HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

[Ross_Moorhouse]

2 more in the next post..

[Ross_Moorhouse]

Great work mate.

[JohnReid]

Thank you Ross for your kind help in posting the pics for me.

The pics of the airplane speak for themselves.The hole in the roof is for viewing.The roof trusses show steel plates where the beams are joined,weathering is not yet complete.The car will be finished as a chase car used in airshows.The pic showing the temporary installation of the instrument panels needs some explanation as I have decided not to permanently install them at this time as per the instruction booklet.They will be installed at a much later date due to their vulnerability to being broken off.

for all other pics of the build prior to this go to www.wwi-models.org click on Galleries then my name. to be cont.....

[JohnReid]

fig4-3 Rudder bar assembly castings
How I prepare castings for installation
-Deburr as required
-clean with alcohol and an old toothbrush
-seal with 2/3 lacquer and 1/3 lacquer thinner mix
-undercoat with gesso
-paint with acrilyics
-weather as required
The next step:
I have decided to jump ahead and install the rudder bar assembly while it is readily accessable.I will complete the assembly and weather it before installation. to be cont.....

[Ross_Moorhouse]

Per Olav Lund 32nd Dio. http://www.ww2modelmaker.com/modelpages/POLhuninsun.htm



Karen Rychlewski dio..."For Posterity "
http://www.wwi-models.org/Images/Ryc...ity/index.html

This diorama was inspired by a photograph on the cover of Origin of Aviation in Italy, 1783-1918, by Piero Vergnano. Daydreaming while looking at this photograph, I was taken back to a specific event in time: the day a proud aircrew posed with their spanking new aircraft. Since the photo had to have been taken by a photographer, I decided to construct the moment when an airplane and its crew were immortalized For Posterity.

Awards: several, including First Place: 1/72 Dioramas--Single Aircraft at IPMS National Convention, Virginia Beach, VA, July, 1996

[JohnReid]

Wow! 2 beautiful dioramas.Great examples of both ends of the Action scale.One the fury of battle and the other a tranquil photo session.Both dioramas are equally effective in telling their stories.Thanks Ross!

[JohnReid]

Flight Control castings:the castings that come with the Jenny kit are a big improvement over the Albatros and Nieuport kits.Very little deburring required and the metal is not too soft.They are clean with no pitting.The Albatros and Nieuport U/C fittings could barely support the weight of the finished model.Because of this I would recommend that anyone thinking of building this type of kit should start with the Jenny and as more experience is gained you could learn to fabricate your own parts for the other kits.If anyone at Model Expo is out there I would strongly recommend that you bring all your kits up to the Jenny standard.

I have decide to make my flight controls moveable until I decide the final position of the flight surfaces in order to make them both corresspond.Therefore I will not use glue but will pin the parts together.The stick supplied is metal with a metal fitting.Most Jennys today seem to have wooden sticks but maybe some military versions used metal tubing.(I have not been able to confirm this)I have decided to go with the metal mainly because I like the curvature in the stick(beauty over practicality)If I find that it is absolutely wrong I can change it to wood later(I hope)Do not glue any of this assembly together until the final fitting in the cockpit.Hook up rudder control turnbuckles and control wires to the rudder bar now as they will be hard to reach later. to be cont......

[JohnReid]

I thought that I would get the flight controls in today but I got bogged down in researching the positioning of thr throttle and spark advance levers.My 1:1 pics are a real hodgepodge of installations, some even with modern controls.It seems that prior to the JN4D that these levers were on the right side upper longeron but this was changed to left side with the JN4D version.On the Canuck both the throttle and the spark advance are on the same side(left).According to the kits booklet the spark advance is on the right side and the throttle on the left on the JN4D.I hope this all makes sense.See Fig.4-1 and Fig.4-2.

After the levers were installed I painted and assembled the Flight controls and pinned all the linkages together.This has to be installed as one complete assembly from rudder bars to elevators bars including the floorboards.All rigging of the controls should be finished before final installation.I hope to finish this installation tomorrow. to be cont....

[JohnReid]

I think that a number of people might assume that the wood in these kits is balsa as that has been the traditional material used in building wooden model airplane kits.The wood here is basswood or linden(in Europe) traditionally used by woodcarvers(toothpicks are basswood)Basswood is strong and highly workable,has little grain and carves beautifully .If it has a fault ,it is that it can be hard to finish.If you find it fuzzy try sanding with finer and finer sandpaper and spraying with a fine mist of acolhol between sandings.Sanding after laquering also helps.Cheers! John.

[Chris "the ripper"]

Hy John, it s me.....THE RIPPER!
Very impressive work, as always! As mentioned in LSP I´m thinking ´bout getting into WWI stuff, need to smell some wood like in the "early" modellers days of my life when I had a few gliders. Think you´ve recommended a great source with lots of infos to get started.... not tomorrow, not next week but I still can see a few of the great WWI airplanes beeing displayed in a row!
Any source for good drawings and/ or plans for WWI stuff to get started?
keep up your great work

cheers

Chris "the ripper" aka Chris Novak / Germany