1st Annual Diorama Group Build Contest and Commando HOO-AH!

looks like it is coming alon nicely Carl! Keep it up!

I see that it was way back in Oct when last I posted an update. I've been beavering away at this thing but progress is fairly slow. I now have the power train and undercarriage  finished and work is starting on the cab. I still have to come up with tracks and roller chain for the final drive. Most of these parts were modified from things I found in the parts box.

the gearbox and track mounts

undercarriage ( the pivot boxings are 8-71 GMC blowers from hot rod engines

Steam poer piston and valve gear. Some is from the General kit but most is partsbox and scratch built.

a mock up of the cab. The front is made from wood. The roof from the General and the woodbox is scratch built from sheet styrene.

I still have a bunch left to do on the engine then  I have to build a couple sleighs full of logs. Once thats done I'll start on the base. I'll need to figure out how to model deep snow for that. One of th egood things about this project is tha tno two oof these Lombards were ever the same. Some were built under licence by other companies, including one in Quebec. Therefore if it loolks right when I build it it is right.

Thanks

Carl

Kinda curious as how the landing gear got lowered after ditching...

Yeah, I'm lurking, lol..

101stAirborne

because it looks cool...

Time at the bench has been scarce for all kinds of reasons, but I have made some progress:

I finally made seven of these plates. The first two I made with brass parts but it proved to be so fiddly that I gave in and went with styrene:

Then I had to make the edge retainers with the notches in exactly the right spot. That took a lot of thinking time, and once worked out went very smoothly:

And then I ruled up a sheet of 80 thou plastic to use as a base onto which I assembled the access plates

glued the retainers in place and cut it to approx size

because it looks cool...

I like it but I cannot figure why the propellers would be bent. When a plane ditches (in water)  that doesn't happen, and when it sinks the motor isn't running.

Now that's a sweet build Ryan... Very cool idea and well executed!

senojrn - the majority of the coral is lava rock painted with a purple color. the more branch like corals are made form a natural prodduct i picked while out hunting called yarow (I'm not sure if I spelled it right). I then dunked the branches in thinned Elmers glue and dunked them in fine sand then airbrushed them as well. For the fish I found pictures online, made them the right size in photoshop, made many copies of the same fish, made a mirror image, then I cut them out, folded the two mirror images together and glued them. 

VanceCrozier -  Thank you very much! glad you like it!

Very nice dio Ryan,

I'm guessing the coral is lava rock?  But how did you come up with the fish??  GREAT JOB, btw on your underwater dio!  I've been wanting to do one similar to this for awhile now...just have too many other projects going on!  (Too many great ideas, not enough time!) 

I thought about making them face the same direction too. I'll see if I can change that.

Ryan.. whoa... looking sweet ! Very nice..

I have only 1 thing to add ,,its only my opinion.. have all the water plants lean in the same direction.. it will indicate a current ....but..,thats just me..

Ryan,

Your dio looks very good!  I really like the subtle build up of algea and silt on the wings and in the cockpit.   Can't wait to see how you're going to do the water!

Steve

I got some more work done on my underwater diorama. It is almost finished. I just have to put on a few more finishing touches and I have to finish making the "water" for it. I am not going to explain how I made my coral unless someone wants me too.

vespa boy

Carl you always find the most unexpected stuff to model, and this is no exception...a loco-skidoo. Looking good.

Well N someone has to keep you company out on the fringes of the modeling crowd I don't think either one of us would be concidered main stream modelers. Thanks for the knod.

Carl

Carl you always find the most unexpected stuff to model, and this is no exception...a loco-skidoo. Looking good.

Dawg.. thats looking good.. ~!  I've seen one up close.. Owls Head Transportation Mueseum.. in Maine.. they had one on and outdoor display..

A bit of an update on the Lombard Steamer. The front skis have been installed. still have to add some chains and other fittings to them. I'm now starting on the drive train.

Thanks

Carl

So the canopy would not even be in the diorama then? Well I guess I can take it off. I didn't glue it down yet so I guess thats a plus! Just to let you know now the markings are not going to be accurate either, but I figure I have artistic liscence. Right?

101stAirborne

What if he pulled the handle after it was under water and then escaped?

