How I Build Dioramas(step-by-step)

A modeling friend from France,Philippe Jourdan,asked me to post the following pics for him.They are a series of WW1 pilots that he is working on and will be available in the near future.The first available will be in 1/48 scale with other scales to follow.These are some of the best looking figures that I have seen of WW1 subjects and actually look like the pilots they are supposed to represent.Great work Philippe! (note : some of these pics are of works "in progress",and the busts are for his own use in working out facial features)

You know sometimes even I wonder why it takes sooo long to build one of these large dioramas.Then I remember that every part down to the last nail in the board behind the door in the WC (that will never be seen)has taken its share of the total time involved.Not that I am in any rush,but when you come to think of it I figure that you could almost build the real thing in the same amount of time involved and even then you would not have to build up the cars and the figures.
A skilled carpenter or two and a couple of guys to handle the heavy stuff and you could get it done in about the same amount of time.(I recall when I was a kid ,a carpenter and I framed a large house in a few months)
Thank God that I am working in 1/16th scale ,as I remember when I was working on the diorama of HMS Victory,things took twice as long.I once corresponded with a fellow who had built 2 Victorys ,one in 1/4 scale(1:48) and the other in 1/8 scale(1:96), and the 1/8 took him twice as long to build.But of course he had just as much detail in them both. The difference in time was mostly in the manipulation of the small parts.Imagine all that rigging in 1/8 scale! Mine was 1/6 scale(1:72) and that was hard enough.But I have to admit it was great training for the Jenny.

Same idea except the windows are much larger.This was done to allow maximum viewing of the interior at the expense of authenticity.I think that I like the smaller windows better.
Note: at the bottom of the siding where it meets the cement footing ,notice how I have left a uneven bottom with lots of weathering to make it look a little rotted in places.I also put on a faint, green mossy tinge where the wood would come in contact with the ground.The nails were individually rusted by hand with a very small round brush.I used burnt sienna over a burnt umber gesso base on the nailheads and then streaked some of it onto the siding.
The roofline was left warped on purpose after I had seen some pics of the real thing.These were very temporary hangars or sheds which I believe were meant to be moved with the front before they got bogged down in trench warfare.

The above pic shows shows the template that was cut out from the foamboard to create the window opening.It was wrapped in wax paper and attached to another piece of foamboard.The plexiglass template is 3mm smaller all around than the window opening.The bottom image is the plexiglass itself which was made from an old CD disc cover approx 1mm thick and cut out on my jigsaw.

when the boards are dry, cut the ends off 90% and attach them to the foamboard using carpenters glue in a random fashion.The battens should cover the the space between the boards.Due to their being quite thin and small it is difficult to find perfect battens,often they are quite rough and crooked,so don't worry if they look a little off, it only adds a little charm to the wall.Save the nice pieces to make the windows.Cover the entire panel with boards and battens but leave a little extra around the windows for final fitting,by sanding them off flush.
The bottom of the wall panel was left rough and uneven for weathering purposes, which I will leave until after the windows are in.You may want to place a heavy piece of wood or book on the panel as it dries overnite to prevent warpage .to be cont.......