HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

I have left enough room at this corner of the diorama to add a van-Camel module ,at a later date ,if I decide at that time to do one.
The diorama will ultimately sit on a base of the museums design,evidently they have personnel who specialize in this sort of thing.When they pick it up it will be on the plywood base with just the leads for the electrical hookup.
I really am a lousy 1:1 scale carpenter and electrician so I am happy to let them do the rest.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

The black paper will be the new edge of the diorama.There will be a painted 2 1/2 inch matte border all around to act as sort of a frame.Inside the border will be new modules for whatever I plan to put outside. Shown here is where the van pulling the trailer with the Camel airplane will be situated if I decide to add it.The Model T and sign represents the space required for this addition.
Using modules means that I still have the option of taking it all apart again if ever I have to because of maintenance or in the event of disaster like which almost happened a week or so ago.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

It has been raining here for awhile and is supposed to continue for a few days ,so it's back to painting the figure for now.
The above pic gives you an idea of my somewhat primitive setup.One thing that you guys might be interested in is the white dish with the brush on it,which has a cap with some paint under it.This is the way that I keep my acrylic paint from drying to quickly before I get a chance to use it.Because it is so dry here in the winter and I heat with forced air, my paints tend to scab over pretty quickly, so I came up with a simple method of preventing this.I mix my paint however I want it and put it under a plastic cap(medicine bottle) and allow just a little paint to seep along the edge.As I want fresh paint I can slowly push the cap back ,simple as that and the paint stays fresh for hours!

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

I have started the underpainting of Eric using my usual method.
Being far from a good painter, all of my figures are destined for the inside of the hangar and its modules ,where I can take advantage of the lighting and distance from the viewer to help make up for my lack of skills.This is a great advantage for a dioramist who knows that no one will actually be picking up the figure to look at it.I can afford to be what I think you call impressionistic in style.I don't try to paint in every detail like some of the wonderful work that I have seen on some websites but just try to give my figures a certain look that seems to work for me .That being said this is what I have done so far.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

Over the basic brown gesso I have started the underpainting using mostly Jo Sonja acrylics and a little Liqutex on the leather jacket.Usually I use burnt umber and ultramarine blue to make black but this time i just took some Liqutex ivory black and mixed it with Jo Sonja burnt umber about (3/4 to 1/4) and that made a nice warm black with just enough shine for that leather look.Using this mix I painted the flying jacket and the boots a couple of coats .I added a drop of flow medium and a few of drops of distilled water to a dime size tab of paint.You will have to experiment a bit here to get a mix that flows easily off the brush and is self leveling on the figures surface.I regularly use distilled water in my paint mix because with very thin mixes it stops the paint pigment from congregating
around the very edge of the puddle of paint.It also contains fewer of the little creatures that can make stored paint mixes go moldy.The flying jackets fur collar is dry brushed with a little burnt sienna.
The pants are straight Jo Sonja burnt umber.The belt and gloves are Jo Sonja brown earth. to be cont.....