HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

[JohnReid]

Here is a great site on hangar construction

Found this gem: http://owww.cecer.army.mil/techrepor...ster98_idx.htm

[JohnReid]

and another

http://www.controltowers.co.uk/

[Jasta 5 Von Muller]

Thanks for the links John!!!!

[JohnReid]

Scratchbuilt Figures

I plan to take a little different approach to scratchbuilding figures.
When I was learning to carve ,in the round ,in wood, I began by copying other peoples work.I would set up the study cast or what I wanted to copy in front of me ,at eye level ,take a few measurements and just carve away.I found that by "winging it" I could train my eye to see mistakes without doing too much measuring.Once I had the basic anatomy down I could then move on to putting more and more animation into my pieces.From there it was just a matter of adding detail.
I have ordered a 1/16th nude male figure study cast and an assortment of heads and hands which I hope to receive in a month(Canada Customs are very,very slow)Until then I will do some research into human anatomy.
Why am I telling you all this ? Because somewhere down the line I would like to record my experiences with this in the "How I Build Dioramas "thread.
Cheers! John.

[JohnReid]

I found something even better ,120mm(close to 1/16th) mannequins.See
http://tlbminiatures.com/mannequins.html
look under accessories

The engine shop floor is just about finished,next it is on to doors & windows.The floor is made from popsicle type craft stiks ,stained with very thin Nimbus Grey acrylic paint.The walls will be sheathed with the same size sticks.

[JohnReid]

Not much building today but lots of good future research material.I went to see the movie Flyboys and I look forward to owning the DVD.As well as great flying scenes there is a lot of good historical references. The airfield,buildings and hangars and their interiors and furnishings Wow! There was lots to look at.All in all a great pilots movie too,quite believeable ,although some of the manouvers may be pushing the envelope a bit.
Cheers! John.

[JohnReid]

While I am doing a lot of the repetative (boring) building of walls ,floors and the like I will post a few pics of the Jenny build that I have never posted before.For those of you who maybe planning to do a Jenny in the future,I hope that they maybe of help.
I will post some 35mm shots of the engine room when there is something more interesting to see.
The following pics are in no particular order and are for general reference purposes.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

I have been thinking long and hard about this scratchbuilding of figures thing.
I think that I will approach this from a little different angle as right now I don't have huge amounts of time to set aside to properly learn this wonderful artform.
(no guys I am not copping out)
At my age and with all the committments I have already taken on to finish what I have already started,I think that the next logical step would be to learn through modification.As you guys know ,who have been following this thread ,I have already done some before with uniforms and some repositioning of bought figures.The most involved piece till now was taking a standing guy and seating him in the Model T truck in the Nieuport diorama.
When I recieve the 120mm (1/16th) mannequins i will work on repositioning a few bought figures into different interesting poses.Today you can buy bald heads with different facial expressions and use those to learn to sculpt hair,beards etc...
I plan to modify the facial expressions on some heads using Magic Sculpt.Other fully made heads can be modified deleting some detail and adding your own.Actually a lot of these figures can be reworked to the point where you wouldn't be able to tell what it was originally.
Doing this step-by-step thru modification would allow me to learn slowly without having to set aside a huge amount of time to learn scratchbuilding all at once
and still have something to show for my labour that I can use in my present diorama.I also want to improve my painting a lot for the "outside the hangar figures" that will be viewed up close.
I am telling you guys all this because I don't want to pretend that I am doing something that I am not,really scratchbuilding figures.Until I actually achieve this goal ,lets just call this "Modifying Scratchbuild Figures".