HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

This is the kind of ground cover effect that I am trying to create!

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

It looks like the hangar can be placed at an angle to the base after all which is usually more pleasing to the eye.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

When is enough ,enough?When would adding any more to a piece be a mistake?
I think that I have reached that stage with my diorama! I have been agonizing over this question for some time now and it has down to this.
About 8 years ago when I started making dioramas my idea was to take what I saw doll house builders do and marry that up with the traditional diorama.In other words to tell a story in an enclosed stage like setting.A kind of 4 sided shadow box.My first 2 dioramas stayed within these guidelines.
I started the 3rd diorama with the same idea in mind but somewhere along the line things changed. I am always looking for new ideas and new ways to present my pieces,so I thought that maybe I should expand my ideas to include a little something extra,a few things going on outside the perimeter of the building itself.At first I thought that I could treat the front of the hangar like a stage with the hangar doors acting as a kind of curtain hiding the rest from view when observed from this angle.The other 3 sides could have a little going on outside if it was not to distracting from the main subject which in this case is the airplane and the grouping off WW1 pilots.Here is where things got out of hand! I thought of expanding the whole idea into something very different than was my original intention.The outside was going to be as interesting as the inside.More cars,more airplanes this ,that, and something else.I was losing site of the forest for all the trees!Take a look at the picture with all the space around the office,now take a look at the last picture I posted today.I can still include a car outside without taking anything away from the view through the windows to the main subject . When viewed from the front the truck is hidden behind the hangar door structure.
The other set up was just too busy with too many distractions and besides when you add a plexiglass case to the whole thing, the viewer would be too far away from the windows to get a good look at what is going on inside, which defeats the whole purpose of the diorama in the beginning .
I will still add a few things outside the hangar walls,to keep things interesting, but on a much smaller scale than I had recently been planning.
I know some of my RR friends will think that I am chickening out on the landscaping thing but I am sure that this is the best way to go!

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

Here I have laid down some black paper over the repositioned plywood base.I find that a black painted base gives the diorama a sort of classic sculptural look.
The diorama will be set upon the base square to the edge .When it goes in the case they(the museum) can decide at that time if they want to position at an angle.I will leave a minimum of about 21/2" all around.If I add the vans and cars they will go on their own modules tight up against the hangar sides.When viewed from the front they will be hidden behind the hangar doors.

[JohnReid]