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National | 28th Māori Battalion

Call for help to finish diorama of WWI Gallipoli

Nick Papadopoulos of Manukau is working on a diorama of the WWI Gallipoli campaign and is calling for people to help him paint and glue 2000 toy soldiers to reflect the troop’s different uniforms.

He completed a diorama of the Battle of Crete last year with little painted soldiers from the 28th Māori Battalion in it, but this project is running a little behind schedule.

Nick Papadopoulos says, “It's got elements of the 28th Māori Battalion there yes, absolutely, if you can focus in deep you'll see that there's Pākehā there and there's Māori there.

I would spend hours on each little guy, and you'll see all the different shades from the different tribes all there.”

Another diorama of the Battle of Gallipoli is being constructed but running behind schedule.

However, Papadopoulos is hopeful that his call for help from the community will see it make the deadline.

He says, “Basically what I'm trying to do is just show the intensity of the fighting and the fact that there were hundreds and thousands of men involved.”

Papadopoulos hopes to unveil his work at an exhibition at Youthline in Papatoetoe on April 20, but he's already dreaming about his next project.

Papadopoulos says, “I might go another time to try and do the Battle of Alamein and maybe Italy as well.  If I was in Peter Jackson's category I'd go all the way back to the Boer War but I'm not.”