HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

[JohnReid]

The WOW! factor.

Why do some artists strive for it? Why are we all affected when we see it?
What is the WOW factor? It is that little subtle extra something that grabs our attention in a very understated way and makes us go, Wow!
Wow, I really like that, or wow, I didnt see that before, or wow why didnt I think of that?

It is that little something that guilds the lily so to speak.It doesnt take hours and hours of work to accomplish .The power of observation and your personal creativity is all your need.It can be fleeting and sometimes extremely hard to capture, at other times it can just fall into our laps out of nowhere.
Let me explain.
When I was actively carving decortive birds, I used to attend a show in Ocean City Maryland, where carvers from all over the world would compete for awards and display their decorative birds.It was always an exciting time where a lot of creative ideas were exchanged.There was always lots to see and a great opportunity to "fill the well" with creative images.However ,every once in a while someone would show up with an idea that would just blow everyone away.People would talk about it for days and it would go through the creative community like wildfire.At the following years show, you would see the idea everywhere.Some would copy it directly,others would take the view if one is nice then a hundred would be better(thereby losing all power of subtlety)Others would try to improve the idea,make it larger or smaller and thereby lose what ever it was that turned them on to it in the beginning.What am I talking about?
I remember very well a fellow that showed up at the show with a bird carving where he had put a very subtle split in a chest feather on his decorative bird to show the soft, white, downy feather underneath.No matter how much you tried to do otherwise, your eye was drawn to that feather.All the other painstaking work was great, but it was that little feather split that drew your eye.Sometimes people would look at the piece a long time and go" wow",others would see it right away and go" wow" but no matter, the power of that feather split to draw attention was there.This power seemed infect even the casual observer not just those actively invovled in the artform.It seems to be a universal human trait of discovery and one that has always fascinated me but one that I have no answer for.Have you guys had similiar experiences?
Cheers! John.



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[JohnReid]

Yesterday was a great day for tracking down some loose ends in order to finish the "Memories of Flight School" diorama.A local hobby store her in Montreal is closing and going into mail order only. I have dealt at this store for 35 years, first with the grandfather,then his son and now with his grandkids.Anyway they have a sale going on and I was able to poke around looking for stuff.
I think I have solved the lighting problem and will go with the plain sockets and screw in type bulbs that the doolhouse miniaturists use.I will use a train transformer, which already has a built in dimmer, that I can pickup second hand pretty cheap.It will be the same basic system as the Albatros diorama.
I also picked up some furniture for the office which can easily be modified to 1/16.A period scale radio,telephone,lamps,coat hangars,leather bound books,door knobs,hinges,lighting fixtures,drawer pulls and even a nice coal shovel for the rear entrance module.
So all this and the building of tha 2nd Jenny JN4d should keep me busy for another year or so.I now have about 2 years and approximately 2,000 hours shop time in the project so far.The only thing now would be a nice sound system with sounds of an airshow going on in the background.If anyone has any thoughts on this it really would be appreciated as I have no knowledge of miniature sound systems.Maybe you RR guys could come to the rescue once again and have some experience with this?
Cheers! John.

[JohnReid]

I have started a "How to........." thread on a diecast site where I go into a little more detail on my building methods, as they are only beginning to get into dioramas.I will import some of those posts here for your info and for anybody here who may be a beginner at dioramas.Cheers! John.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

The Garage/hangar floorboards after having their ends cut 90deg can now be painted.I use acryilic type paint but a very special type of acrylic paint called Jo Sonja that comes from the decorative arts world.I got used to using this paint when I was carving decorative birds a few years ago.I call this paint special because it has some very unique qualities that make it very easy to work with.For those of you who have not yet invested in other types of paint I would recommend that you start with this brand.(by the way I have no interest in any of the products I mention nor do I often push any particular brand but in this case I think that it is important to start off on the right track)Why Jo Sonja ? mostly beacause it is a gouache acrylic( a kind of permanent watercolor) that dries absolutely flat (no shine) one of the biggest problems in painting with acryilics is shine where you dont want it ,especially on figures.I have seen some beautiful work spolied with figures that look like they have been dipped in oil.With this paint you can add your own mediums such as varnish,flow medium, retarder etc...and thereby have complete control over the paint.If you make a mistake and things get too shiney you can paint another coat right over the first and dull things down again.It is even removable for 24 hours or so.This paint is also very easy to mix with water and is just right for the airbrush.

For the floorboards I mix up a very thin batch of nimbus grey straight out of the tube and lots of water to a consistency of 2% milk.(no mediums)I paint this on the boards and dry using a hairdryer between coats.It may take 3 or 4 coats to reach the disired intensity of color which is kind of a transparent stain where your can still see the raw wood below.I do not seal the wood in anyway before painting as I want the color to sink in and not just remain on the top.I usually do about 15-20 boards at a time.
When they are dry I start measureing ,cutting and laying them as required.Dont worry about the raw wood ends as the butts will be colored later using pastels.
To be cont.... Any questions?

