Gun Emplacement Progress (1/35)

I have continued working on the French gun for my World War 1 diorama. The gun is now completely assembled, primed and painted. The kit went together well although there was a casting seam along the barrel that I didn't succeeded getting completely rid off. I left the wheel assemblies unglued as I wanted to be able to finetune the wheels' positions when fitting the gun into its emplacement.

The gun and recoil ramps ready for primer.

Gun primed with 'Chaos Black'.

The cover paint was mixed from several Vallejo greys and blues with a little white added. The shoes on the wheels were air brushed a light earth colour.

The gun painted.

With the gun well in progress I turned my attention to the diorama. I pulled out a picture frame the size of an old fashioned (or retro if you like) vinyl 33 rpm. LP record. With the glass removed it is a good starting point for small diorama in 1:35 scale - and a handy size for storage.


I played around with the gun and length of track to decide how to position them best. With everything settled I started building up trench walls and cutting timber for the gun pit.

Building up trench sides and test fitting floor timbers. The track will cut across the open ground in a gentle curve.

In my research on French trench design I stumbled over a modeller - Andrew Belsey - who does the most beautiful trench dioramas.

One of Andrew Belsey's trench cross section dioramas in 1:32 scale.

See his work on this blog. There is a lot of good tricks on how to do detailed groundwork and small details. My dioaram will not be as finely detailed as Andrew's!

French Artillery Position (1/35)

I have previously built several 1:35 models of wagons and one loco from the French artillery railways of World War I. As we are currently 100 years away from that historic conflict I had planned to build a WWI model each year between 2014-2018 to commemorate the war. I have been quite unable to keep that promise.

My scratch built 1:35 model of a Campagne petrol loco from the French Army. Here it tows a standard Pechot wagon built from a 13'me Dragon kit in resin and white metal.

Charmed by a Blitz kit of an antique looking French cannon and motivated by a friend in France, I am planning  to at least partially keep my promise. My friend in France gave me the chance to buy a kit from long gone 13'eme Dragon from Paris of a Pechot Citerne wagon. I will be making a little diorama with a gun emplacement, a length of track and some figures. The Pechot Citerne (or any French 600 mm. wagon) can be placed on the track.

Col de la Schlucht: a 120 mm Modele 1878 in position in a wooded area at the foot of the German strongpoint Lingekopf in the Vosges region. Image from the Academie de Strasbourg.

The 'de Bange 120 mm modele 1878' beginning to look like the prototype. I still have to fit the 'shoes' to the belts around the wheels.

The assembly of the gun is progressing well . The parts fit well and the 'shoes' on the wheels took much less effort than I had anticipated. Consequently it may be ready for priming and painting quite soon. The Pechot wagon is next on the schedule together with a base for the diorama.

Unpacking the Pechot kit. The water tank is a heavy lump of resin. Two cross members mounts underneath for bogie mountings. The majority of parts are for the bogies.