How I Build Dioramas(step-by-step)

Now that we have a good solid base to work on ,we can start contructing our wall panels.Note: I have used a type of construction whereby it can be taken apart with a few screws.This was done for museum purposes for ease of maintenance(changing light bulbs etc...)

Pic # 3
The wall panels were built right on the base using 3/16ths (5mm) foamboard which you can buy at your local craft or art store.It is very easy to cut with a #11 Xacto blade,takes paint and glue well and is quite strong.I build in 1/16th scale so you will have to be the judge as to wether it would be too thick for your purposes.For the smaller scales you could use card stock.The foamboard or cardboard with be the core around which we we built up our wall structure.If you havent already done so now would be a good time to do your floorplan and plan for windows and doors etc..I wanted to have an open space large enough to contain an airplane,2 cars,2 Harleys and a trailer plus a workshop in one corner.Keep in mind the scale that you are working with when placing your doors and windows.It would be a shame to build your hangar door too low and discover later that the only way you could get the airplane out would be to deflate the tires!
The wall panels are fairly easy to build using the foamboard just remember to keep everything 90deg and make straight cuts.Keep your xacto blade 90deg to the foamboard when cutting if you want to have exact measurments.Save all cutouts,number them and put an up arrow on them for future use as templates for your doors and windows.You can pick up pine wood at your local hardware store or basswood at a specialty wood store.Hobby stores sometimes have a limited selection but is usually way to expensive for our purposes.You will be surprised just how much wood it takes to build one of these structures even in 1/16th scale.It is a good idea if you are not cutting your own wood and you are faced with selecting between two sizes,to take the larger size.Nothing looks worse than a flimsy building and besides may be a friend could trim it for you.Some woodstores even offer custom sizing if you order ahead and order enough at a time.The most common sizes that I use are
1/4X1/4 (7X7mm approx.),3/8X3/8(10X10mm),1/4X1/2,1/4X3/4(20mmX10mm),11/16X7/16(12X18mm)
To be cont.......
Cheers!John.

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Jeez! I hope you got that update ok!!!!!!!!Dont know what happened there.

JohnReid wrote:

Hi Drew! Glaze them?I dont know what you are referring to. Cheers! John

Hmm. Sorry for the confusion. I was refering to fitting glass (or simulated glass) in the hangar windows. One of your later posts answered my question.

I really like the photos. Thanks for posting them.

Regards,

Now the Ctrl V doesnt work for posting.Admin, are we going to get a paste feature?Sorry for all the screw-ups guys.I will continue posting when I can figure this all out!
Cheers! John.

This was originally posted on my thread over on the aerodrome.com
Well,first let me explain about ideas and where they come from.Personally,whatever artform I am involved in ,I strive to add something new.I think that my contribution as a dioramist was to see the possibility of taking what the dollhouse miniaturist does and wed that to the aircraft modelers world,Basically, what I do is a miniature dollhouse with a big subject matter change.Instead of viewing a shadow box from just one side,I opened things up so that it was viewable from 4 sides and the top.Sort of like five shadow boxes in one.I took the dollhouse idea and adapted it to airplanes.The added bonus is that the hangar makes its own dustproof box.Another example of where ideas come from was when I was looking for a storyline for the Nieuport diorama..I was just leafing through some catalogs(filling the well,I call it) when I happened upon a 1/16th Dragon figure of a WW2 German officier pointing with one hand and a map in the other,obviously giving directions.As soon as I saw that figure my whole idea fell into place. the interaction between that pointing officier and the airplane would become the focal point of my diorama.Forever more,the viewer of my diorama will wonder,what is he pointing to and what is he instructing his crewmen? The fact that he is pointing to the airplane draws the viewers eyes and imagination into the scene but the airplane still remains the focal point of the diorama. Cheers! John

Hi Guys! Today I would like to talk a bit about the order vs chaos phenomenon.It seems to me that car modellers who make dioramas are a very neat and clean group indeed.I dont know if this is because they come from a background of wanting to have their cars showroom perfect or what.While the car as an object of display in a showroom can be in pristine condition most of its surrounding will not.It seems that there is something built into humans that is natural to want to have everything clean and orderly.We want to place everything just so ,as though it was constantly on display.Too much order can be an enemy of the dioramist.The real world is not like this(only man plants trees in rows).If your diorama is too static, it will look staged.The goal of a good diorama is to bring a slice of life alive as though it were one frame of a movie.The fun of diorama making is that we are the authors of this miniature world.We are storytellers,set directors,lighting managers,producers,directors,carpenters and stage hands in our own one frame movie.This is an awesome but fun task to get it right and it is not always easy. Just the proper placement of things in a diorama can take hours of positioning and re-positioning to get it just right.Always be careful not to get things too static or uniform.Do not line things up with the same spacing between them.Stay away from rows and things that are exactly 90deg. etc.. etc...

