ANZAC Diorama: Funnies and Bloopers, and THAT DARN CAT !

ANZAC Diorama: Bloopers and that Darn Cat!

So the ANZAC diorama excitement slowly winds down. The exhibition is getting ready to open, and the final credits are about to roll. So how better to end than with a few bloopers and funnies ? A photo tells a 1000 stories. Or does it?

The road to Chunuk Bair is paved with unusual models:

The ANZAC Zombie Apocalypse

Scenes from an ice rink ?

You brought the Boombox ! Yeah!

I've got the night fever, night fever... yeah!

Ha-ha ha-ha Stayin' aliiiiive!

Stayin' alive

Stayin' alive

Stayin' aliiive

Yeah!

Forget all this miniature painting. We have discovered MILLINERY!

And then, when we started unpacking the last models...

Sniff! Sniff! What's that smell and this stuff on the miniatures? (and our hands?)

Ooh! I'll kill that cat!

Obscure reference to the Freddy Frinton Classic,  (Clicky if you have not seen it )

"Dinner for One", (or The 90th Birthday)  a comedy sketch by Brit Lauri Wylie.

German television station Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) recorded a performance in 1963, in the  original English with a short introduction in German. This comedy sketch went on to become the most frequently repeated TV programme ever. 

What do you mean the box was for the models? 

And then there was the models that went missing in action...

Reinhold, was transporting nine New Zealand figures he had just finished painting. Whilst putting his gear into the car, he placed the box of soldiers and a wooden stand on the roof and (gulp!) forgot about them as he drove off.

Two hours later at the Marklin Model Railway Club, where he was to show the soldiers that night, he realised the figures weren't in the boot. With horror, it dawned on him what had happened. Immediately he went back to find them, but it was already dark. All he could find was the wooden stand.

Next day he searched again, with no luck. He even went through the rubbish containers as someone might have thrown the box in the rubbish - nothing!

On Monday, he designed and printed 40 flyers, went along Ward Street and put flyers into letterboxes and onto power poles.

That evening, a young chap rang: "I found your soldiers. Good that you put that flyer in my letterbox." First thing Tuesday morning Reinhold picked up his soldiers undamaged, much to his relief. He gave the young chap who was living in a simple flat a cash reward. Tuesday evening he was able to deliver the nine Kiwis, plus another ten he had finished, to his team coordinator ~ from Roly's blog

and our youngest painter, Mortimer Campbell:

Does anyone have any other funny moments we could add? 

...and then there is the caption competition (clicky)

Chunuk Bair: My Turks go over the Top and the ANZACs arrive

WW100: My Turks go off to war, and the first ANZAC troops line up on my workbench

Sam rings me today: "Are you ready for some more Gallipoli models? 

A few guys have pulled out, and we have a deadline looming"

 "How many have you done ?"

" Ten."

"How many more can you do ?"

" Another Ten."

 Silence,

 "...or twenty."

More silence

" Maybe thirty... "

Bewildered Turks fleeing a spectre of an ANZAC soldier

"I'll bring them to you tonight..."

 So a few quick snaps before these Turks that have been languishing on my workbench go off to Gallipoli and the tender ministrations of Mustapha Khamal.

"How many has Scott done?"

"Fifty ! "

"Fifty ? "

Gotta get me one of those drinking rigs...

Ok, some ANZACs this time. 

Sam realises I am pushed for time, with a friends wedding and stag do to organise (best man at my ripe old age) , family birthdays and on call commitments. 

So: Wounded and kneeling ANZACs, and sundry lost or discarded equipment now on my workbench. 

Quick flash removal job. Yay! Slice my finger with a scalpel blade. 

...That's when you get for being lazy. Get out the dremel. 

... Buzzz...flash begone!

Mix Araldite (Yeugh!) 

Heads on, leave overnight to cure.

Arrange in sorry looking pile of wounded and kneeling soldiers.

Paint case happens to have bright red splatters of ink from a previous job on it, 

Or was it my blood? 

Or was it theirs?

Lead soldiers tumbling off balsa blocks...

I think back to this afternoon:  

Saw an 88 year old lady in my surgery. Have known her for 15 years. Used to be a keen painter, but she no longer has the energy. Buys the paint and the canvas, but just can't get started. 

We always end up talking art or painting. Told her about the WW100 project, showed her a few bits from blogs on my desktop PC. 

She gets all choked up. "Such waste, such waste. Thousands of them... Such waste..."

So raw is the wounds of Gallipoli still in the psyche of New Zealanders. 

This event has defined our lives, her life, 

Such waste. Such waste.

