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!"

Our southern-most painter?

"I still think I'm the southern most painter," says Steven Hill from Balclutha. He's painted 20 Turks and 20 New Zealanders.

"I really enjoyed contributing even in a small way, and thanks a lot for the opportunity."

More Turks from Otago

"Finished!" declares Graham Johnston from Otago. "Due to other commitments, my deadline was tonight. Achieved with help from Michael Arnott and a few dry brush short cuts. 100+ hours at least. I'm sorry to see them go now. I will be very keen to see the finished display, as even these 40 look impressive en masse."

Holly instructs Michael in the appropriate distribution of Turkish colours. "Chocolate brown is a good colour for faces!" 

Otago joins in with Turks

Graham Johnston sends us the first picture from Otago. His Turk really conveys the look of an Anatolian villager turned soldier.

As Les Carlyon says in his book Gallipoli, the Turkish soldiers "didn't expect much from life; they were used to being misused by corrupt leaders.  But in defence, they knew how to hang on, to endure, to swallow bad food and go barefoot, to baffle and frustrate the enemy with their perversity and their serenity in the face of pain and death." 

And carrying on with our theme of somewhat unusual helpers, Graham goes on to say: "Here is my messy work site with assistant painter. She is pretty good on a quick lick of paint, then the mean dry brush. Unfortunately the fine details have taken some time extra."