dragon 1:35 Leopold K5e railway gun

[MarkVerploeg]

Amazing work. Just the size of the thing is impressive. Very very good work.

Thank you very much

[Yevgeny]

This is nuts!
Looks awesome! Are you planning to build this too?

[Tiger131]

Now thats a kit

Superb painting and weathering. .

[MarkVerploeg]

This is nuts!
Looks awesome! Are you planning to build this too?

I would have too pass on that on that
I actually don't have room for this is one and this is not even half the size
And the price ,my wallet won't survive that
Thanks for stopping by though

[MarkVerploeg]

Now thats a kit

Superb painting and weathering. .

Thank you very much for the kind comment

[alextheblue]

Wow. Mark, that is amazing!! All I can say is.....WOW!!!!

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much Alex

[Unit53]

Outstanding as always Mark, excellent work! This sure is a Goliath of a build, your weathering is the business.


Martin

[MarkVerploeg]

Outstanding as always Mark, excellent work! This sure is a Goliath of a build, your weathering is the business.


Martin

Thank you very much Martin

[rodrant]

Hi Mark , you continue to do an outstanding work ! Great Weathering effects , the result is very nice !

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much Antònio
Glad you like it so far
I can't wait to get back to building as my room is a mess right now
Thanks to some unplanned redocorating
But i should be able to get back to it soon

[captbiggles]

Cracking build - the next problem will be to find a place big enough to display it!!!
You may have to throw the TV out to display it..... your next build will be minute compared to this

It will be years before I am ready or brave enough to tackle something this BIG!, and plus, it will very difficult to sneak it past the wife!

[AchtungPanzer]

WUNDERBAR - Is all Mark

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much guys
And the TV is safe though
It will go on top of my display cabinets when it is done
I was planning on a other spot that my closets where kind of old and have been replaced this week
That is why there was no progress either for the past week
But i am working on the figures at the moment and once they are done i will do a small update to show what the completed build should look like before i start painting them
Cheers Mark

[wappynutter]

Still amazed at the size...... and now.....WOW..
The Facebook images were amazing.... Show the true size of this thing... Well done buddy..

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you Andy
I still have some figures to build
Well about 10 to 15 of them and than i can post a picture of the complete setup that i want
It will be busy though
But that is what get when turn your shelf of doom in to a dio
Cheers Mark

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So just a small update this time
I finished the construction of the figures and placed them on the wooden base for the diorama
So no tips or tricks this time just a short overview of the figures and where they will go later
I have a set of miniart telegraph poles in the stash that will be used aswell but at the moment i can't show them as they have nothing to hold them in place
So here are the photo's














so a grand total of 19 little dudes so far
There is still a large open spot in the front wich may get a bunch of marching soldiers
But i will decide on that tomorrow after i checked my stash of already build figures for some good figures for that
But i don't want to fill it up completly so i will see how it works out
The figures are from tamiya (some decent ones) , trumpeters Leopold crew but i used only 5 of the 8
And all the others are from dragon wich make up 80% of all my figures
So i hope you can see what my idea for this build is and that you like it so far
Thanks for watching
Cheers Mark

[UKguyInUSA]

This is one big project and diorama that's starting to look the Boll***s!

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much Martin
The number of figures has grown since the photo's
I almost have 40 of them wich are in the painting stages now
Well inbetween paintingsessions of my Phantom anyway
I think i can post some updates soon altough i need to as the deadlines are coming closer every day
Cheers Mark

[Unit53]

Looking the business Mark, it's all coming together very nicely! The addition of the figures has really brought it all to life, keep up the great work!


Martin

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you Martin
Not all that much has happened though
A lot of non modelling stuff got in the way but that is all sorted now
So i can focus on building from now on
Once the figures are done i will post an update on them and then there are some small items like stowage and the diobase that will be made
Cheers Mark

[Yevgeny]

It looks super impressive.
How big is the entire diorama going to be?

