HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

[JohnReid]

I have now put about 30,000 miles on the tires and flattened them.The seat is in and the seat back is up against the steering wheel.I left it as a R/H drive and put the fuel tank behind the rear bulkhead.I will be placing an old tarp over the instrument panel ,steering wheel and seat back area.(maybe with half the steering wheel poking through the tarp)The engine cowls will be put on the left hand side and the other cowls put in the cockpit where the other seat should be.
There are a few more parts to put on and then the fun can begin with the weathering!
I am getting anxious to get the Camel build underway! Hopefully within the next few days.

[JohnReid]

The instruction manual is typical for a Model Airways.Engine ,wings,fuselage ,in that order.This past summer I have already built up the engine and it is ready for installation.For those who are interested and may have missed this part of the build please see my photobucket for pictures and http://www.theaerodrome.com for text, once on the site click on Forum,then Forums,models,"How to Build......"
They suggest going on to the wings before tackling the fuselage.I like to do the opposite Why? well the wings can be a long and mostly repetitive job where as on the fuselage you are always doing something new.It is also nice to have something to look at to encourage you on.I think that part of why a lot of these kits never get built is for this very reason.The wings have a lot of small fiddly parts that are easily broken ,lost etc... The confidence gained in doing the fuselage first, where the parts tend to be bigger and not so fragile, will serve a newcomer to this type of build very well.Once you have the basic fuselage built the chances are pretty great that you will press on to the finish line.
That being said the build will start on page 13 of the instruction manual.My text will not repeat what is already there, but will supplement the manual where my build differs from theirs, as well as point out areas where there may be a problem or easier way of doing things.I will be taking a lot more pics for reference now that I have a digital camera .Something that I was unable to do with my earlier builds.I will be doing this build in real time so if I screw up or lead you down the garden path at times you will just have to bear with me.

[JohnReid]

Starting the weathering!

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

It now looks like this old girl has seen her last airshow! Its basically finished except for the old tarp which I will make later when it is permanently installed in the diorama.I find that weathering is mostly fun and really fast and easy to do.Over the basic burnt umber gesso coat I used only burnt sienna and little black and some white pastels for the tires.I use a very soft brush to apply the pastels,almost like a mini makeup brush.
I have no interest in doing factory fresh anything ,airplanes ,cars or whatever.I guess that it is just my way of personalizing my work.It also helps to take the heat off trying to make everything perfect, which for me is very liberating.
Well anyway,now its on the Camel/Ford truck piece!
You auto guys will just have to suffer through the airplane build until we get to the truck,just like the aircraft guys had to suffer though the car build!(only kidding!!!!!) Although the modeling techniques in making dioramas is about the same. Cars and aircraft go well together in any diorama as they both were developed around the same time.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

Please note: in order to make the best use of my time I have decided to post the day-to-day details of the Camel build on only one website ,www.theaerodrome.com ,where it all started a few years ago.I am presently contributing to 29 websites which takes up a lot of what would otherwise be building time.The subject matter only has a very limited audience on a day -to -day basis. I will be doing summaries on the other websites, maybe twice a week or so .This will also leave me more time to be involved in the daily discussions on the other websites.If anyone has any particular questions regarding techniques or "How to...." please feel free to contact me at any time.Somewhere down the road I would like to condense all this into a more organized and readable version ,as some of these threads are getting way too long.Thanks to everybody for their continuing interest and support.
Cheers! John.

[JohnReid]

Well this should be fun!
References for this build
-Model Airways instruction manual(available on their website)
-" " drawings
-Scale Aircraft Drawings Vol 1
-Ken Foran's images on wwi-models.org.
-and anything else I come across during the course of this build,which I will note on this
this thread.

[JohnReid]

Modifications and possible scratchbuilding.
My usual way of doing things is to dive in and modify or scratchbuild as I go along.No "modeling for God " here ,if it can't be seen I won't build it.Ex: I would like to scratch the pilots seat but with the wings strapped to the side will it even be seen?Can't decide till I get there.
A lot of parts are obviously overscale ,even some of the wood dimensions. I will be checking it out.But you have to be careful with a kit as it is designed to be built using the stuff they supply.Change something now and it affects something later which is usually completely unforeseen.On occasion I will point out some problem with a part and go ahead and use it anyway.There are a lot of compromises that you have to make when building a large diorama on this scale.
Yes ,your best effort should be put into every piece you make, but you also have to know when to stop.Otherwise instead of 5 years it would be 20 and I have a lot more diorama stories that I would like to tell.

[JohnReid]

This is somewhat the arrangement that I am planning!
****Minus the fabric,of course!****