left-handedness). It's the painting by Zoffani (who was not there) and can be compared with others, including Webber's (who was on the voyage and knew many of the people involved, both Brits and Hawaiians) and Carter's.

Two things strike me about these: first the seeming rarity of helmets with all but one being feathered (Z's L/H figure); second, the preponderance of beards (Zoffani seemingly adopted an idealised classical style, even stealing poses from other works. eg Cook's is 'The Dying Gaul').

https://seanmunger.com/2013/12/02/the-death-of-captain-cook-deicide-or-something-else/
https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/history/sam-neill-captain-james-cook-old-view-no-longer-cuts-it/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Carter_(artist)#/media/File:'Death_of_Captain_James_Cook',_oil_on_canvas_by_George_Carter,_1783.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Webber's_oil_painting_'A_Chief_of_the_Sandwich_Islands',_1787.jpg

Last few refs for those as wants 'em

(I don't know why I'm doing this as I have no intention of buying this one: it's just that re-reading Michener's book and the vague memory of seeing a feathered helmet many years ago (Horniman Museum?) sparked my interest. And researching offers plenty of displacement activity to avoid doing the important things in life (eg. my wife wants the house moving 4 inches to the left ).

Barkcloth patterns for the cape (collected during Cook's trips):
https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/captain-cooks-barkcloth-books/
https://www.britishmuseum.org/resea...x?partid=1&assetid=1337918001&objectid=505155

Re-enactment with what looks very close to the prototype for the model (note pattern on helmet and tattoos)
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/492299803015686316/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/379146862367360389/

More feathers: seems they were also used as standards (kahili)... could look good added behind the figure a bit like the Japanese sashimono ?
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/85498092900045699/

Very ornate feathered helmet:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/85498092901881998/

... and a 'mohican' one:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/85498092901920425/

Videos from BBC and US ref helmets presented to Cook and Washington:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00v2y7d

Fish-hook Lei Niho pendants:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/393079873696176208/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/472385448405363668/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/489344315754735309/

A book on Hawaiin arms etc: quite a lot available free via Googlebooks:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZHdRcezT3bwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Hello friends and colleagues) I did not expect that this topic will cause so many responses and attract great interest. It is very nice and says that we are moving in the right direction. Thanks for your support! This is very important for us and we will try not to disappoint you in the future. Thank!

A be-feathered companion piece?