HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

[Zepp]

Absolutely superb, John! Though I seldom post I'm on the forum quite often, and I'm always delighted to find new entries on this thread. Your workmanship is superb and you have an artist's eye for detail.

A very Happy New Year to you, and thanks for sharing your work with us!

Rick

[JohnReid]

Thanks Rick! and Happy New Year to you too.

[JohnReid]

About 10 years ago I decided to drop one passion and start another.
Starting all over again seemed like a big decision at the time.I loved carving decorative birds and even taught it part time to adults for 11 years.While I reached a certain level of expertise and really enjoyed the subject matter I always felt a little uncomfortable filling these artistic shoes.I found that I seemed to be always playing catch-up to the leaders in the field.Following their example and doing knock offs of their ideas.Call it ego or whatever but I wanted to be one of those guys that I so highly admired.
Then I heard of a fellow decorative bird carver who was at the top of the genre and very successful both artistically and money wise.He had years of commissions in front of him but was also dissatisfied and felt that he was stuck in a rut.Then he made the unpopular decision(with his family and fans) to turn away from woodcarving forever and follow a new passion of doing mammals in bronze.He changed his style from very realistic bird carver to a looser style of mammal sculpture.He dropped everything and took a year or so traveling and visiting zoos etc..to get a feel for his subject matter and study their behavior.
He then returned to his studio and started his first bronze of a chimpanzeze which he promptly sold to Jane Goodal the very well known anthropologist and now is even more successful and happier than ever for having followed his dream.
Well,I found that a very inspiring story that helped push me into following my dream.After a near-death medical treatment ten years ago I thought well it is now or never.My passion had always been aviation and flying which was really not that far a step away from the birds themselves.My whole life was deeply involved in one way or another with aviation and it was what I knew best.My path had always been there in front of me all along.It had not always been an easy path to follow and involved a lot of personal pain.
An only survivor of an airplane accident 50 years ago,PTS syndrome and the subsequent loss of my flying career are but a few examples.But my love of aviation and flying never ceased.That is where airplane modeling and storyboard dioramas come in.Much like my fellow bird carver ,turned bronze sculpturer ,I decided to drop the whole thing and try something new.I have now put ten years of concentrated effort into devoping the talents necessary to becoming a storyboard dioramaist and it is only now with my last project the wrecked Albatros have I become really comfortable with the term as it applies to me.It may be the subject matter that I relate to. It could be the finally feeling comfortable in the knowledge that if I really put my mind to it ,I can take a mental 2D image and translate that into 3D model given the availability of the time to do so.I know that I still have loads to learn down the road and art is never really finished but this new year sure has had a positive start for me.
Please forgive me for all this talk about myself but I thought that you guys and gals,my modeling buds, might be interested .Cheers and Happy New Year to all! John.

[JohnReid]

All the brace wires are installed and just need a little final adjustment.The ailerons are rigged and today I hope to finish the elevator-rudder rigging and finally install the control column.
So now it is decision time again.Do I stop here as far as any other major components are concerned? When is enough ,enough? I will take a few pics and have to decide.There are a few odds and ends to rap up like the landscaping and maybe a small junkyard out back.I have also considered a couple of figures near the back door ,maybe mechanics taking a break for a smoke or some other relaxed activity.
All three dioramas are now 95% finished and almost ready for their new home.
I am anxious to get started on a new project, first building a small scale mockup of the "Backyard Flyer" ,a fantasy piece I plan to call "In Pursuit Of His Dream" based upon the 1/16th Wright Flyer(Model Airways) with a little Glenn Curtiss thrown in.Basically I want to put myself back in the pre-WW1 era and build my own "Flyer" using the knowledge available at the time.(I will try not to cheat)
These guys were the original EAA"ers long before the modern era.Aviation was young,new and exciting .Guys with no more than basic carpentry skills dreamed of taking to the air in their own backyard flyers.
There were plans available and the Wrights were even selling engines.I am sure that hardly any of these homemade craft ever took to the air but that is not important,this diorama will be about dreams and having fun especially for me,the modeler.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

Wrong scale,wrong era but I think I need something in this area for better balance and composition.Here we go again!

[JohnReid]

Need help!
I need a little help from the car experts! For composition and balance I think that I need something in this area of the diorama.Obviously the car shown is the wrong era and scale but I do have a 1907 Rolls Royce touring car kit in 1/16th scale.
What I was wondering is there a possibility that some of these cars were imported to continental Europe prior to WW1? If so there is a chance that one of these cars could have been found on a German airfield during WW1. Most German pilots of that era came from the upper classes and were originally posted to cavalry units but as more pilots were required for the front they traded their horses for airplanes.If I were to use the Rolls I would of course weather it to make it better fit into its surroundings.
Another possibility would be to convert an old 1912 Ford car to a truck and use it instead but I sure do like the Rolls.In the absence of anything of German make from that era what do you guys think?

[JohnReid]