DMNamiot
Moderator
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2005
- Messages
- 4,336
Hi All,
I have decided to share with you all an experience I had with repairing a Marlborough Durbar Elephant set. Specificly set number D62 Maharaja of Orcha on State Elephant. I found this set on ebay and was thrilled because I got it for a great price. But thats where the story gets a little twisted. The vendor sold me what he thought was set D62 but what it was, was a mix of two elephant sets, D62 and D51 the Maharaja of Mysore. But the story gets worse.
The elephant was totally knocked apart in shipping. It came in 5 parts. I am sure that most folks would have gone mental at this point and if I didnt have 4 kids who drove me there a long time ago I probably would have! But since these beauties are getting more and more difficult to find I decided not to return him and make the necessary repairs to bring the set back to what it should look like. Now the Head and body were separated, body was in 2 pieces and the boards that the state mace bearers stand upon were broken off the side of the elephant. So once I got the elephant reassembled with a dab of jb quick weld the work began. I had to match and repaint the seams where the parts come together. I then used a dremel tool to remove the plug ends of the broken off boards and replaced these with cut down steel nails to fit the holes and shaped them with millput , repainted them after attaching the planks the mace bearers stand upon. Got that done and then discovered that I had the wrong Howdah as well. Yes this project has gotten more complicated and aggravating as it proceeded. So as you can imagine I started and stopped several times while we were living in Europe and after a few hours work here in the states I have finally gotten it back together.
So before I came home I ordered the correct Howdah from Marlborough and they sent me the casting for a really reasonable rate I just hope they come out of probate and are back at it soon since the untimely passing of the owner. So here is where I will insert some photos of the howdah I received.
First photo is the front of the howdah and the detail of it.
Next we have the front with the seats
then we have the entire set up
Final photo is of the body of the howdah. easy to envision how it comes together.
The next pictures will show it in the process of being painted.
I have decided to share with you all an experience I had with repairing a Marlborough Durbar Elephant set. Specificly set number D62 Maharaja of Orcha on State Elephant. I found this set on ebay and was thrilled because I got it for a great price. But thats where the story gets a little twisted. The vendor sold me what he thought was set D62 but what it was, was a mix of two elephant sets, D62 and D51 the Maharaja of Mysore. But the story gets worse.
The elephant was totally knocked apart in shipping. It came in 5 parts. I am sure that most folks would have gone mental at this point and if I didnt have 4 kids who drove me there a long time ago I probably would have! But since these beauties are getting more and more difficult to find I decided not to return him and make the necessary repairs to bring the set back to what it should look like. Now the Head and body were separated, body was in 2 pieces and the boards that the state mace bearers stand upon were broken off the side of the elephant. So once I got the elephant reassembled with a dab of jb quick weld the work began. I had to match and repaint the seams where the parts come together. I then used a dremel tool to remove the plug ends of the broken off boards and replaced these with cut down steel nails to fit the holes and shaped them with millput , repainted them after attaching the planks the mace bearers stand upon. Got that done and then discovered that I had the wrong Howdah as well. Yes this project has gotten more complicated and aggravating as it proceeded. So as you can imagine I started and stopped several times while we were living in Europe and after a few hours work here in the states I have finally gotten it back together.
So before I came home I ordered the correct Howdah from Marlborough and they sent me the casting for a really reasonable rate I just hope they come out of probate and are back at it soon since the untimely passing of the owner. So here is where I will insert some photos of the howdah I received.
First photo is the front of the howdah and the detail of it.
Next we have the front with the seats
then we have the entire set up
Final photo is of the body of the howdah. easy to envision how it comes together.
The next pictures will show it in the process of being painted.
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