HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

Talk about losing your head over a woman!

[JohnReid]

I am starting with the JN4 ailerons.One will show some damage at the tip like the wings(groundloop?) They will be made from solid wood shaped like the aileron and where the damage is, I will put in a few ribs and fake the rest.I plan to fabric cover them and hang them on the back wall.While the Canuck is double aileroned the JN4 has only two.Because of the different rigging arrangement I will be able to show the aileron braces however.As space permits the rudder,horiz stab,fin and rudder will be next.These will show more open framework. The only problem that I can see now is knowing when to stop as I really don't want the back wall competing for attention.

[JohnReid]

This piece of hardwood should make the 1 and 3/4 ailerons .I have shaped it like the cross section and left it a little extra thick for where the top and bottom rib cap strips would be.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

Disregard the stuff at the top of the pic for now, as that is for the horiz stab.
The 2 ailerons at the bottom are what I am building now.After shaping the wood as required ,I added a false spar along the leading edge and broke it off on the end ,leaving a ragged edge as would be the case in an accident.The aileron ribs will now be given cap strips and set in their vertical position.The trailing edge will be brass wire.Fabric will then be applied to the whole structure leaving one aileron tip ripped and broken as need be.They will then be weathered and set against the back wall.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

This is the JN4D horiz stab and elevator assembly.As you can see it has quite a different shape compared to the Canuck.The Canucks tail is made of metal while the JN4D is all wood except for the edge which is metal tubing.
The right side of the pic shows the basic shape,the left side shows the addition of rib caps and internal braces.The JN4D must also be provided with fittings for the hard wires which go from the control horns to the trailing edges of the flying surfaces.These were eliminated on the Canuck ,along with one of the tail to fuselage braces ,probably because of the increased strength of the metal in the Canucks's tail.This would also decrease drag a bit but was probably unnoticeable in performance.
All the major wooden assemblies were build the same way ,on a piece of foam insulation.I simply attach the plan to the foam with pins and then place a piece of wax paper over top ,pin that on, and build right on top.Nothing could be simpler.The problem I had was I wanted to do the Canuck style tail so I had to make my own drawings.I cheated a bit here(due to lack of reference at the time) and built the Canuck tail out of wood thinking that I would fabric cover the control surfaces anyway.One problem,I later came to realize this would look stupid and besides I liked the open framework.Solution,there were no rules and regs in those days.If I wanted to build a barnstormer Canuck tail out of wood ,that would actually be a plus factor ,as it would depict the craziness of the times when pilots would often use anything that was handy just to get airborne .In fact I have heard tales of pilots drastically changing the aircraft's stagger to make the airplane more unstable for airshows.If I was doing a military airplane that would be a different matter however.So if in the future some one comes along and criticizes my wood tail,I can secretly have the last laugh.

[JohnReid]

The last laugh!
This is the JN4D horiz stab and elevator assembly.As you can see it has quite a different shape compared to the Canuck.The Canucks tail is made of metal while the JN4D is all wood except for the edge which is metal tubing.
The right side of the pic shows the basic shape,the left side shows the addition of rib caps and internal braces.The JN4D must also be provided with fittings for the hard wires which go from the braces to the trailing edge of the flying surfaces.These were eliminated on the Canuck ,along with one of the tail to fuselage braces ,probably because of the increased strength of the metal in the Canucks's tail.This would also decrease drag a bit but was probably unnoticeable in performance.
All the major wooden assemblies were build the same way ,on a piece of foam insulation.I simply attach the plan to the foam with pins and then place a piece of wax paper over top ,pin that on, and build right on top.Nothing could be simpler.The problem I had was I wanted to do the Canuck style tail so I had to make my own drawings.I cheated a bit here(due to lack of reference at the time) and built the Canuck tail out of wood thinking that I would fabric cover the control surfaces anyway.One problem,I later came to realize this would look stupid and besides I liked the open framework.Solution,there were no rules and regs in those days.If I wanted to build a barnstormer Canuck tail out of wood ,that would actually be a plus factor ,as it would depict the craziness of the times when pilots would often use anything that was handy just to get airborne .In fact I have heard tales of pilots drastically changing the aircraft's stagger to make the airplane more unstable for airshows.If I was doing a military airplane that would be a different matter however.So if in the future some one comes along and criticizes my wood tail,I can secretly have the last laugh.

[JohnReid]

Sorry bout that!