Sunday, January 1, 2012

A Cautionary Tale

A few weeks back I came across the figures in this post on eBay. They were listed as Dulcop Turkish Infantry. The picture that came along was small and was taken from a distance so that you could not see very well the detail on the figures. I could see however that one of them was holding something that looked like a sabre, and I could tell that the men were wearing puttees. The head gear also seemed to be field caps instead of helmets. To me they looked like Japanese. I was also doubtful that they were made by Dulcop as the Dulcop bases are distinctly square. A quick google search boosted my assumptions as nothing came up for Dulcop Turkish figures. So I assumed that the seller did not know what he was posting and proceeded to bid on the figures assuming they were Japanese and I knew better. Well, a few days later when the package arrived I discovered that the seller had been right about one thing: they were certainly Turkish. Those 'field caps' have no resemblance with the Japanese head gear and the officer with the sword is wearing an ottoman hat (aka Fez). In retrospective I can't believe that I mistook them for Japanese, but I guess that's what happens when you get too wrapped up in your own assumptions. Upon further research I found out that these guys are WWI Turkish Infantry made by Reamsa. I might still paint them as Japanese and see if they blend in. Or I suppose that you could also do a conversion and give them Japanese heads. In any case, one thing is for sure. Next time I am not 100% sure what I am bidding on I will try to find out for sure before I buy it!

WWI Reamsa Turkish Infantry

2 comments:

  1. these are brilliant , paint them up as turks

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  2. Hi, they are part of a Lawrence of Arabia set, there is a nice figure of Lawrence on a camel and various arabs but I find the scale of them all a bit large for my use. From memory I think Dulcop only made US and German troops for WW2 and Italians for WW1.

    Best wishes, Brian

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