Episode 4 of the behind-the-scenes video of Te Papa's Gallipoli exhibition

Episode 4 of the Te Papa's behind-the-scenes video of their Gallipoli exhibition website has been released online.  This is the brother exhibition to our own.

What is particularly interesting in this video is some footage other dioramas and miniatures ebing produced at the same time that we are working on our monster.

There are also some moving pictures of a couple of genuine machine guns from Gallipoli.

Scott's experience as a diorama figure-painter at Weta

Scott Bowman from Kapiti has written a really informative posting on his blog, describing his experience as one of the diorama figure-painting crew at Weta Workshop over the weekend.

Scott's commentary is well worth a read to find out more details about what the team were actually up to.  

Driving lessons in a WW1 London bus

This article on driving lessons with a difference appeared on the Stuff news website today.  It describes how more than a dozen people were taught to handle century-old trucks and buses in Kilbirnie on Saturday, ahead of an Anzac wartime parade to take place in Wellington on 24 April.

There will be 15 trucks and buses in the parade, plus four vehicles that will be stationary on Taranaki Street - two Mark IV tanks and two cannon.

Some of the vehicles are genuine, others are replicas built by the Kilbirnie-based company The Vintage Aviator. Some have wartime parts and chassis, but the team built many hard-to-find features like wheels and radiators, using cast moulds from original specimens,

Of course, London buses have nothing to do with Gallipoli, but this just shows a snippet of the many other WW1 commemoration events that are happening in the coming week or so, of which our diorama is just one.

Pics of yesterday's Gallipoli diorama-work at Weta Workshop

I couldn't do live updates from yesterday's working bee on the diorama at Weta Workshop because my computer decided to misbehave. But now all is well again, so here are some shots of the action.

Armchair General shows progress of the diorama to one of the painting team.  How many dioramas need hard hats and glo-vests during construction?! 

A busy scene with painting tables in action, and a staff conference going on in the background.

I hope that wasn't model paint used on this painter's face. But it was a totally appropriate design, nevertheless.

A big job was to start organising the 5,000 figures into the Order-of-Battle, so they are ready to be placed into the diorama.  These Turks are organised into their companies, lead by three officers each.

Of course, it isn't all about figures.  Scenic items also have to be painted, such as these sandbags.

  

Anzac diorama filmed for television

On Saturday a TV1 news team was at Weta Workshop filming the action as we worked to finish off the 5,000 figures for the Chunuk Bair diorama.  Amongst those interviewed was Sam Campbell from the Kapiti team.

The piece has not yet aired on television.  We will post a link here on the blog as soon as we know it is up on their website.  

Remembering Mr Lawrence

Paul R made a moving posting on the Pendraken forum after this weekend's volunteering at Weta Workshop.

"Today was my last day working on the diorama project.  Another full busy day, this time as a 'miniature wrangler', helping to move the figures around Weta Workshop to the team of volunteers that were airbrushing dust on the boots and lower legs. Then organising the figures by pose and then starting to organise the Turks into companies of 180 figures...

"On the way home with one of the other 'miniature wranglers' we estimated that each painted figure was handled at least six times, more if it needed touch ups or 'normalisation', before being ready to go on the diorama - 30,000 touches!

"As a teenager I was fortunate to get to know a New Zealand World War I veteran, Mr Lawrence. He was in Egypt but was ill at the time of the Gallipoli landings, and after recuperating was assigned to looking after the horses left in Egypt by the Kiwis. He went on to fight in Sinai and Palestine, but felt that he had let his mates down by not fighting at Gallipoli.

"In part I have done this project to remember Mr Lawrence."

Read more on the Pendraken forum.

Reaction from Turkish hobbyist to our Gallipoli project

Our blog has featured on the Turkish blog Turkish Toy Soldier today. It is terrific to hear how our Turkish friends feel about this project.

Cem Ozdogan, the blog owner, also sent me a message saying: "Dear all, this is Turkish Toy Soldier blogger. Perfect job and unity! Wish to be with you. Alas, me in Istanbul. But all our Turkish goodwill with you. May be we can copy that project here, too. Nice Turkish painting details."

Update 3: Anzac diorama at Weta Workshop

At the end of yet another busy day preparing the 5,000 figures for the diorama of the Battle of Chunuk Bair, the team of volunteers posed for the traditional group photo.

Then off to Macs Brewery (rapidly becoming the official watering-hole for this project!) for refreshments afterwards.

