HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

[DonnyW]

Originally posted by StephenLawson@Sep 15 2004, 04:55 PM
[b] Aaahhh but what story does it tell? Figures a diorama does not make.

OK point taken Stephen. Now suppose the USAF museum stood a butler holding out a tray complete with teapot, on the ground beside the pilot then added the caption " Not now James .. were going to fly our aeroplane !!" Would it then be a diorama ?.. Captions make a diorama ?

[JohnReid]

Originally posted by Ross_Moorhouse@Sep 15 2004, 11:38 PM
[b] One of my all time favorite dioramas is Robert Karr's The 94th Aero Squadron. http://members.aol.com/karrart/avart/gal11.htm also featured in "WINDSOCK INTERNATIONAL," November/December, 1997, Vol. 13, No. 6.

yeah Ross,thats the one I was talking about.Great isnt it?RK did a wonderful job on that dio. Cheers! John.

[JohnReid]

Originally posted by DonnyW+Sep 16 2004, 01:08 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (DonnyW @ Sep 16 2004, 01:08 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-StephenLawson@Sep 15 2004, 04:55 PM
[b] Aaahhh but what story does it tell? Figures a diorama does not make.

OK point taken Stephen. Now suppose the USAF museum stood a butler holding out a tray complete with teapot, on the ground beside the pilot then added the caption " Not now James .. were going to fly our aeroplane !!" Would it then be a diorama ?.. Captions make a diorama ?[/quote]
Donny W. I like that idea! No captions do not make a diorama.In fact the use of a caption can be the sign of a weak dioramic (is that a word?) idea.If you have to explain it ,the magic is lost on the average viewer.Let me take an example from my own work.My first aircraft diorama was of the Albatros.Nice to look at but a little weak in storyline.Two pilots looking at an aircraft and mechanic.The average Joe would look at that and say ho-hum nice scene but what does it all mean? Now take my 2nd diorama.Now this is a much better storyline.A teacher instructing his students,something that every viewer can relate to.As I said before ,the pointing figure makes the diorama because your viewer is immediately drawn into your piece wondering what is he saying?what is he pointing too?At that moment you have capured his imagination and then the rest of the diorama becomes more believeable.What you really want to get from your viewer is a suspension of their disbelief and open their curiosity to take in more and more of your piece.I love to watch the look on kids faces when they are first drawn in to a world that they never experienced before.The adults are a little harder to capture but usually they come around.Cheers! John

[JohnReid]

Originally posted by karrart+Sep 15 2004, 10:52 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (karrart @ Sep 15 2004, 10:52 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-sperry@Sep 15 2004, 05:25 PM
[b] And the other one
sp

and this other one....a true "p*ss*ng contest"?...or great minds think alike?
And John- yeah- I'll try to keep up with the thread and dribble whatever I can on it!
RK
karrart.com[/quote]
Thanks RK ! Great to have you on board.I know your free time must be limited so any input would be greatly appreciated by us all. Cheers! John.

[JohnReid]

Originally posted by sperry@Sep 15 2004, 11:09 PM
[b] I said they were story ideas , not original ideas

As for great minds thinking alike , I think it's more like blatant copying is the sincerest form of flattery Robert, I just loved this piece when I first saw a photo of it. My old Pit/Lab Ralph is bad about anointing things so i was ROTF when I first saw it.

Dogs, at least well behaved ones, are great for dioramas because everyone can relate to them and so to whatever humans are portrayed in the diorama, even if they are "The Bad Guys".
sp

Your right dogs will do it every time!Just take a look at a couple of paintings by James Dietz, a wonderful contemporary artist working in WW1 subjects.His storyline encompasses two paintings where the dog is the star.Just take a look at Bonne Chance and Cest la Guerre and tell me if the dog isnt the central character.And while you are at it,his whole website is just full of ideas for the dioramist(that word again) Cheers! John.

[karrart]

Originally posted by DonnyW@Sep 13 2004, 10:07 PM
[b] I looked the meaning up in a dictionary and it was described as something like ..looking through an opening into a scene .. originally different paintings hung in 3d .. different lighting effects etc.

