Getting your stuff in a good museum,How to..

CBHusky

This whole thread seems to be more about donating finished models and collections to museums. But I am posting here to ask and wondering about, if it's possible to build something for a museum that they don't currently have on exhibit and donate. My idea is the following:

 

I recently had a really crazy idea, but I'm not sure if it'll ever come to fruition.
For the last 2 years, I have been so enraptured with the history, and the model building of, a HMS Habakkuk ice aircraft carrier. The 1/700 scale model is done and already in the MW gallery back in June earlier this year.
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/misc/whatif/habakkuk-700-em/index.html
But now, I seem to be turning my thoughts to a bigger and far crazier future "possible" project: A 1/350 (Almost 6 feet long!) scale Habakkuk carrier, but detail the hell out of it and show the FULL interior from bow to stern. It's an impossible project due to little or no blueprints and technical diagrams, etc. But I have already begun formulating notes, calculations, specifications, etc. just in case I actually do this project in the future.
But here's the thing: I don't want to do this for myself. I can't keep a 6 foot model in my small apartment as I don't have the room. I had the thought of what if I donated it to a museum? I was thinking of the following:
1. Jasper, Canada is where a small scale Habakkuk prototype was built and tested on a lake. There is a museum here: http://www.jaspermuseum.org/
2. Would the Royal Naval Museum be interested in such a display? After all, Project Habakkuk was originally a British idea/concept. They have a website here: http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/index.htm

How would I go about pitching such an idea/concept for a large model display to a museum? What questions should I be asking? And if the above museums wouldn't be interested in such a display, then who would?

I would say just build it if that is what your heart tells you to do.As you get more and more into it you will have something to show.I was lucky in the beginning to have a young lady that worked at the museum promote my work to her bosses and peers .She gave me my break but she had to have something to show. You have to believe that if your stuff is good someone, somewhere will see the value of your art. Just start it and see what happens.

Personally I am in the same position as you are right now .I am building a "Old West " diorama using railway stuff because it is something I always wanted to do.I have to have faith that someone will pick it up when its built as I am a complete unknown the railroad museum world.Good luck and please start it now.

Cheers! John.

ModelNerd

I can tell ya from experience it's easier to get your "stuff" into lesser-known museums. When my grandfather passed away a few years back, he left me with a considerable collection of planes he built, dating back to 1939. There was no practical way for me to display or store the entire collection, so I kept the ones that meant the most to him and/or me, and then contacted several air museums in my state. The most prominent and well-known museums didn't want them, as they basically have a glut of this sort of stuff already. The ones that accepted the donations were smaller facilities, in need of display items. It was a win-win for everyone. Although I could not have brought myself to "dumpster" the surplus plane models, I would have had to store them, where no one would have enjoyed them.

What a wonderful story ! I am sure that your dad would be proud.Single models are hard to get into the known museums no matter how well they are done.That is why I do dioramas with a story attached to it.People today want more than just  looking at old airplanes even 1:1 scale.(the real thing) have lost their popularity with the public as aviation itself has over time.Their will always be a certain group of what I like to call aviators and of course modelers that will never get over the thrill of flight but the general public wants more.Museums are finally realizing this and are now even doing full scale airplane dioramas with their collections.The Canada Aviation and Space Museum is helping to lead the way.I was lucky to be doing the right thing at the right time.Ten years earlier and they would have said "what the hell is a diorama."

Cheers ! John.

Thanks guys for your kind words,I am glad that you like my stuff.Nice to know that you are following along on this thread. Cheers ! John. lots more to come!

I can tell ya from experience it's easier to get your "stuff" into lesser-known museums. When my grandfather passed away a few years back, he left me with a considerable collection of planes he built, dating back to 1939. There was no practical way for me to display or store the entire collection, so I kept the ones that meant the most to him and/or me, and then contacted several air museums in my state. The most prominent and well-known museums didn't want them, as they basically have a glut of this sort of stuff already. The ones that accepted the donations were smaller facilities, in need of display items. It was a win-win for everyone. Although I could not have brought myself to "dumpster" the surplus plane models, I would have had to store them, where no one would have enjoyed them.

This whole thread seems to be more about donating finished models and collections to museums. But I am posting here to ask and wondering about, if it's possible to build something for a museum that they don't currently have on exhibit and donate. My idea is the following:

I recently had a really crazy idea, but I'm not sure if it'll ever come to fruition.
For the last 2 years, I have been so enraptured with the history, and the model building of, a HMS Habakkuk ice aircraft carrier. The 1/700 scale model is done and already in the MW gallery back in June earlier this year.
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/misc/whatif/habakkuk-700-em/index.html
But now, I seem to be turning my thoughts to a bigger and far crazier future "possible" project: A 1/350 (Almost 6 feet long!) scale Habakkuk carrier, but detail the hell out of it and show the FULL interior from bow to stern. It's an impossible project due to little or no blueprints and technical diagrams, etc. But I have already begun formulating notes, calculations, specifications, etc. just in case I actually do this project in the future.
But here's the thing: I don't want to do this for myself. I can't keep a 6 foot model in my small apartment as I don't have the room. I had the thought of what if I donated it to a museum? I was thinking of the following:
1. Jasper, Canada is where a small scale Habakkuk prototype was built and tested on a lake. There is a museum here: http://www.jaspermuseum.org/
2. Would the Royal Naval Museum be interested in such a display? After all, Project Habakkuk was originally a British idea/concept. They have a website here: http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/index.htm

How would I go about pitching such an idea/concept for a large model display to a museum? What questions should I be asking? And if the above museums wouldn't be interested in such a display, then who would?

