HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

[topgun56]

Merry Christmas to all.

Puff up or blow up? Do either of you have wives ? If I used the microwave like that when I was married, my wife would have ..........

I have an old wood and tissue kit of the Jenny, but afraid to built because my cats love eating balsa.

I hope you will post photos of this build on the Forum.

[JohnReid]

It only takes 30 seconds when your wife is not looking,as long as you dont blow anything up.I have dogs and cats too but remember the fun is in the building,nothing lasts forever and besides my cat is too old to get in much trouble now.His favorite hobby now is watching birds out the back window.Cheers! John.

[JohnReid]

Except for the hinges ,rib cap strips and painting of the metal edge ,the horiz stab is fininshed and I have moved on to the elevator.I will use the same technique and build up the ribs and leading edge in wood with a brass rod trailing edge.I am glad I went with the wood in the horiz stab as it really looks a lot better than all metal.But as I already mentioned I am glad this is a barnstrormer and not a military aircraft.

When I am doing a diorama I like to keep my options open as much as possible.That is why I did the Albatros and Nieuport dioramas with a under-constuction theme.I wasnt completly happy with the kits, especially the U/C and struts, with their soft metal ,so I decided thatby using this theme I could build whatever I wanted of the kit and get away with it.When I saw the improved quality of the Jenny kit I felt more confident about doing a free-standing airplane but I hedged my bets a bit by building a Barnstormer which left things more open to artistic licence.I originally planned to do the piece as a Jenny Canuck at Camp Borden during WW1 but when I realized that by doing anything too specific, I would owe it to history to do it right, and travel there and take the correct dimensions etc..etc..I only mention this because it is something to consider before doing any diorama. Cheers! John.

[Ross_Moorhouse]

Some more pics from John. He will post his comments on them soon.

[Ross_Moorhouse]

And a few more....

[Ross_Moorhouse]

More!

[JohnReid]

From the top

Pic 1&2:Lighting from the rear and overhead,outside cabinet.
Pics 3&4 Lighting from the side and overhead,inside cabinet.
Pics5,6,&7:different lighting effects on the figures(with the proper lighting you dont have to be the worlds greatest painter you just let the lights do it for you)
Pic8:Pic taken from the rear hangar door towards the front with a blue card over the cabinets front opening.I tried to make it look like early morning.

Jenny:still working on the elevator.Will sent in pics when the tail assy is on.Cheers! John.

You may wonder why I just didnt light up the side and back walls all the time.It was a question of space inside the cabinet.There is no room for exterior hangar lights along the back wall.As it is right now the aircrafts wingtip almost touches the plexiglass front.

[Chris "the ripper"]

Marvellous work, John, really looking marvellous! I would say that your scene does not need more lighting ( as you mentioned above) ´cause now it has a real "athmosphere", like a "snapshot of reality", looking good for me ( although I´m not a diorama specialist)
keep up your great work,

cheers

Chris "the ripper"

[JohnReid]

Thanks Chris,Yes I can vary both the intensity and color using different wattage bulbs or colors.I beleive that you are right ,too much light spoils the atmosphere.(and shows up the mistakes)The figures look better with lots of natural shadows.That is the great thing about doing indoor dioramas where you can control the lighting, sort of like a stage.With the Jenny dio I plan to try something new, and have seperate lighting for the interior workshop, which is walled off within the hangar, and in real life it is heated.I am putting a stove in the workshop and will light it too.It should make for lots of interesting effects.Happy Holidays Chris and welcome to the Aerodrome.Nice bunch of guys here and very knowledable.Cheers!John.

[topgun56]

Great models and lighting/photo too. I just figured out how to work the digital camera so I could get a photo.