After work yesterday I went down to the Museum to help out with the diorama. My first task was to assist Russel Briant dirtying up some Turkish boots. Then I got to actually place figures on the diorama.  I positioned a Turkish platoon of sixty men advancing up a hill in support of the platoon in front of them.  It was a little daunting to be honest, but a lot of fun if not hard on the knees and ankles.  Do the right poses work with the terrain? Make sure that the figure’s mounting pin is properly seated into the hole you have made. Don’t step on any other models already in place.  Pick up any bits of polystyrene you see sitting on the diorama base.

On to my homework. Those Perry’s are hard taskmasters – I may not have a life but they don’t need to keep reminding me 🙂  Another 36 Turks and some Anzacs – and some furniture for the New Zealand commander’s dugout. I think that is about it as far as figures go.

Once again – sorry for the poor photos but using my phone camera which is not very good in low light.

More Turks. A variety of poses from the charging/attacking to wounded and falling wounded. These mostly need dry brushing, lightening and a few more colours on places such as sashes and some more definition on rifles.

For those who think that this level of detail is lost on a huge diorama, you are probably right but it says a lot about the standards that Sir Peter Jackson asks for.  A little anecdote.  I couldn’t help myself and had to look inside a German mannequin’s ammo pouches the other day at Weta.  The insides of these pouches wont be seen by the public. The pouches were not padded with card or paper. Nope. In each pouch were cast clips of painted ammunition. If it is worth doing it is worth doing right.

The three kneeling firing poses are resin figures. These had been quite badly painted – no undercoat and paint really daubed on. I think someone may have given them to their kid to paint. The resin .303 barrels were also bent so had to use the old hot water trick to straighten them out. Worked a treat. Anyways, I think I did a reasonable job in bringing them back to life, given the time constraints.  Also a few wounded, and a standing machine gunner and a Maori loader.

The table and chairs for the commander’s dugout. I imagine there will be some miniature paper maps – but just in case I will print some out myself.