[MarkVerploeg]

It will be about 106x40 or 45 cm i think
The base is made from a indoors window sill (i think it is called)
That was flipped over and now serves as a base
But it is the same piece of mdf that i have in the pictures
I will make a border with some balsa wood and paint the whole thing in most likely black as i almost do everytime and then i will use modurfoam to fill it up wich will leave me with a ton of junk
but i have those sheets for a long time and they are in the way so this way i can get rid off them without tossing them in the trash

[Yevgeny]

Wow, that is massive.
We need to see your display room and how you fit it all in

[AchtungPanzer]

W U N D E R B A R

[MarkVerploeg]

Wow, that is massive.
We need to see your display room and how you fit it all in

I call my display room : bedroom i was going to put it on top of my displaycabinets but i was given a new huge tv last week and had to rearange my cabinets for it to stand somewhere
So it will ge somewhere else but i can't put the gun in a high position there
So that is a bummer but there is nothing i can do about it now
That is the problem with large builds i guess

W U N D E R B A R

thanks dude
Glad you like it

[Thumboy]

Amazing stuff, I have learnt so much reading your build. Love the wood effects I will definitely be trying that in my future builds. Thank you for going into detail of your methods.

You have great vision to create such a large display. I wouldnt know where to start, I got stressed out by a tiny helicopter

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much Andrew
The wood is really easy to do and it dries a whole lot faster then oil paint that is also used for this effect
And i didn't really planned anything for this build but simply started on something
Although i always have the same order when it comes to diorama's
It's vehicles , figures, other items ( light posts or walls/buildings) and last the base
When everything is readyit is a lot easier to put down on the base and all that is needed are some touch ups
Mark

[ChubberLang]

I have to say it's been a pleasure reading through this thread. Stunning build. Jaw dropping. Look forward to more updates. Keep it up

[MarkVerploeg]

I have to say it's been a pleasure reading through this thread. Stunning build. Jaw dropping. Look forward to more updates. Keep it up

Thank you very much mr. Lang
The update has to wait i'm affraid
I'm in the middle of the biggest decalling job i ever had with my Vietnam gb Phantom wich will take a few more days as work is getting in the way
But it should be done this weekend (mine starts a day late) and then i will go on with the figures and some base building
So i will have about 10 days left to focus on this build and a few extra days of are going to help a lot
So for me it's fingers crossed to make it in time
Or stop sleeping

[MarkVerploeg]

hi guys
so i am finally back with an update
i have finished this build as some may have seen on facebook but i spend all my time building and not with making the updates
so i will do them today

i will split them up in 3 parts as that will be a bit easier to read i think
i will have this one about the figures then 1 for the stowage of the gun and railcarts and the last 1 on the building of the base

so let's go to the build


after the last update i decided to use more figures then the ones i had in the update and i added a bunch of troops on the march
once all the figures are build i primed them with vallejo black primer
once this was dry i drybrushed the faces and hands with vallejo white
then i painted in the eyes
this was done with white and a dot of dark prussian blue from vallejo


i then painted the eyelids with the basecolor of my skintones
wich is a mix of sunny skintone and salmon rose in a 50/50 ratio


then the rest of the face and the hands where heavily dry brushed with the same paint


then the skin was given a kind of wash with a mix of English uniform, flat brown, vermilion and the base color in a 2:2:1:5 mixing ratio
this was thinned down with vallejo"s aairbrush thinner to the thickness of milk so a bit thicker then your regular wash


then a little bit of highlighting was done by adding some white to the basecolor and lighly brushing it on the high areas


then the lips where painted with a mix of flat brown , vermillion and the basecolor in a 3:1:6 ratio


then it was time for the uniforms
the good thing is that all these little dudes are wehrmacht troops so that is not so hard to do (comparred to the waffen ss uniforms)
the basecolor is a mix of extra dark green and field grey in a 2:1 ratio
i think this color is better then the german uniform that vallejo has since that is a bit bright in my opinion


but i do have that paint and i use it for highlighting the uniforms
although a bit hard to see ,i used it on the folds in the uniforms to make the edges lighter


thern the belts and boots where painted black


the shirt the troops have under their uniforms was painted with field grey
most have just a small part of this showing but this figure shows it a bit better


