HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

JohnReid · 8 May 2005, 08:16 AM

A family member sent this to me the other day and I thought you guys might like to read it too.

Ready or not,some day it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises,no days,no hours or minutes.
All the things you collected,whether treasured or forgotten,will pass to someone else.
Your wealth,fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you owed.Your grudges,resentments,frustrations,and jealousies will finally disappear.
So, too,your hopes,ambitions,plans,and to-do lists will all expire.The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It wont matter where you came from,or on what side of the tracks you lived.It wont matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.
Your gender,skin color,ethnicity will be irrelevent.So what will matter?How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought,but what you built;not what you got,but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success,but your significance.What will matter is not what you learned,but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity,compassion,courage and sacrifice that enriched,empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence,but your character.What will matter is not how many people you knew,but how many will feel a lasting loss when you are gone.
What will matter is not your memories,but the memories of those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered,by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters doesnt happen by accident.Its not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
CHOOSE TO LIVE A LIFE THAT MATTERS.

Cheers! John.

JohnReid · 9 May 2005, 05:30 AM

The keep it simple principal has come back to haunt me again.When I designed the Albatros diorama, I really didnt take into consideration the fact that someone other than a modeler would have to change the light bulbs when they burned out.I know how to do it but I doubt that anyone else would bother, even if I left instructions.You actually have to remove the roof of the hangar to gain access.
The Nieuport however, because of its design ,has easy access to the bulbs .If you can change a Christmas tree light you can do it.
I am ,however, faced with the same problem with the Jenny diorama as I had with the Albatros.Namely,that it is a self-contained unit,much like a dollhouse and therefore access to the bulbs is much more difficult.(In self defence however, at the time I had no idea that these dioramas would end up where they are going.)What seemed like no problem at all, is now not possible to easily fix.Oh well, at least I have some good pics of how it looked when new.
With the Jenny I face the same self-contained unit problem and I would like to wire it like the Albatros but make light changing easier.Any ideas? Cheers! John.

JohnReid · 10 May 2005, 06:52 AM

I have been experimenting with doing a lot of heavy weathering on diecasts recently.It is really a lot of fun although it seems a little funny creating something by destroying something else.(like a really cool paintjob)Anyway,
it has got me to thinking about using diecasts in dioramas.There is a lot of potential here for those who like dioramas but havent got the time to scratchbuild everything.
There are some really nice WW2 fighters in 1/18th scale being produced now, and I am sure that with time there will be some WW1s offered.They are also making more figures in 1/18th scale as well and then you have your pick if you would like to add cars to your diorama.
I know that there are some WW1 diecasts offered in smaller scales and that would be a great place to start.Put them in a nice dioramic setting,weather them as little or as much as you want and for minimum time and effort ,your now a dioramist.You could rig the biplanes as little or as much as you want depending on your storyline.With a little imagination the sky is the limit.

The hardest hurtle to get over is to take that nice shiny airplane, that you have paid multi bucks for and screw up the surface.Once you get over this the rest is easy.Over the next couple of days I will offer a tutorial on what works best for me.I hope that I am leaving you guys who are interested in dioramas but have not yet started, less and less reasons not to get on with it..Cheers! John.

( P.S. try to find a source of damaged or 2nds if you can.)

JohnReid · 11 May 2005, 09:43 AM

Great weather here yesterday in the Great White North ,so I finally got to start on the workshop that will be contained in the Jenny hangar.It will be a totally self contained unit ,a sort of diorama within a diorama.It will have a quick disconnect for the electrical wiring within the workshop.(I still havent figured out the wiring for the rest of the hangar yet)

I will use foamboard as imitation insulation on the workshop walls and on the interior walls I will frame them and use boards set on an angle for the sheathing.(just to add a little visual interest)The workshop floor will also be done crisscross fashion)
I am not using pins for nails this time as I find them a little overscale.If you pre-punch a small hole in the floorboards and then with a sharp ordinary HB pencil, twist the tip into the hole, it looks just like a nail and more in scale.Do this of course after any other weathering you do on the boards, except for the subtle use of pastels. to be cont..... Cheers! John.

