HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

[JohnReid]

Now that I am just about finished the WW1 trilogy I have been thinking more and more about whats next in line, "In Pursuit Of His Dream",The Backyard Flyer.So far it is still in the planning stages but I am starting to post pics,drawings and some text.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

I use an old hair curler for bending wood.It remains at a nice constant temperature and has just the right curve for most hobby work.
I dunk my wood into water and let it soak for awhile depending on the thickness.Then I press the wood up against the curler and slowly bend it to shape.If you are bending right near the end of the wood get an old piece of wood or the end of an eraser to replace your fingers.Take your time and re-soak the wood if necessary.Even thin wood has a grain and some of it does not run lengthwise but is cross grain in nature,so if it keeps breaking select another piece.If the wood splits turn it over and bend the other way.After a while you will become more familiar with the grain of the wood just by looking at it.Experiment and take your time! Have fun.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

The upper wing has been glued up using super thin super glue at all the joints and in between the bend laminated wood strips.The capillary action of the thin glue allows for all parts to be glued while pinned down to the building board.
Where the wing tips join the leading edge I made a 45 deg cut.
Let the glue cure for an hour or so and then the wing can be freed from the building board.Give it a quick check for any loose joints and apply more glue where necessary.Now it is on to the sanding.
Note: there is a pic on my photobucket site that shows the underside.The four rib from the front shows some deformation where the cap strip fits over the spar.I couldn't see this until after the wing was removed.It was probably caused by the rib installation somehow getting out of sequence when they were installed over the tapered spar.Normally I would replace it but this being a wreck I will make it a stress fracture.
There are many areas that could be improved in the fitting of the wood parts etc... I could without too much effort scratch the ailerons etc...but on a large project such as this I can't allow myself to get bogged down into too much detail that will never be seen upon installation.You have just got to draw the line somewhere and modeling for God is that line for me!This is not an excuse for poor modeling just reality if I ever hope to get anything finished.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

Draw a line down the center of the leading edge and wing tip,this will be your reference point.This line is maintained until the sanding process is finished , it represents the outermost point to which the rest of the edge is shaped.In other words if you sand off the pencil line you are decreasing the width of the leading edge.Redraw the line if it accidentally gets rubbed or sanded off as soon as possible.Just before you lacquer the leading edge then you can remove the pencil line.Why do I emphasis this so much ? because after 11 years of teaching wood carving this was one of the most difficult points to get across to my students.
Believe it or not, one of the hardest things to carve is a ball from a square block of wood, using only four pencil points as a reference.Great for training the eye and for understanding wood grain..