How I Build Dioramas in 1/16th.

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The wrecked Albatros ,although not quite finished has been about a six month project from concept to almost completion.It has been a very rewarding and fun experience that I would recommend to anyone.I really enjoy the freedom of using mixed media or whatever is at hand to tell my stories.My motto of "buying what you can and building what you must" really satisfies both the scratchbuilding urge and the use of kits.It is a nice compromise of time available and completion of a project in a reasonable time.

The three dioramas that are now almost complete have taken almost ten years to build and I would say that you could triple that time to scratch build it all.Granted that as I get older I don't spend quite as much shop time as I used to but still I am in my shop just about everyday.I am a very lucky man as my hands and eyes are still hangin in there.

Vacations?everyday is a vacation for me and besides my beloved 14 year old Husky( Dolly )won't let me or my wife out of her sight nor will she travel, so going anywhere together is not an option for us at this time.So,all in all,it works for me.

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The aft section of the fuselage now rests on the wheel of the U/C, with the other point of contact at the leading edge of the lower wing and horiz stab.The clothes peg joining the 2 halves will be replaced with the elevator and rudder control wires.Although somewhat extreme in its presentation, it leaves no doubt as to what it represents, a hurried and forceful attempt to rescue a pilot who's aircraft is already on fire.Chances are that if I had just broken the fuselage ,at this its weakest point,this aspect of the story may have been lost.The more intense burn area where the elevaltor meets the lower wing also suggests that the fire took hold after the aft section was placed there and not for some other reason like transport of the wreckage.

I know,I know most will say that this will probably all be lost on the average viewer ,but you got to admit that it is a lot of fun creating a little mystery in your work,especially for those who may care to analyze things a little more carefully.

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A New Years personal reflection. About 10 years ago I decided to drop one passion and start another.

Starting all over again seemed like a big decision at the time.I loved carving decorative birds and even taught it part time to adults for 11 years.While I reached a certain level of expertise and really enjoyed the subject matter I always felt a little uncomfortable filling these artistic shoes.I found that I seemed to be always playing catch-up to the leaders in the field.Following their example and doing knock offs of their ideas.Call it ego or whatever but I wanted to be one of those guys that I so highly admired.

Then I heard of a fellow decorative bird carver who was at the top of the genre and very successful both artistically and money wise.He had years of commissions in front of him but was also dissatisfied and felt that he was stuck in a rut.Then he made the unpopular decision(with his family and fans) to turn away from woodcarving forever and follow a new passion of doing mammals in bronze.He changed his style from very realistic bird carver to a looser style of mammal sculpture.He dropped everything and took a year or so traveling and visiting zoos etc..to get a feel for his subject matter and study their behavior.

He then returned to his studio and started his first bronze of a chimpanzeze which he promptly sold to Jane Goodal the very well known anthropologist and now is even more successful and happier than ever for having followed his dream.

Well,I found that a very inspiring story that helped push me into following my dream.After a near-death medical treatment ten years ago I thought well it is now or never.My passion had always been aviation and flying which was really not that far a step away from the birds themselves.My whole life was deeply involved in one way or another with aviation and it was what I knew best.My path had always been there in front of me all along.It had not always been an easy path to follow and involved a lot of personal pain.

An only survivor of an airplane accident 50 years ago,PTS syndrome and the subsequent loss of my flying career are but a few examples.But my love of aviation and flying never ceased.That is where airplane modeling and storyboard dioramas come in.Much like my fellow bird carver ,turned bronze sculpturer ,I decided to drop the whole thing and try something new.I have now put ten years of concentrated effort into devoping the talents necessary to becoming a storyboard dioramaist and it is only now with my last project the wrecked Albatros have I become really comfortable with the term as it applies to me.It may be the subject matter that I relate to. It could be the finally feeling comfortable in the knowledge that if I really put my mind to it ,I can take a mental 2D image and translate that into 3D model given the availability of the time to do so.I know that I still have loads to learn down the road and art is never really finished but this new year sure has had a positive start for me.

Please forgive me for all this talk about myself but I thought that you guys and gals,my modeling buds, might be interested .Cheers and Happy New Year to all! John.

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Gettin' there! All the brace wires are installed and just need a little final adjustment.The ailerons are rigged and today I hope to finish the elevator-rudder rigging and finally install the control column.

So now it is decision time again.Do I stop here as far as any other major components are concerned? When is enough ,enough? I will take a few pics and have to decide.There are a few odds and ends to rap up like the landscaping and maybe a small junkyard out back.I have also considered a couple of figures near the back door ,maybe mechanics taking a break for a smoke or some other relaxed activity.

All three dioramas are now 95% finished and almost ready for their new home.

I am anxious to get started on a new project, first building a small scale mockup of the "Backyard Flyer" ,a fantasy piece I plan to call "In Pursuit Of His Dream" based upon the 1/16th Wright Flyer(Model Airways) with a little Glenn Curtiss thrown in.Basically I want to put myself back in the pre-WW1 era and build my own "Flyer" using the knowledge available at the time.(I will try not to cheat)

These guys were the original EAA"ers long before the modern era.Aviation was young,new and exciting .Guys with no more than basic carpentry skills dreamed of taking to the air in their own backyard flyers.

There were plans available and the Wrights were even selling engines.I am sure that hardly any of these homemade craft ever took to the air but that is not important,this diorama will be about dreams and having fun especially for me,the modeler.

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This is the next project ,a WW1 truck conversion that I decided to build to balance out the composition of the Albatros diorama.I plan to do it as a multi-media thing using plastic,metal,wood etc....

The basic chassis is from a 1/16th Rolls Royce kit ,the design is a Mercedes car that will become a custom built truck for use on the airfield.Most trucks of this era were built on car chassis .Should be fun!

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The following was written by a good modeling bud of mine over on another site.

John, I really love this diorama. The wrecked plane is beautiful. The whole thing is magnificent.!!!

I would advise you to not put a vehicle in front of the hanger and wrecked plane.

Unless you rearrange the hanger and the wrecked plane, the vehicle will overpower the wrecked plane and the hanger. By "overpower" I mean the vehicle becomes the main attraction. The vehicle becomes the story. It will steal the story away from the planes.

Viewers will ask, in their mind; so what about this vehicle? Who just arrived? Who was driving the vehicle? What is it doing there?

I think the story is the wrecked plane and the plane they are working on in the hanger. The vehicle should only support that story.

John, I love your work. I hope you don't take this the wrong way. It's only my opinion.

My response;

Hi Jim! thank you for taking the time to express your opinion on this. I also have been quite reluctant to do this and for the same reasons, but all that open space in the left hand front of the diorama somehow bothers me.I can't quite put my finger on what it is,would you have any other suggestions or do you think it is OK as is?

Don't worry about the truck as I originally thought of putting it out back of the hangar anyway.

If anyone else would care to weight in on this subject please feel free to do so.Knowing when enough is enough has always been a problem for me.

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you have done a beautiful job it looks very real at first i thout it was a real hanger how long have you ben making dioramas

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