then the patches and the eagle where painted white


all the helmets where painted on the inside before glueing them on
the color for both the inside and outside is extra dark green


i then added the personal equipment of the troops
the painting will go in steps but the breadbag is painted with russian uniform and the metal parts of the canteen and mess tin are painted with military green


the breadbag was finished with a dry brushing using german camo beige
the canteen and messtin where dry brushed with a little fieldgrey for a more dull look
the basecolor for the canteens lower part is US field drab


the gasmask canister was painted with military green aswell


the canteen was finished by stipling some beige brown over the field drab
the handle of the shovel was painted with a mix of english uniform and white in a 4:1 ratio
then it was dry brushed with smoke
the shovelhead was painted with gunmetal gery and the carryingcase with black and drybrushed with german grey
the gasmask canister was also drybrushed with field grey


the ammo pouches are painted black and then drybrushed with fieldgrey to get a worn lok
the figure on the right has them painted and the left finished (if visible as my lights where giving a highlight too)


then we had this guy
he has a smock so i thought why not give him a camo look and call him a scout
this basecolor is a mix of german camouflage pale brown and flat brown in a 9:1 ratio


then the first set of spots was added this is done with military green as a medium green color


then the medium green spts where filled in with a light green using a mix of sunny skintone , german camouflage bright green and military green in a 2:3:1 ratio
the dark patches in between the medium ones is made with military and black mixed together in a 2:1 ratio


to finish them the leather tab of the gasmask canisters was painted with leather brown


the rifles where painted with a mix of english uniform and white in a 4:1 ratio


then the wooden parts where dry brushed with smoke
the metal parts are painted with mr metal dark iron (gunze)


i then made some rifle slings
here are all the parts and steps
the strips of paper wher glued in a loop
then the leadfoil was wrapped around the loops end
and done
these are basic but they work and are a whole lot cheaper then photo etch replacements


then they where added to the figures
just glue one side with ca glue aand let it dry
then glue on the other end and trim them down
finall paint them in the color you want
i used leather brown


for the guys with their hair visible
i painted the basecolor of field drab ,this was then dry brushed with some german camo beige
not perfect but i am still learning in the figure painting department


as i forgot about them i painted them last
the beltbuckles
they are painted with mr metal aluminium (gunze)


the figures where then dusted with some mig productions dry mud pigments

and then you get this

all the little dudes together



so that was my way of painting figures
i hope you like it and thanks for watching
and untill the next update later today as i will have to go to work soon
cheers Mark

[MarkVerploeg]

hi guys
so the second update for today
this time the stowage for the railway gondolas
this won't be anything spectacular i think but i used some simple ways of getting the cars filled up a bit


first off , a starting point
i used the 280mm ammo set from verlinden productions
some barrels from verlinden and some from italeri (not in this picture)
the italeri barrels are the right kind but the verlinden barrels are allied types
but as most will be covered it doesn't matter and only the 2 italeri barrels will be visible
the ammo looks a bit worse for wear but that is because i tried to get the old paint of
it didn't really work so i carefully sanded the remaining paint smooth to get a better finish with the paint


i glued the barrels on a small piece of styrene sheet
the italeri barrels where split up from eachother to get a more intresting result later
then i used the method of tissuepaper and diluted white glue to make a tarp


the tarp was then draped over the barrels but is still showing 2 of them
the others are really just used for the height and shape as this will show through in the shape of the tarp


so as i only have 4 of each subject in the ammo set i decided to make some look a likes
as these again will be covered there is no need for a good result
aslong as they are the same in height , size and shape it is good enough for me
i used 2 sizes of styrene tube
as i don't have much of the large one i decided to cut smaller rings and glue them on a thinner tube
this way i can alter the height untill i glue the 2 parts together


then the tubes where glued on a bit of styrene sheet and that was then trimmed a bit so it won't stick out from under the tarp later


this was then repeated with larger lenghts of tube
the smaller ones will resemble the shell casings and the larger ones the tubes that hold the powderbags
they where then covered with tissuepaper and soaked with diluted white glue


