HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

[StephenLawson]

My sincerest thanks John. You are free to use my images where ever you think needed. No worries. This whole thread has become a staple for anyone wanting to build aircraft dioramas. So much information in one place, nicely done John!

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

You know it was only when I saw the first pic of the rear view of the engine did I realize that something was out of whack.Granted the pic is crooked but so is the engine! I never saw this before posting the pic.I was going to delete it but I thought that this could serve as a very good example of how the eye can be fooled.Sometimes when you are looking at something for a long time obvious mistakes somehow can escape you.Being a diorama I can always say ,of course what do you expect after an engine has been in an accident .It is being re-built isn't it?
I think that if I was going to build for perfect accuracy I would be tempted to take pics during the build just to catch mistakes like this before they go too far.In my case once the engine is on its stand and in the diorama this will not be noticable and can easily be hidden.Man,this is one thing I love about my kind of diorama,you always have a fall back position even for mistakes.Sure takes the pressure off!!!
Cheers! John.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

The above pic is of the parts yet to be finished.Of these parts the carb and the round rear plate are the ones actually going on the engine.The carb is to be painted a brass color.
The intake manifold has yet to be hollowed out as well as the exhaust collector.The small gaskets will be be installed at each collector.The lower water pipe still needs fitting.
My modeling will taper off for a week or two as I have a lot of "honey dos" to get caught up with.I thought that I would have made more progress with the hangar lighting but I found that it was hard to drop this little engine once I got started.It is very hard to make estimate of how long things will take now that I spend so much time documenting everything on the computer for the various websites.

The next engine build will be another OX5 for the engine shop and I even have another Mercedes from Model Expo that will probably be destined for the future junkyard.This will make a wonderful weathering project.All of this I hope to do step-by-step builds of in the future.Stay tuned!
Cheers! John.

[JohnReid]

Royal Mail Model T Van

One of the many roles of the Jenny here in Canada was flying the mail.I would like to include this aspect of its history into my diorama.Therefore, I have purchased a 1/16th 1910 plastic kit which I plan to modify much like I did for the Neiuport 28 diorama.
I have been able to locate a few pics of US airmail vans of the day but so far no Canadian versions.In fact there may not have been that much activity in Canada at the time to warrant a need for special vans.I will assume for the purposes of my diorama that there must have been a Model T somewhere with Royal Mail written on its side.
I cant remember whether I used the Lindberg 1910 version or the Academy 1912 version before but this time I will be working with the Lindberg kit.It doesn't really matter as I will only be using the basic frame anyway and that changed only very little over the years.From the windscreen back the body will be re-built using wood as the basic material.
Re-modeling these old Model T's ,to suit your own purposes is really a lot of fun .I understand that in those days Ford did not produce a truck or van ,so if you wanted one your bought the basic frame and engine ,and built or had built a body
of your own design.This ,of course is great news for the dioramist like myself who is not adverse to using a little artistic licence in his work.
This

[JohnReid]