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How I Build Dioramas(step-by-step)

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  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Friday, March 3, 2006 2:45 PM
The top pic is of the other half of the fuselage.Note the tail skid and its shock absorbing bungee cord wrapped around the support beam.You will note that the turnbuckles are a little oversize.This was done on purpose for dioramic effect otherwise they would hardly be noticable on ce in the diorama.If this airplane was meant to be handled up close I would have made them to scale but because it is to be used as an educational tool ,I thought that the need for them to be seen overode the need to be in scale.It is not very often that I take this much licence when I build but I thought that in this case it was warranted.What do you guys think? I would be very interested in your opinions about artistic licence.

The bottom pic is of the center section looking down to the U/C legs.You will notice that the top wing rib looks a little crooked.That is actually a little warp in the trailing part of the rib behind the rear spar.This will be corrected when the metal trailing edge is installed.Also where the forward R/H wingroot fitting will be there is a slight bend in the rod going to the support beam.I noticed this only after the pic was taken.The wings have since been installed with no ill effect. Go figure!
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
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  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Friday, March 3, 2006 2:05 PM

Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Friday, March 3, 2006 1:46 PM

Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Friday, March 3, 2006 10:42 AM
Hi Drew! Yes I plan to cover the 2nd Jenny the JN4D.I dont know exacely how at this stage but we will see when we get there.
Cheers! John.

Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Harrisburg, PA
Posted by Lufbery on Friday, March 3, 2006 9:08 AM
John,

Are you going to cover, or partially cover the Jenny? If so, how are you going to do that?

Regards,

-Drew

Build what you like; like what you build.

  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Thursday, March 2, 2006 6:54 PM
The next step,adding the top wing center section and its struts.Note the dual stick controls and their linkages.Also note the throttle,mixture and spark levers mounted on the upper longerons.The jig has been modified with an extra piece of wood to help line up the center section.When secure, I will then remove this piece of wood and mount the upper wings.At ths stage of the build the wings were already built as I decided to do them first.This "How to......".build does not contain any step by step info on how I built the wings as I started this thread only after they were already finished.
When I build the JN4D I will include this wing info.
--------------------
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Thursday, March 2, 2006 6:22 PM

Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Thursday, March 2, 2006 11:48 AM
For those who would like more in-depth text to go with these pics you can find the beginnings of this step by step build over on :

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16792&page=7&pp=10

It starts at post #63
If you get a 404 error, click on the forum link and that should work OK. then click on Models and then "How I build dioramas.........."
All new posts will continue to be published here on this website.
The reason for this is that just until somewhat recently I could not post pics myself.
Cheers! John.
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Thursday, March 2, 2006 10:13 AM
In this closeup of the engine bay you can see the main engine bearer beams and the web casting at the nose.The double wire braces at longeron stations 1 to 3 have yet to be added.The unfinished OX5 engine is temporarily being fitted.The firewall at stat 3 between engine and fuel tank has yet to be installed.

Yesterday on the hangar I was continuing to install the wiring for the overhead fixtuxes.This is a slow painstaking job working in amoung the roof trusses and beams. I have decided after viewing some pics that the wiring will be placed in aluminium tubing in the hangar area.(thanks to those who offered their advise on this)This means a lot of tube bending and shaping which is a very slow process.All the electricals will be removable for troubleshooting in case of failure.
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Thursday, March 2, 2006 9:25 AM

Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 2:11 PM
this fellow employes the same techniques as I use for my figures except that he uses a different brand of paint.Evidently this paint also has the capability of drying absolutely flat with is a must for good figure painting.
Enjoy!

http://www.ttfxmedia.com/vallejo/cgi-bin/_modelis.asp?p1=ing&p2=modelcolortecnicas

Cheers! John.
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 9:23 AM


Fitting unfinished engine.

Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 8:52 AM


Back on her feet again!

Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 8:48 AM

Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Monday, February 27, 2006 8:15 PM
This is Jenny upside down in a homemade jig,having the next main structural component,the undercarriage, installed.