then i needed some extra ammo rounds
i tried to glue pointy rods of styrene on a sheet base
this didn't really work
although the points are in the right distance from eachother they are simply to pointy and whent straight through the tissue paper once the brush with glue was touching it
so to prevent this from happening again i cut 2 strips of leadfoil
1 for each part
then i pressed this on the rods to get the effect of the points sticking through the tarp later
then it was also drapped with tissuepaper and the glue


they where then placed in the gondolas and trimmed to make them fit
for the base color of the tarps i used german camouflage beige from vallejo (modelcolor)


then the ammo
the shells are painted with mr metal brass
the rounds where sprayed with vallejo german grey
and the transport tubes where painted in tank green from vallejo this looks a bit like the lighter shade of reseda green the germans used in the last part of the war
those paints are from the model air range
the white for the powderbags is from the modelcolor range and was brush painted on there
the rammer is painted with mr metal dark iron for the head and mr metal stainless for the rod


to finish the tarp i brushed on some mig productions dry mud pigment
this causes it to look softer but also gives highlights on the folds and edges

and that is it for the stowage
this was one of the first times i tried to make my own stowage and to be honest more resin sets would be better but not very cost effective
i think i made these parts for about 2 or 3 euros instead of more then 40 when i had purchased more resin sets
so i hope you like it and maybe someone finds this useful for one of their own builds
thanks for watching and untill next time
cheers Mark

[MarkVerploeg]

so here i am again
this will be the final update and it will be for the base and the diorama construction

so let's get to it


the first thing to do when building a diorama is to get everything ready to go and all finished up
so i decided to add 3 telegraph poles and 1 wooden box
the poles are from mini art and i think that they could be better (and worse) but i don't think you can expect much from a 5 euro kit
the conductors are covered in flash wich is a pain to remove as these are delicate parts
so the clean up wasn't all that good
but i then painted the poles with a mix of English uniform and white from vallejo in a 4:1 ratio
this serves as my basecolor for the wood (i use it on all wooden subjects)


i then used mig productions wood aging wash
this gives a greyish look to wooden surfaces (not on real wood) and makes it look old
but after this coat i find it too light
real life telegraph poles and other constructions with this kind of purpose are much darker
this is because of the wood preservation agents that they use to keep them from rotting


so a second coat was applied
this time it looked better in my opinion so i left them like this
then the lower parts where painted with vallejo modelcolor black
this is get the effect of tar that was used to protect the part of the pole that went into the ground


then the conductors where painted with vallejo black
while the metal brackets where painted with mr metal stainless steel (gunze)


then the wooden box
this will be for a figure to lean on
it was painted with the same paintmix as the poles


i then painted over the basecoat with vallejo smoke
then before it could dry i whiped it down with some kitchen paper
this way it will remain in the woodgrain and works like a wash
and it also changes the color of the basecoat to a more brownish color


then the base itself
i used a mdf radiaator cover that i got from my dad when he made a radiator cover in our home
i just flipped it over and glued sheets of 5mm thick balsawood on the sides and back
then i used modur foam to fill up the base
this foam can be drilled sanded cut ,you name it and it can be done
aslong as you dont use too much heat
so i scraped out the basic layout i wanted and then had a big mess as the foam forms a almost sanding dust like dust that flies all over the place


so once i had the vacuumcleaner back in it's place i started to cover the base with earth
this is a mix of sand water and white/pva glue
i make a rather thick paste from it and scoop it on the base
and i started at the back working my way to the front


then this sand layer was covered with a piece of foamcore sheet
this is basicly a foamlayer sandwiched between 2 layers of cardboard paper
this will serve as the foundation of the tracks later on


a test fitting of the railroad tracks


then the telegraph poles where planted in the foam/sand base


then a test fitting of the vehicles and figures that will go in the foreground


then the front section was also covered with the sand mix
and while it was wet i added static grass from Noch (railroad modelling) to cover most of the enbankment
i then added some grass tuffts with long grass from the same company
this comes in 6 cm long strands and you can cut them to the size you want
the brushes are made with trees from Heki again a railroad modelling company
these can be cut to size and are good for bushes and small trees in this scale
i also added soe flowers from Faller that where simply pushed into the sand