JohnReid · 11 May 2005, 03:46 PM

Beech Travel air test pic

JohnReid · 11 May 2005, 05:09 PM

Lets try that again!

JohnReid · 11 May 2005, 05:14 PM

No joy again! I told you guys that I was lousy at computers

JohnReid · 11 May 2005, 05:56 PM

The paint finish on most diecasts is enamel, I beleive.So I guess it would be wise to take some precautions with the paint dust.The composition of the metal contains no lead,which is good news.
To take the shine off the enamel paint I use 600 grit sandpaper to dull it down to a flat finish.Acrylics seem to stick well to a sanded surface,if not mix in a little gesso.The surface that I am presently dealing with is mostly black so I have it easy and I am using black gesso.Gesso comes in black ,white, grey,and burnt umber.
Chaulk pastels come in all colors and stick really well to a sanded surface.I use those soft makeup brushes that women use when applying makeup or cops use when dusting for fingerprints.They come in all sizes so you will have to experiment a bit here.The more you load up the brush the more color will be transfered.Try to build the color up in subtle layers.
To grind up the pastels ,I use ordinary sandpaper and dunk my brush into the fine dust. Cheers! John.

JohnReid · 12 May 2005, 06:01 AM

You know its funny about computers and art.Why is it that I have endless patience doing models and none at all when it comes to computers?
I can, at the drop of a hat,learn a whole new artform and think nothing of it and yet with computers I shy away from even learning the simplist task.
I remember ,even in my aviation days,I had to be dragged kicking and screaming into filing flight plans or obtaining weather info on the computer.Maybe it is because in those days they were not too user friendly and that somehow turned me off.Then again,maybe it is because I have offically reached old fart status.(The first old age pension cheque is due in November)Whatever the cause I guess I will have to work on it or get left behind.Wish me luck!

Dioramawise,I was reviewing Shep Paines section on painting faces p 57-60 because i have another figure to paint for the Jenny diorama.If I havent been doing something for awhile ,I like to review my notes and books again before I start.Of all the books I have on painting faces ,his step-by-step illustrations work best for me.Shading and highlighting and the stop sign rule are good keys to a good paint job.I use acrylics and have even experimented with a little pastels on the face.Pastels can almost eliminate airbrushing for blending if the object you are painting will not recieve rough handling (such as in a diorama setting)
Well its now back to both my workshops,the full scale and the 1/16th! Cheers! John.

JohnReid · 13 May 2005, 07:05 AM

The popsicle stick workshop floor is underway.These floorboards are somewhat smaller than the tongue depressors hangar floorboards and are laid at a 45% angle just to be more visually interesting for the viewer.(the walls I plan to do the same way.

I prepared the boards by simply painting them with very thin Jo Sonja acrylic paint in a Nimbus Grey color.Your paint should be the consistency of about 2% milk.I used two thin coats ,adding just enough color so that the wood looks old but the woodgrain still shows through.Do not seal the wood prior to painting as you want it to soak in and not just remain on the surface.The boards were then cut to length and glued individually to the foamboard.When the floor is completely finished you can come back with superthin coats of Raw Umber to further antique the floor.I finger-flick crud onto the floor using an old toothbrush.to emphasize the spaces between the floorboards ,I take a very thin hypodermic needle and inject the spaces between the boards with Raw Umber.All this is done with Jo Sonja paint(no I dont own a share in the company)As I have said before it is the only acrylic paint that dries absolutely flat,so I cannot gaurantee that you will end up with an antique barnsiding look using any other paint.I do not sand or in any other way finish the floorbaords except for some final pastel shading or dusting of selected ares.Here you will have to use your imagination.High traffic areas will be worn,areas around engines will have more oil spots etc.... To be cont....