HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

[JohnReid]

You know the more I think about it the secret to pulling off this "Memories of Flight School"diorama will be to create two dioramas in one.
It finally dawned of me that when looking from the front ,the hangar doors almost act as a kind of curtain that you would find on a stage.They act to seperate the main storyline action, which is taking place front and center ,and the rest of the diorama.Whatever I put behind this curtain like structure should not be a distraction from the main storyline.The office module on the R/H side is blocked from view by the R/H door structure.I would like to build a radio shack/ops module as well but previously I thought that it may only serve as a distraction for the viewer.Now I realize that if I tuck it in behind the L/H hangar door structure it to would not be any more visible from the front than the office module. Therefore the radioshack/ops module is back on the table.What is an FBO without an ops center?(add 3 months)
At the same time this will eliminate any front ramp area but will mean I will have lots of backyard to play with. Maybe a future junkyard?
Cheers! John.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

The above pic shows where I plan to put the new radioshack/ops module between the garage door ramp and the area behind the hangar door structure.
Although I will lose the 2 windows,the garage door provides ample viewing from this side.The windows will be simply boarded up from the inside as would probably happen when any new addition like this was made to the original structure .I havent yet decided whether to have 2 doors in this module or just one.Two doors tend to cut down a lot on options for the furnishings within the module due to lack of wall space.Or course it will have to have some sort of heating stove as well.
Yesterday,I began to work on the mobile fuel/water/oil unit.The barrel is made from an old plastic pill bottle and the spoked wheels are a spare set I had .This is not difficult to scratchbuild and should add a lot of interest because you just dont see these old handpumps around any more.A friend gave me a set of spoked wheels from an old Ford build in 1/24 scale and I added these to the aircraft towbar.After a little tire re-shaping and painting they look ok and seem to be just the right size.

[JohnReid]

I hope that I am not boring you guys with all this but I like to show the newcomers how a diorama can be a living ,work-in-progress type thing rather than a long boring build of something already completely preplanned.When you are working on a piece for such a long time you have to make things interesting for yourself too.That is why I like to keep my options open as long as possible.Over the 20 year period of building HMS Victory I found that the most fun I had with this build was when I was working on other things than the actual ship.ie: making the dolphin stand and making and placing all the figures. I got all the" working to plans" out of my blood then and hope I never go back as I find it just too restricting and can in the long run be quite boring.If I ever again find this hobby boring,I'm gone.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

Does this guy look familiar?

[JohnReid]

I bet you thought it was the pointing guy but actually it is the rag guy!

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

This is an image of the figure that I am working on at present.The resin head is from a Model Cellar figure of Eddie R.The plastic body is from an Eduard figure of Baron von R.There was very little altering of this figure other than slightly changing Eddie facial features and giving him a carved in moustache.I had to do this facial surgery as I have already used this head before on another figure.
The body parts were glued together using ultra thin superglue and the head was glued on with A+B epoxy paste and trimmed with a power burr.
I cleaned the figure with an old soft toothbrush and Ivory detergent(99%pure soap)
Brown gesso was thinned with distilled water and a little flow medium and applied evenly with a soft cats tongue brush.Sometimes I will use an airbrush for this but a brush seems to work just as well if carefully applied in even coats.
One thing that I forgot to mention before is that the JoSonja brand of flow medium seems to contain a little varnish that can add a some shine to an otherwise totally flat finish .It is not advisable to use a hair dryer to force dry gesso unless you use very little low heat as the paint surface can leave little cracks .
As you can see I have begun to underpaint the figure using acrylics.The leather coat is an burnt sienna(sort of oxblood color) with thin burnt umber washes over top.The pants are an olive green with burnt umber washes.
This pic was taken using my scanner so the colors are very dark and the image a little blurry but it gives you a rough idea.When the figure is finished I will take some 35mm shots.

[JohnReid]

Figures in Dioramas
I agree they add so much life and a real sense of scale to any diorama.I am not one for action poses but I admire those who can pulll it off .It is a great way to let your imagination take off and at the same time really personalize your piece.They are really not that hard to do and there is a much greater choice now out there on the market.So many wonderful artists contributing their skills to your dioramas.Why not take advantage of the opportunity? If we had to scratchbuild everything (assuming we could) it would take forever.
To be a productive dioramist you just have to use anything that it available to you.I like to think of myself more like a one frame movie director who is gathering all the elements together to tell a great story.Not only is it a lot of fun but it takes all the pressure off of having to be outstanding at any one thing.To be a good dioramist your dont have to be a great painter,sculpturer or modelmaker for that matter. This is not your goal.You only have to do as much as you think you need to, to get your viewer invovled in the story you are trying to tell, and maybe pass on a little historical information to the younger crowd in at interesting way.Kids may not be as interested in building models as much as they used to be but they always seem to be intrigued by looking at them.