An aircraft diorama but " C 'est bien simple"

[Guest]

After slogging away at the 6 models I have made so far I wanted to show them off as best as possible.

Bought contiboad shelving & slotted shelving system from who ? yes B & Q. 10% discount on Wednesday for people who are not young !

But it all looked stark & dreary. But did not want to build a complicated diorama mainly as this would take away from the aircraft models.

So decided the best way was to show them in their natural environment but simply. The pictures illustrate what I came up with. Also did not want equipment straddled about the place but at the same time wished to show the proportions of the aircraft. I introduced the minimal of figures to illustrate this. Unfortunate that those available mainly Revell are not brilliant but there you go.

After a lot of "looking" I came up with the following materials. Sky (got to redo as it has bubble should have use photo spray not PVA) ID Mock Scenes which is very realistic & on a 150 gm paper.

Grass. Very difficult to find realistic but found some which looks really good. Heki Static Grass Matt Dark Green 75cm * 100cm. Used thin PVA coat on base & brown paper backing of grass.

Runway. Used GaugeMaster Gravel Mat (railway track stuff) . 100cm *75 cm. Glued same way as Grass. You have lay as you would hang wall paper it will stretch so needs pushing out the bubbles technique. It will then dry & stretch to a good flat finish.

The labels were simply designed on Coral Draw, a publishing programme, & then printed on semi gloss photo paper.

Should add that the sky bit is being replaced & looks tatty at the moment.

Laurie

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[papa 695]

That looks great Laurie a fantastic use of shelve space and decorated very well

[Vaughan]

Laurie What a beautiful array of aircraft. You should be very proud of yourself 5*

Vaughan

[Guest]

Thanks Ian & Vaughan very nice indeed to read your comments much appreciated.

Laurie

[Guest]

i like that a lot, it looks great

[mossiepilot]

What a cracking idea to display your models Laurie.

Shows them off really well.

Tony.

[Guest]

Very nicely done Laurie, I like what you've done with that a lot! Awesome!!!

[Guest]

I like that, I like that a lot.

[Guest]

This is really good Laurie, a simple yet effective way to display a fine collection of aircraft.

[Ian M]

A very simple and smart idea for showing of your collection.

I did notice that you have posted this in the section for trains which I thought a bit odd. I have moved it for you to the aircraft section.

Just a thought but if you print out the sky in one long sheet and have it rounded in the corners, you will loose the sharp corners and it will look much better.

Ian M

[stona]

Nice one,it looks like the flightline at an airshow,if only we had such exotic aircraft to show!

I'm with Ian on the sky,if you can curve it around you'll lose that corner but what a minor point on a fine display.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Yep you are correct Ian. My intentions were different until patience kicked out & I made a muck of glueing the sky & so the sky became temporary just to allow me to take some photos

When the new sky arrives I will be, hopefully, in full patience mode

Laurie

[Guest]

Thanks men for the replies much appreciated.

Looked again at the corner & did a mock up. While on a real diorama it would look great on an adjustable shelf system with all the brackets it does not work well for that & a few other reasons. The small end panel knocks out the light from the window I put that in for photos only. So will stick to the back panel only. My original thoughts keep it simple.

Sorry Ian how on earth it got into train ; then again when in your 74th year anything is possible well most things. I know SHE tells me.

Laurie

[Guest]

Can you give more details about the sky?

This looks like a great display by the way

[Guest]

Can you give more details about the sky?Thanks Andrew.

The sky in the photos "ID Backscenes ID501A 'Summer Sky' Pack A 10ft x 15"" Put this in your browser & it comes up. They do a number of scenes town, country all with sky above. But as I have said kept it simple to keep the edge on the aircraft & used just simple all sky. They also do a B pack although there does not seem to be much difference.I got mine from Howard Scenic Supplies. About £10 for 10 feet.

Although it says 10 feet wide it comes in two pieces & the join does not seem to be a perfect match. But even if it was I bet the join would show up. It comes on a approx 150 gm inkjet type matt paper (average good writing paper is 100gm).

I used PVA glue coated the base & paper but made a mess of it putting it on to thick ending up with hard lumps all over the place. Think I will be better second time around using a spray photo glue. Care full with the surface. Best with a duster or a wall paper brush or soft floor brush washed of course. Fixed it to 6mm mf board. Any thinner you may end up with it taking charge.

Note on the grass & gravel the PVA was perfect acting like a wall paper paste.

Laurie