then i used the vehicles to push in the tracks in the sand
i used an old figure to do the same for the footprents
in the back you can see the last addition to this build
i noticed that 1 of the figures was different so i though he could be a scout and that the Schwimmwagen is his vehicle
so problem solved


i then put sand on the foamcore sheet and pressed in the tracks


the sand that was pushed away by the tracks was used to form the embankment


i then used the airbrush to spray the beams of the tracks with tamiya nato brown


and the metal part of the tracks where basecoated with tamiya red brown


the top was painted with vallejo gunmetal grey for the shiny look where the wheels meet the tracks


i then poured gravel on the tracks and used a brush to whipe it from the wooden beams


then i covered the gravel with about 5 layers of hairspray and left it to dry
this will make the little stones stick to eachother and that allows me to use the airbrush to give it a coat of tamiya red brown
the red brown will serve as a basecolor for the pigments later on


i then used mig productions rubble dust to give the gravel a random look and to make it look a bit more grey then rust colored


then i dusted the road with mig prod. dry mud for a more random apearance


the sides of the railroad tracks where dusted with mig prod. railway rust
it is okay when you spill a bit on the beams and gravel as the rust gets there in real life too


as a final step i added some string to the telegraph poles wich was secured with some ca glue
and then i started to place the vehicles and figures
but when i looked to see if everything was to my limking i spotted a problem
there was nothing to hoist the ammo with


so i got me 2 strips of lead foil and glued the ends together
i then formed them around one of the shells
a coat of leather brown paint from vallejo to give it some color and a bit of dry mud pigments for a worn look later and then i was really finished
i don't know if they really used this method for hoisting the ammo but i don't have another system aat hand
it wasn't in the kit as i would have saved
and i don't think i am able to reproduce the grabber i have seen on some photographs

so that is all i have
i think i have covered all the parts of this build by now
only the Schwimmwagen wasn't covered in any update because i decided to use it when i was almost done and it was simply grabbed from the displaycabinet and put on the diorama
so thanks for watching and ofcourse thanks for all the comments i received during this build
untill next time
cheers Mark

[mincemeat]

This is phenomenal! It must be massive! I love the work you did on the tarps and well, everything else.

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much
The dio is 105x40 cm
So yep it is big
But this whole diorama is a small plan that grew a bit fast
The very first idea was just the gun with a crew
Then came the locomotive and railcarts
After a while the idea came for the half tracks to be included
And when i was collecting the figures the infantry was added
So next i make a plan and stick to it
I get more sleep that way

[mincemeat]

I found that I don't sleep well after modelling, just like playing video games. My mind is all wound up from the activity of trying to solve the known issues and trying to foresee the solutions to the problems I don't have yet.

It's a lovely diorama you've built. If you have a significant other...have they asked "the" question yet?

[MarkVerploeg]

No there is no significant other at the moment
But i just had to finish this build
Up till now i finished each build i entered into a gb and i think that you make a commitmend when you enter a gb so i always try to finish in time
Altough i can understand that life can get in the and this is a hobby so it's fun but not the most important thing in your life

[sef]

Outstanding

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you Sef

[NAMBiohazard]

WOW

That looks like it belongs in museum, well done

How big is the dio?

[MarkVerploeg]

Thanks Bjorn
It is 105x40 cm
So a bit big and rather heavy
I have put it on the scale for the fun of it and it weighs in at about 25 kg

[hansolo]

Wow, Mark,

That is a humongous and awesome piece. Great work all around!!

cheers

[MarkVerploeg]

Wow, Mark,

That is a humongous and awesome piece. Great work all around!!

cheers

Thank you Han
Glad you like it

[Aliktren]

incredible work

[MikeyKb]

Congrats on 1st place, Mark.

Absolutely gorgeous work!

[MarkVerploeg]

Thanks guys