It wouldn't work... The canopy doesn't "blow" off with an explosive like a modern jet's does... It's just handle attached to a cable that unlatches the canopy at the front and pops it up a couple inches higher than the windscreen to allow the airstream to get under it and blow it off...  So it has to be flying before it'll work...

When ditched and under water, the water pressure would keep the canopy in place unless he busted the plexi out with his knife-handle and equalized the pressure...  But it won't break like car windows.. He'd have to really work at it and would likely drown well before he made a hole big enough to escape through...  He couldn't even operate the canopy handle, which rolls the canopy forward and backwards, kinda like a car-window..

It's right in the manual, "Ditching Checklist"... 'Course, the first thing it says about ditching is not to do it, but to bail out instead, lol...

What if he pulled the handle after it was under water and then escaped?

Forgot to add that if the P-51 was ditched by the pilot, and didn't take a dead pilot with it after a "ghost landing", the canopy would have been jettisoned before it hit the water...  Also, according to many of the pilots woul had done so (including my Dad), the Mustang was a notoriously "bad-ditching" aircraft, because of the belly-scoop... 

But that's just annectdotal, what my point is is the canopy... It woulda been gone if the pilot was physically able to pull the red handle...

Also I want to add a little more interest in the diorama so I thought I might adda little sail boat to the top of the diorama with a guy fishing in it. Do you think it will take away from the rest of the diorama or should I add it in?

I'm thinking that it doesn't advnce the story... The desolation is better and more easily felt  without anything around it, except maybe some marine life... I think the sailboat will take away the forlorness of the scene, and make the sailboat the primary subject, rather than the P-51...

That said, you certainly can add it, but I'd be careful with any kind humor, such as the line-snagging of the fisherman's line... Nothing is worse in diorama-building to have a joke fall flat, ot even over-looked... In the words of Shep Paine, "Jokes are fun to to do in a diorama, but they better be funny"..

 I don't think the boat's outta scale, but the sail has some scale issues, namely the frayed edges of the sail, and a fabric's rather open weave is a bit too big, as is the thread... The thread is about the size of a 3/4 inch rope, which makes it rather unlikey as sail material...

Would you be "Demilitarizing" the figure, making him a civilian ( basically removing the canteen and pistol belt, along with modifying the pant's cargo pockets)?

101stAirborne

Since it is MEA I have gotten a lot more done on my P-51. I almost finished assembly, I only have a few more pieces to add. Also I want to add a little more interest in the diorama so I thought I might adda little sail boat to the top of the diorama with a guy fishing in it. Do you think it will take away from the rest of the diorama or should I add it in?

 

Does the boat look out of scale?

Looks cool!  You should have the fisherman's line snagged somewhere on the P-51!

101stAirborne

WOW!

Since it is MEA I have gotten a lot more done on my P-51. I almost finished assembly, I only have a few more pieces to add. Also I want to add a little more interest in the diorama so I thought I might adda little sail boat to the top of the diorama with a guy fishing in it. Do you think it will take away from the rest of the diorama or should I add it in?

Does the boat look out of scale?

I got some more work done one my P-51. Hey that rhymes! Hans wanted me to go more in depth about how I did my scratch-building so i will. 

First I cut around the control surface that I wanted to replace.

Then when it was loose enough I broke it off.

I marked on the piece that I cut off where the ribbing would be then I cut the pieces out using a hobby saw and miter box.

I marked on the wing where they would go and then glued them in place using fast drying super glue.

It didn't have to be perfect for this wing because it will have sediment and coral growths on it.

Stay tuned for more!

Yeah N, it looks like you're well on the way to another streetscape masterpiece.

Carl

I've decided to make a model from outside MoMA that I saw on 08-08-08. Here are some crappy BlackBerry photos

The street was repaved earlier this year, so I have to reply on these photos, sketches I made and images from Google Maps.

I started by making a small small sketch to nail down the composition followed by a scale plan on ragboard

Then I started making the plates. During the process the Chopper was invaluable. The plastic is 10 thou and 5 thou card. The metal is brass that has been folded to give the correct scale thickness and then annealed on the stove burner.

I'm this far on two of the seven plates. More details to add and some tidying up to do, but its taking shape.

Thanks for looking.