Gallipoli Project: Becoming a Part of History

Gallipoli: A Century on: A Gamer and Modeler's dream: Becoming part of History (or the depiction there-of)

So this email arrives. Sir Peter Jackson of Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fame has sent out a missive. Ok, not no me directly, but to our wargames club. Via, via:

 A call to arms for gamers and modelers. Unfortunately limited to Kiwi Wargamers only !

He wishes to produce a large scale diorama in 54 mm depicting the Battle of Gallipoli. A milestone battle in WW1; where New Zealand, Australia and the UK sacrificed thousands of their young men in an assault on the Ottoman Turk mainland.It is to depict the Battle of Chunuk Bair.

 Imortalised in many movies now, (The Dardanelles Campaign and Gallipoli) is branded on the psyche of every Kiwi and Aussie. The war memorial in Wellington has had a complete make-over, and Sir Peter personally commissioned a 4000 54 mm miniatures from Perry in the UK to make up a diorama to commemorate the centenary of this battle. 

If you are in NZ and willing to help let me know and I can put you in touch with Rhys:

"Hi everyone,

Quick Summary: I am asking your help in organising wargamers around NZ to paint 4000  54 mm figures for a Gallipoli diorama in Peter Jackson's Great War Exhibition, the ANZAC Diorama.

One of my adventures in life is to be involved with Peter Jackson in creating the "New Zealand Great War Exhibition", which will open on Anzac Day this year and run through to Armistice Day 2018. It will be housed in the former Dominion Museum building in Wellington, behind the Carillon and the new Memorial Park. With both Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor doing the exhibits, and the historian Christopher Pugsley doing the Historical Curating, we know that this is going to best a best-of-world-class exhibition. However, with Peter being tied up until recently, completing the last Hobbit movie, we have an ambitious time frame to complete the work.

One of the displays that he is building is a diorama of the battle of Chunuk Bair, on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Over Christmas he has commissioned the Perry Twins to make 4000 x 54mm Turkish and New Zealand soldiers. We now have until late March to paint them. I am seeking your help to find about 100 good painters who are willing to paint about 40 figures each over the next two months. I have attached some images of some of the figures that the Perry's have produced, as well as the early version of the Turkish painting guide (note that there is at least one error in it, so it is not the final version). The Perrys have about 600 figures that they will dispatch this week as the first batch. Note that the figures are designed for a diorama of trench fighting on the hill-top, so many of the figures are climbing the slopes or through the trenches - hence the poses.

As with the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, Peter wants all of New Zealand involved, so that it becomes an exhibition of New Zealanders, by New Zealanders. I think that this is a great opportunity to get involved in something very special, as well as a chance to raise the profile of wargaming clubs through local media articles.

Many of my wargaming friends here in Wellington have pitched in to provide me your names from around the country, as points of contact for the clubs, so can you please help in this venture? For a historical "feel good factor" my intention is to divide the country up into the WW1 recruiting zones: Auckland (everything north of Taupo), Wellington (south of Taupo and including Taranaki and Hawkes Bay), Canterbury (everything north of the Waitaki) and Otago (south of the Waitaki), with a one club coordinating the painting by all the clubs in that region. Roly Hermans is helping me get the news out to people through the NZ Wargaming forum and we will also establish a website that will be updated with painting progress and all the information needs for the painters and other interested parties. The painting guides will be available on the site for downloading.

If you can help with this, or can pass me on to someone who can, then I will be indebted to you. I am particularly seeking a volunteer person, or club, to honcho each region. That will involve the distribution of the figures to the other clubs and painters, monitoring progress, updating the website (you will have partial administrator rights), collection and the dispatch of the painted figures back to me. Please get back to me to either confirm your interest or to refer to someone who can help. If you are able to be the regional honcho, then a mailing address for the dispatch of the figures would be great.

The contribution of the clubs will be recocgnised in the exhibition and the website will remain as a record of the achievement.

Please help. This will be something that you will all be proud of when you visit the exhibition, perhaps during Call to Arms this year.

Rhys Jones

The Arm Chair General (for real)"

The official page: ANZAC DIORAMA

Last week I received my first 10 figures to build and paint. Quite strict instructions, as would be necessary for the uniformity of the look. The Kapiti Wargames club was allotted Turks for the first run. I received mine on Thursday, and have now assembled them:

Unassembled figures as they arrived from Perry

How do you do, Ottoman troops

Blurry picture from my phone, but you get the gist

Even worse one during the assembly process. Flash and mold lines cleaned, now for the Araldite. Yes. Araldite is recommened. 

How I hate you, Araldite. You are not even good for King Tut's Beard, if you haven't caught up with that saga yet: Here it is: Link to distraction about King Tut's Beard being broken off.

Dear Araldite. I hate you. Yours sincerely. Herman.

Finally assembled. Let the assault on Chunuck Briar begin. 

No, wait. We have to fill up those gaps first. 

At ease, men!