The dio just grew a little more today when I found a 1/16th scale 1919 Hispano Suiza racecar at the local hobbyshop.I had gone to pickup some metal tubing for the wiring and I just couldnt resist.This will make another great showcar for the dio.All I have to do now is find a place to put it.That makes 2 airplanes,4 classic cars(plastic & diecast) 2 Harley motorcycles and a trailer so far.Plus the hangar and all the modules.This is getting out of hand!
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Monday, February 27, 2006 7:49 PM

Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Monday, February 27, 2006 9:11 AM

Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Sunday, February 26, 2006 10:31 AM
In this pic the fuselage is starting to take shape. The longerons are held in the jig using pieces of elastic bands.This is a very sturdy arrangment but not that easy to work around.Note the splice in the longerons wrapped in cord just forward of the four vertical jig peice.The floorboards are in and the seat railing on the R/h side has been installed.The internal bracing continues.
Those who are not all that familiar with wooden airplanes are usually amazed at how flimsy these wood members look at this stage.But believe me when are the wire bracing is in place this is essentially a very strong design.I have seen many pics of crashed Jennys which proves this to be true.
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Sunday, February 26, 2006 10:03 AM

Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Sunday, February 26, 2006 9:45 AM
I know that these next few pics will probably be of interest only to the diehard fans, such as myself, of wooden airplanes, but here goes anyway.
Before I post these I will bring you up to date on the Jenny dio.
I have worked out the plan for the lighting of the main structure.There will be 11 light fixtures to illuminate the main hangar floor.I hooked up one light to see how bright it is and 11 should do the job OK.
in my research I have noticed that the bulbs were often left visable with the fixture actually acting as a reflector and not a shade.A reostate is a necessity in this case as the bulbs will burn too bright otherwise spoiling the whole effect.These bell type fixtures are my own design and not something that I have seen in pics as of yet.They are sort of a compromise solution to the over-scale bulb and socket problem.I am using 12 volt sockets and screw-base bulbs set in a wooden holder and cemented in using stove and gasket cement.I tested the bulbs for any excessive heat buildup and the whole arrangement seems OK.
The next step will be to wire the hangar for lighting and yet make the roof assembly easily removable for maintenance.
Does anyone have experience wiring old buildings? Were the wires run inside metal tubing of some sort in a hangar/workshop type of structure?
Now on to the pics!
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Saturday, February 25, 2006 10:51 AM
This is Jenny in her fuselage jig.
The fuselage sides were built flat on a piece of waxpaper over the plans. The jig was assembled and then the cross pieces added.Towards the tail you cab see where I have begun the internal bracing wires.Note :the turnbuckles were made a little oversize for this diorama piece otherwise they would hardly have been visible.(a little artistic licence)The multiple crosspieces on the bottom longerons  are where the cockpit floorboards will rest.
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Saturday, February 25, 2006 10:29 AM

Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Saturday, February 25, 2006 9:56 AM
The building of the old girl herself "Jenny the Airplane".
Over the next little while I will be posting pics of the building of Jenny the airplane.
As you guys probably know I contribute to 14 diferent websites relating to the building of dioramas some airplanes,some cars,some mixed and one RR site.
Because my dioramas cover all aspects of diorama making I havent really selected what to post where and I dont want to become my own self-imposed censor.At the same time I dont want to tread on anyones toes by posting airplanes in car dio sites or vice versa.The RR site seems to be very open to this.
If anyone is uncomfortable with this please let me know and I will try as best I can to operate by your wishes or quit posting altogether.
I will not go into great detail about how i built the airplane as that info is available on http://theaerodrome.com where I have run a thread since the begining of this build.Most of what I plan to post now will be pictures of the Jenny build with brief explanations of what you are looking at.For more detailed info you can go to the Aerodrome site.
I hope this meets with everyones approval.There is no hidden agenda on my part I just love dioramas of all types and I want to promote their making anyway I can and
to give back to a artform that has given me so much pleasure over the last 35 years.
Cheers! John.
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Friday, February 24, 2006 6:50 PM
The Roof cont......
Now that the roof is mostly finished ,it is time to break out the weathering materials,the acrylics and pastels.
I washed on very thin coats of raw umber over all the previously painted nimbus grey wood areas.I then took out my trusty toothbrush and flicked raw umber spots on the black as well as the white checkerboard pattern.You can add a little of the nimbus grey to the mix if you want the weathering of black areas to be more visable.
I then took some medium grey pastels and shaded the areas between the battens and the sandpaper roof.If you make a mistake and lighten an area too much remember you can always go back over the area with black pastels again to darken the area if need be.Experiment with different shades of grey with black to get a nice blended-shaded transition.
Each nail(or pin) is then given a dot of burnt umber gesso followed by a coat of burnt sienna.I used to paint around each nail hole with watery burnt sienna but I find a better method is to take a small brush and a tiny amount of burnt sienna pastels and shade the wood around the nail holes so that they look rusty.You can even have some of the rust run down onto the black and white roof for greater effect.It is really worthwhile working to weather the roof properly as this is a very noticable part of the diorama besides its lots of fun and very rewarding to look at when finished.Cheers! John.
__________________
It has been said that the difference between a "pilot" and an "aviator" is that a pilot is a technician,and an aviator is an artist in love with flight.
JohnReid (Aviator)
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Friday, February 24, 2006 8:52 AM
Todays pic was taken last summer .The roof truss assembly has been removed and the roof panel is just laying upon the wall panels.The checkerboard roof battens are being laid down and weathered.The small round avgas sign is now re-made to be twice the diameter.The flying services sign was made up on my computer.In the top R/H corner you can see the carpenters workshop walls.Just above the sign on the front panel is a small opening which allows for roof ventilation.I plan to make the grating removable so that when you look inside you can see all of the trusses etc.. along the backwall I plan to put a dedication plaque to my father which will only be viewable through this opening.
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
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  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Friday, February 24, 2006 8:24 AM

Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Thursday, February 23, 2006 7:53 PM
As you guys know who have been following this thread,the theme of my "Memories of Flight School" diorama is about a bunch of WW1 pilots getting together on Rememberance day ,Nov 11, sometime in the mid 20s at the local airfield.There are both U.S. and Canadian pilots standing around the Jenny and telling war stories.
All these pilots had flown the Jenny Canuck or JN4D early in their training.The local airport manager has directed that a sign be made up honoring these brave men.

I made the sign yesterday from things I found on the Internet.The welcome to our......
sign was made off of my computer (not bad for an old guy,eh!) and the bunting and ribbons are paper sprayed with Laquer and then glued to a cloth backing.I still have a few touchups to do and maybe a rod for the banner to hang from.Do you like the lettering or do you think that I should change it?
Cheers! John.
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Thursday, February 23, 2006 7:13 PM

Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
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  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Thursday, February 23, 2006 6:27 PM
The following few posts describe work that was done about 9 months ago.The roof has long since been completed but I thought that you guys may like to know how it was built.

The roof is 1/4 plywood, finished with a couple of coats of a 2/3rd laquer ,1/3 thinner mix.the interior side was painted nimbus grey with a couple of coats of very thin raw umber.Holes were drilled and screws were used to secure the roof to the trusses.
I divided the roof area up into squares(approximately)and then laid down individual sheets of emery cloth ,medium grit.I prepared the emery cloth with 2 coats of laquer which I brushed on with an old pigs bristle brush.Over the laquer I brushed on the gesso coats of black and white with the same type of brush.The emery cloth can be broken down into squares using a metal ruler.Medium grit seems about right as it leaves a rough surface that is visible even through the matte finish.I believe that the roofs were tarred in those days so the finish seems about right.The final step was to glue down the emery paper using carpenters glue.I have decided to use battens with rusty nails to complete the roof.When brushing on the white gesso try to leave an uneven suface as it looks more natural.So far I have completed 4 squares.Cheers! John.
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Montreal/Canada
Posted by JohnReid on Thursday, February 23, 2006 4:41 PM
Building the roof.


Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. My Photoshop: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
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