Live update 2: Anzac diorama working bee at Weta Workshop

Saturday 11 April, 1530hrs:  Afternoon tea time at Weta Workshop.  It's been a productive day, with hundreds of figures sorted, repaired, painted, touch-up, dusted, varnished ...

Everybody I've spoken to has been immensely positive about their experience in this project.  Whilst it is a sombre commemoration, the cooperative nature of the whole painting process has opened up communication between members of various clubs, between fantasy and history gamers, between painters and gamers, between club members and solo hobbyists.

By the way, keep an eye out on TV One.  Their film crew spent a considerable time with us this morning, filming the figures and interviewing several of the painters.  For non-NZ visitors, I hope to be able to put up a link to this television item once it is on their website.

Here are some photos of this afternoon's efforts at the Weta Workshop warehouse:

Yours truly and Armchair General lead the charge!  

A third painting table gets under way (though in this photo it looks like a very weird job interview!).

A happy camper (Scott Bowman from Kapiti).

A study in concentration.

Our youngest painter?  Mortimer Campbell takes an interest in the action.

Hive of activity at Weta Workshop on the big Anzac diorama

Saturday 11 April, 1300hrs:  It's a hive of activity today at Weta Workshop today, as we work on the final touches before the massive Chunuk Bair diorama is opened to the public next weekend.

About 30 wargamers gathered this morning, and have been busy sorting figures, painting, air-brushing and gluing terrain.

It's now lunch-break, so here are some pics of the morning's activity.

Armchair General surveys just some of the masses of painted figures.

One of the painting tables in full swing.

First lot of figures heading from Weta Workshop to the Dominion Museum.

Air-brushing dust onto every single figure's boots. 

Another painting table hard at work.

Sorting out the figures into different poses.

An action-filled scene - two painting tables, a sorting area, visiting media - as the title of this post says, a hive of activity!

One week till opening day!

Well, it's the home straight now!  One week exactly till the opening day of The Great War Exhibition, which includes our massive Chunuk Bair diorama.  Exciting!

During the week the diorama terrain was moved in blocks from Weta Workshop to its future home in the old Dominion Museum.

There's still a lot to be done, though, before the diorama is finished.  But fortunately Wellington region wargamers are rallying around to volunteer yet another weekend to do the final touches on this tremendous project.

This weekend the tasks that the team will be working on include:

• sealing up the joins in the terrain and fixing any damages from the transport (mainly being done by the Weta crew)
• doing any additional scenic work to cover over the joins
• doing painting touch-ups to the figures
• spraying dust on the boots and lower legs of the figures
• varnishing the last lot of figures
• further organisation of the figures into their groups for placement into the diorama
• sticking the figures in.

That last task is so simple to say, yet it is going to take quite some organisation to stick 5000 figures all in their correct places on the 10m long diorama!  

Tauranga locals help paint model soldiers for diorama

Here's another newspaper article about our project.  This time it is the Bay of Plenty Times with a story about our Tauranga crew. The journalist interviewed Bruce Balfour over the phone. The article included the above picture of Greg, who runs the local store and was the distribution centre for the models in Tauranga. 

The last few figures stagger in ...

Campbell from Wellington has submitted this photo of his 62nd/63rd (and hopefully last) miniatures.

"It was a bit of a rush to paint this and another 13 Turkish casualties in the last four days," he says, "But just in time for Saturday."

A fantastic job, especially portraying the forlorn look of the wounded man. 

Behind-the-scenes videos of Te Papa exhibiton

Have you been watching the behind-the-scenes videos of the building of our brother exhibition Gallipoli: The scale of our war at Te Papa?

There have been three episodes posted now, with more to come shortly.

I found Episode 3 particularly interesting.  It covers two aspects: the story and sounds of the Maori contingent, and the unique art design of this exhibition.  

Last dash from Otago

Graham Johnston from Otago inherited figures #51-87 at the undercoat stage over Easter. With the tight deadline, he had to resort to dry brushing to finish more quickly. But he delivered them to be posted with the others late in the night. "Talk about sleep deprivation!" he commented.

However, the upside was that he got to work on quite a lot more model variations. "I have been amazed how full of character  each individual is," said Graham. "I've almost developed an empathy with my wee Turks having to charge up that hill. Those sculptings are amazing."

It also promoted Graham's interest in what happened after WW1 in Turkey. "That campaign was almost as formative for their country as it was for ours. No wonder the Turks were so friendly to Kiwis when we visited several decades ago."

"Thanks for the opportunity to work on this amazing project. I really look forward to seeing the final set up. Maybe I'll even play 'spot the Holly-dog assisted Turk' some time! Thank you, and now sleep for me!"