[JohnReid]

The base is made from 1/4 inch plywood and well seasoned straight pine (or basswood)because it is very easy to work with when sawing ,drilling etc.The pine shown here is some scrap but well seasoned pieces that I had laying around the shop.They are mostly 1/2 X 2 or 3 inches.Do not use any nails or anything metal to fasten the pieces together.Glue everything up on flat surface using carpenters glue and clamps and let it dry overnite.This is the basic structure upon which everything else will be built so it needs to be strong.

[JohnReid]

Pic# 3-wallpanels

[JohnReid]

Now that we have a good solid base to work on ,we can start contructing our wall panels.Note: I have used a type of construction whereby it can be taken apart with a few screws.This was done for museum purposes for ease of maintenance(changing light bulbs etc...)

Pic # 3
The wall panels were built right on the base using 3/16ths (5mm) foamboard which you can buy at your local craft or art store.It is very easy to cut with a #11 Xacto blade,takes paint and glue well and is quite strong.I build in 1/16th scale so you will have to be the judge as to wether it would be too thick for your purposes.For the smaller scales you could use card stock.The foamboard or cardboard with be the core around which we we built up our wall structure.If you havent already done so now would be a good time to do your floorplan and plan for windows and doors etc..I wanted to have an open space large enough to contain an airplane,2 cars,2 Harleys and a trailer plus a workshop in one corner.Keep in mind the scale that you are working with when placing your doors and windows.It would be a shame to build your hangar door too low and discover later that the only way you could get the airplane out would be to deflate the tires!
The wall panels are fairly easy to build using the foamboard just remember to keep everything 90deg and make straight cuts.Keep your xacto blade 90deg to the foamboard when cutting if you want to have exact measurments.Save all cutouts,number them and put an up arrow on them for future use as templates for your doors and windows.You can pick up pine wood at your local hardware store or basswood at a specialty wood store.Hobby stores sometimes have a limited selection but is usually way to expensive for our purposes.You will be surprised just how much wood it takes to build one of these structures even in 1/16th scale.It is a good idea if you are not cutting your own wood and you are faced with selecting between two sizes,to take the larger size.Nothing looks worse than a flimsy building and besides may be a friend could trim it for you.Some woodstores even offer custom sizing if you order ahead and order enough at a time.The most common sizes that I use are
1/4X1/4 (7X7mm approx.),3/8X3/8(10X10mm),1/4X1/2,1/4X3/4(20mmX10mm),11/16X7/16(12X18mm)
To be cont.......
Cheers!John.

[JohnReid]

A couple of things that I forgot to mention about the floorboards. Once the greyish floorboards are laid they will probably be too grey in color, although some of the underlying wood color should show through, if you made your grey mix watery enough.Take a little super watery(like dirty water) raw umber and wash a thin coat or two over the floor to tone down the grey and bring the values of color closer together.
The other thing that I forgot to mention regarding the finishing of the base, is the simulated nail heads on the floorboards.(This can be done now or later )

To make the nail heads,use a pin to create little holes in the wood where you want your nail heads to be represented.I usually do mine in a pattern that would suggest floor joists under the flooring.Then take an ordinary HB( or softer)pointed, grafhite pencil and twist it in each hole so a little grahpite is left behind(blow off any residue) Now take a very thin (1% milk) raw umber/water mix and fill each pin hole.The wood will now swell and close the hole leaving behind a nice subtle nail head.If you want the nailhead to look rusty you can come back with a little watery burnt sienna.If you want to soften the rusty look you can take a little burnt sienna pastel(chauk not oil) and with a small, soft brush dust each nailhead.Dont worry about the pastels rubbing off this rough porous surface.
Now take a small soft brush ,and using various shades of grey and black you can dust in between the cracks of the floorboards and the butt ends.I sometimes also may use a little burnt or raw umber in certain areas if I want to brown up the grey floor a little.That is the beauty of gouche acryilics is that you can play with them like this without worrying about things becoming too shiney.
The above method was used on the Neiuport diorama.The Albatros was different in that I used real sequin pins for nails(dressmakers store has them)
The head of the pin was sanded slightly to help the paint stick.Each hole was drilled in the floorboards and a pin hammered in .The roughened head of the pin was then painted with Gesso and over that burnt umber.If rust was reqiured I used a watery burnt sienna and a pastel dusting over that.
I think thats about it.Now you know why it takes so darn long to do!Long ,boring jobs like this I try to save for those nice lazy days in the summer with a nice brew close by (coffee or otherwise).
Any questions?
Cheers! John.
Check out my stuff at http://www.wwi-models.org/Images/Reid/index.html
for pictures of the Albatros flooring.

[JohnReid]

Not much new to report on the new dio.I am still working on the windows and it is very time consuming.Each window has 12 panes and about a total of 40 pieces each.They are painted grey inside at green outside.I decided to go with plexiglass even though it is a bit distorted and not as clear as real glass,it does add a little authenticity though, as glass in those days was a little distorted anyway.I will make the windows removable for picture taking purposes.This is the time when having saved those origianal cutouts from the foamboard comes in handy.With just a little minor sanding they fit quite easily when built on the foamboard templates.Just be sure to number them and mark an "up" direction as it can get confusing otherwise.
The doors will be next and they also contain windows ,so it looks like I will at this for sometime yet!
Cheers! John.