Like most words, "diorama" has gone through changes in meaning, in this case from being something similar to theatrical scrims, to what the American Heritage English dictionary defines as "a miniature scene with painted modeled figures and background". I would expand the definition to say one doesn't necessarily need figures in all cases! Years ago, Shep Paine made a diorama of a B-25 rotting away in a scrap yard and as I recall, the only "figure" was a rattlesnake hiding in the shadows- but it was an effective and evocative scene.
Just a flight crew in a Caproni may not be a diorama, but if they're doing something interesting- go ahead and call it that.
I reckon you're more the flying kind of guy and that's a world I've been out of for decades....everything I ever built crashed.......
Build a bunch of Capronis, fly 'em around and call it a moving diorama!
RK
karrart.com

[JohnReid]

Right on RK! I agree completely .I dont think that we have to take a strict interpretation of what is a Diorama? If Donny W. is inspired by this thread to make his RC airplanes more interesting ,so be it.Thats enough for me.Cheers! John.

[JohnReid]

I thought that I would pass this on before I forgot about it.Today was such a nice day here in Montreal that I deciced to work(play) outdoors today instead of starting to work(play) on the Jenny fuselage.In my 4th article on building the Jenny,Memories of Flight School,I mentioned using soft brushes for applying pastels to the rough barnsiding.Well I got fed up wearing out brushes on the rough surface,so I checked out my pastels box, that I inherited some time ago ,and discovered a pencil like tightly wound paper shader(I least thats what I call it)All I know is that it is about 5 inches long,about the thickness of a pencil and works just great for shading.Mine says Made in Taiwan # 812 and cost me about a buck(however I dont know how long ago I bought it)Maybe some of the pastel artists out there could better identify it.All I know is that it works well and saves my brushes.Cheers! John.

[Ross_Moorhouse]

Bob Wheeler's 1/72nd scratchbuilt BE2c set in a diorama....

[DonnyW]

Originally posted by karrart+Sep 16 2004, 10:10 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (karrart @ Sep 16 2004, 10:10 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-DonnyW@Sep 13 2004, 10:07 PM
[b] I looked the meaning up in a dictionary and it was described as something like ..looking through an opening into a scene .. originally different paintings hung in 3d .. different lighting effects etc.

Like most words, "diorama" has gone through changes in meaning, in this case from being something similar to theatrical scrims, to what the American Heritage English dictionary defines as "a miniature scene with painted modeled figures and background". I would expand the definition to say one doesn't necessarily need figures in all cases! Years ago, Shep Paine made a diorama of a B-25 rotting away in a scrap yard and as I recall, the only "figure" was a rattlesnake hiding in the shadows- but it was an effective and evocative scene.
Just a flight crew in a Caproni may not be a diorama, but if they're doing something interesting- go ahead and call it that.
I reckon you're more the flying kind of guy and that's a world I've been out of for decades....everything I ever built crashed.......
Build a bunch of Capronis, fly 'em around and call it a moving diorama!
RK
karrart.com[/quote]
Hi Karrart, Thanks for the additional info on the meaning of Diorama. Im not all a flying guy as I make models of all sorts. My interest in this thread is as stated in my opening post. I believe that a modeler can improve his / her work by taking an interest in all modeling disciplines. This thread has already given me the inspiration to "create a scene" for an R/C model. Imagine this senario.
A 10ft span Caproni is sat on the grass beside a 70 yard runway. The audience are standing behind the flight line. The adults are looking at the aircraft and wondering if that strange creation could possibly fly. The children are looking at the little figures pulling a trolly loaded with bombs and at the gunner leaning over the front of the aircraft, pointing at something unknown. Next minute the Caproni starts off down the runway and takes to the sky. An assistant places an Austrian "target" on the runway and the bomber flies in low, aiming for the target. Suddenly everyone realises what the gunner is pointing at, the bombs drop and the target is hit. The children laugh with delight and the adults are amaized by the sight of such a strange aircraft flying... the modeler now feels the 10 year old lad in himself.
A dream ? Perhaps but I will try my best to fulfill that dream.. and no.. I wont call it a moving diorama. I wont call it anything .. Ill let the audience decide for themselves what it is. But if someone asks "where did you get the idea to do that?" I'll happily reply .. from a thread on the net about dioramas !!