HOW TO BUILD AIRCRAFT DIORAMAS

[JohnReid]

Hi guys!In order to make a very convining looking cockpit hole in the cowling I used some leather edging or beading from an old light brown leather womens purse.The leather is soft and quite worn at the edge.It already has the general shape required so it went on easily.I glued it down with super glue and used brown and black pastels for shading on where the raw leather was exposed.This leather is very pliable and would be great for seats or leather trim on airplanes or cars.
In the pic that I will put up next there is a figure of the Jenny's fuselage section that I am building now and the arrangement that I will use to set the fuselage on the hangar floor.My fabric fuselage sides look a little too perfect right now so I will have to plan a few tears and patches.In reality the fuselage would probably have been skinned at this point for easy access but here again I took a little licence and left most of it on.There are two reasons for this, number 1 is that I want to give the viewer an idea of what the airplane would look like with its skin and the 2nd reason is that I am too damn lazy to put in all the wires and fittings again.(mostly the 2nd reason,I think)
Cheers! John

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

Here is a modeler friends " secrets of scratchbuilding":

OK, here is the secret to all scratch building. (This might seem stupidly simple)

1. Get over your fear, and don't ever think that you can't do it.
2. Get a picture of what you want to build.
3. Figure out all of the 1:1 dimensions of the object. You can measure the real thing or search the internet for dimensions.
4. Break down the object in your mind into all of the parts that make up the object. Draw these seperate pieces on a piece of paper (how ever badly you draw) so you will remember them. I can' t draw worth beans.....
4. Divide all dimensions by 25 (for 1/25th scale) or 24 (for 1/24th scale) or whatever scale you want..... Write down all of your new, in scale, dimensions.
5. Get a digital caliper and start measuring pieces of plastic to get the right sizes for your project.
6. Then start making pieces that look like the different pieces of the object and keep measuring them with the calipers to make sure they are the right size. You know, if your making a statue of David, you cut away everything that does not look like the statue of David.

[JohnReid]

Blast from the past!

[JohnReid]

The above pics:

These two pics are from my Neiuport 28 diorama.The model T is a highly modified 1/16th plastic model.The figures also modified plastic kits.The seated figure was once standing and if I remember correctly he was WW2 German Army of some sort.I modified him with my saw and trusty exacto #11 and painted him with acrylics.I find that he looks a little stiff but afterall he is military.His skintones are little sickly looking in this picture.The photo on the cabinet is of the U.S. 94th squad overseas.It was reduced to scale and framed using dollhouse wooden pic framing material.The blue background is blue artboard.Lighting is 2 xmas bulbs set in the hangars rafters.All weathering was done with watery raw umber and nimbus grey acrylics and black,grey and brown pastels.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

Recently I have been making a few tarps for my latest dio and I thought that maybe I should pass along my way of doing this.
Basically I use kleenex because of its very fine weave and workability.
First I get a piece of waxpaper and tape it to a piece of card,then I cut out the kleenex using a new #11 Xacto blade.
The number of layers of kleenex you use will depend on how thick you want it.Usually for tarps or canvas they are a lot thicker than rags.You will just have to experiment a little here.
Place the cutout piece of kleenex on the waxpaper and soak it with a mix of 20% yellow carpenters glue and 80% water.Dont worry if it initially crinkles up.Now take a soft brush and gently push some of the unwanted crinkles out toward the edges.Some you may want to retain for effect.
Take a hair dryer and gently blow warm air over the wet kleenex until it is not dripping wet.Take your wet kleenex and place it on whatever you are trying to cover.With your soft brush give your tarp weight by shaping it over the contour of your piece.Be sure to observe real tarps to see what I am talking about.When you are happy with the shape continue to dry the kleenex until it holds its shape.If you let it airdry overnite there may be some shrinking.
When it is thourghly dry you can spray it with a matt spray laquer if you want.(Although the glue mix will act as its own sealer.)
You can now do your magic with pastels or watery acrylics.
If you want a color other than the glues natural off white color you can add acrylic water color to your glue mix.Just be sure to add the color to the water before you mix it with the glue.
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[JohnReid]

Except for the boxes or sawhorses that it will rest on the fuselage of the JN4A is finished.I have decided to leave most of the fabric intact and just show some patches here or there.It is not so much of a basket case as I had originally planned because I wanted to have a good contrast between the covered and un
covered elements.Not putting in all those wires and fittings(Which wouldn't be seen anyway) took weeks off the build.I threw some tarps over the upper longerons and I think it actually adds to the piece.
Now its on to the wings which I will treat pretty much the same way, except for maybe 1 panel on sawhorses being torn into for its fittings etc....
Lack of space has pretty much decided for me ,that if I want to retain any of the other objects such as cars,advert trailer etc.. I will have to do so outside the hangar walls.I would really hate to delete these items if I dont have to.
I am still sitting on the fence with this one and I keep putting off the final decision.
It now looks like this summer will be spend building and furnishing the engine shop complete with 2 engines ,an OX5 being rebuilt and a Mercedes in storage. If all goes well and I dont get any other ideas of grandure I may just have this thing finished this year.

[JohnReid]

another blast from the past.

[JohnReid]

Boy are you guys ever in for a treat now! Welcome aboard friend.