John I truly appreciate your words and work.  Your diorama and photography work is exquisite.  I recall that the first photo of yours that I saw, I mistook for an actual picture of a workshop.  Thank you for sharing your hard work and creative insight.  Rick. 

VanceCrozier

Manstein's revenge:

Leave your model in a basket on the front steps after they close...

 

John, already a step ahead of you. I went to the local Legion and asked around to see what service the members were in. Then when I had something that fit the line of service, I offered it up to the Legion to put on display.

I may never have stood shoulder to shoulder with those folks, but they did like to tell me some old "war stories"  later.

Cheers

Cedric

Manstein's revenge

Leave your model in a basket on the front steps after they close...

Leave your model in a basket on the front steps after they close...

Good thread,

There are also other areas besides the traditional musuems to look to donate your diplays, check listings from the National Park Service, National Historic Register, and state to local park listings for areas and organizations that may have interpretive centers in your area.

Libraries and public service offices, especially the local Armed Forces Recruiting Centers and National Guard offices.  I have modeling freinds who have had military bases accept models for offices and their interpretive centers.  The VFW has been a good source for receiving small collections in a organized display.  Schools have also been a good area for donating or lending displays, however, they are becoming more and more PC and will not allow anything confederate or "Nazi" themed.  I had this problem with a display of the CSS Alabama.

John, you hit the nail on the head about going and getting your work out of the house and into places for many to enjoy inthat you need to have a plan and to not be discouraged when others reject your work, it is just part of wanting to get your work out in the open.

Scott

Wow! that sounds like a great idea to me, Good luck, Cheers! John.

I mighthave to contact the Iowa Gold Star Museum at Camp Dodge...  The 34th Infantry Division (Red Bull) Museum is part of that outfit... They're only about 30 minutes from me...  It WOULD give me an excuse to do a lot of Italian Campaign stuff from WW2, as well as the 34th's being a major player in the current war...

Wow ! what a great story.Thank you for letting me know .Cheers ! John.

Occasionally museums come looking for models. The Lexington museum in Texas is one. They attend shows in the South Central and South West looking for modelers to help with a massive model display that they are working on. Our club (Central Arkansas Scale Modelers) got involved with them a couple of years ago at a show in Dallas. The museum representative went around looking at models then found the owners to offer them the chance to work with the museum. To date, two of our club members have contributed around 20 models to the USS Lexington museum. They were hand picked by the museum for their solid build and paint work. That is something we're very proud of.

You are right the title should tell the story or give enough info to allow the viewer to connect the dots.When the viewer does this himself it can be a very effective technique.

Make no mistake, Shep's my Hee-ro... He inspired me to become a diorama builder rather than a "shelfer" and his work for Monogram in the 70s was what triggered my "creative gene"...  I only saw one piece of his up close and personal, his Monogram TBD-1 dio, which was on display at King's Hobby Shop in Austin Texas for several years... I was rather taken aback by the simpleness of it, if that's possible to understand, but he captured just about every aspect of the aircraft and it's combat history with one airplane and two figures.....

I've tried to keep my work along his lines, in that "Less is More" area and let the diorama tell the story, rather than mske the mistake many good diorama-buiders make, which is putting too much stuff on, then trying to tell the story in a three-page narrative...

One to five words for a title is all it should take... Like, "SNIPER!",  "The Death of Jim Bowie", "Meeting of the Admilralty Board", "The Road to Damascus", etc...

Goal #2

My goal number two,picking up the ball and running with it for awhile.
When Shep Paine let it be known that he was retiring from active model making and was hoping that others would pick up the diorama ball and run with it for awhile, unbeknown to him I volunteered ,as I am sure many others did.
This may sound like I am comparing my work to his but nothing is farther from the truth.Even today ,I still have a long way to go.His painting and modifying of kit figures is in a class by itself.No,what I mean is his creativity and his courage to try new things,which I have always very highly admired.That is the ball that I wanted to run with.Therefore ,I will just let my work speak for itself.

Oh ! that is too bad. I care. Cheers! John.

I just photograph them and then tear them down...  I don't care what happens to my stuff, either... They're just models...

I have made it clear and abundantly well known, that my collection while maybe not interesting to the family I leave behind, will be worth a great deal of cash if they have the brains to understand it can be sold at good profit to interested parties.

There likely is no museum in the future of my stuff, but I also am not wasting good model buying funds on life insurance (which is an oxymoron eh as it doesn't ensure I won't die). My family knows I am surrounded by a lot of expensive things, and if they insist on wasting a lot of cash putting me in a nice box in a hole in the ground, they can either convert the things to a lot of cash, or be horribly out of cash if they still insist on the nice box in the hole in the ground :)

Now my father's massive collection of railroad photographs, that is another matter entirely. A museum likely would need a sponge to wipe up all the drool.

Sure will ! All in good time my friend. In the meantime take a look at my photobucket. Cheers! John.

I only ran with it for awhile with a few other guys.Now its up to somebody else. How about you?

I have an idea, John. Why don't you post your work up here and let us decide.