Lets take a look at the idea of adding a simple bookcase in a room in a diorama.Now normally a person when placing this bookcase would line it up straight with the wall or maybe of only off a couple of unnoticible degrees.That is what we would do when we think about it.But would we place it exactly in the center of the wall.Maybe yes but most of the time no.Would all the shelves be neatly lined with books(except in a lawyers office)as though they were never used.I dont think so ,not in real life.Would it be painted a stark white with all the shelves even spaced devoid of decoration ,well maybe so but this is not what we want as artists unless we are consciously try ing to do so.Static ,squarely placed,blandly painted, uninteresting spaces is not where we want to be as dioramic artists(I hope that is a word, dioramic?)
Now let your imagination run wild,like when you were a kid.Think fun ,color,a little chous here and there.Put a little raw umber in that white and warm it up.Dont worry about the odd book being out of place.Maybe we could carve a pattern in the wood or decorate it with veneer or maybe just leave that wonderful patina and design in the wood that is already there.Maybe we could place the shelves so that they are not so evenly spaced or maybe jig saw a little off the top.But you say I want to use this bookcase to display my diecast car collection.No problem you can line up these little jewels perfectly in even spaced rows because here it is expected because someone has consciously thought about this as a static display .
I hope that my little bookcase idea has helped to explain my ideas. I remember when I used to teach decorative bird carving we would have to draw feathers on the bird before we carved them out.I used to tell my students to go ahead and draw them on and invariably they would draw them in neat little static rows.Then I would say now go back and screw them all up and that is the way it would be in nature. Hope this helps! Cheers! John.
This post has been edited by JohnReid on 28 Jul 2005, 08:00:15 AM
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My goal in life is to be the kind of person that my dog already thinks I am.

Neiuport Diorama

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This is the Albatros type lighting

Drumming up a bit of business with the Townies! (The sign is faded after a summer in the sun)

Do you guys ever have this feeling when you realize that you are on the other side of the mountain coasting to the finish?today I put a lightbulb in my latest diorama and for some reason I felt that I saw the finish line coming into view.Looking through the windows into the shop and out into the hangar with the airplane inside I got that wonderful feeling of being in this other world ,another place ,another time ,a little world of my own creating and I felt the excitement of wanting to see it finished.The old enthusiasm of when I was first at the research and planning stage.It is what we as creative people live for,the rush you get when what was a dream is actually coming true.The high that drives you on to the end.In my minds eye I can see all the picture taking possibilities,the lighting,the interaction of the figures,the storyline everything is coming together.It took two years to get here but now every hour I spent on even the most trivial thing has been worth it.
Cheers! John

The above pic is a typical roof truss from the Jenny diorama.I simply drew up a plan of a truss and built each truss over the plan with apiece of wax paper covering it.Later I added fake steel reinforcing plates at the center of the horizortal beam.I used sequin pins to simulate nail and bolt heads and everything was weathered as required.Eventually I will have a 1/16th Barn Owl up there in the rafters.
Cheers! John.

After all the roof trusses were made up,they are temporarily placed on the side panels and spaced out evenly.The roof peak should be level if sufficient  care was taken when erecting the side panels on the floor .Dont panic if they are a little off, as you can use small shims under the beams, where they meet the side panels.When you are satisfied that they are level, filler pieces can be added between the trusses at the side panels.Glue these to the top of the side panels only and not to the trusses.The trusses should fit snugly into their side panel notches, but not so tightly that they bind ,as the complete roof assembly must be removable.The next pics will show this more clearly.
Cheers! John.

The above pic is of the outside of the L/H side panel after it was painted but not yet weathered.The large opening is the garage door.Note that the recesses along the top are for the trusses.The notches at each end indicate the top of the foamboard.Behind the external siding between the notches are the filler blocks.The uneven edge at the bottom is left this way for visual interest and will be heavily weathered where it would come in close contact with the ground,even maybe a little rotted in places.

This is the interior view of the same side panel.The top of the horizontal beam is where the original foamboard stopped.The filler blocks rest on top with the trusses slipped into the notches.The interior framing is pinewood with tongue depressors for the interior siding.The paint is watered down Nimbus Grey painted directly over the bare boards.Later I will paint on a very watery wash of Raw Umber to tone down the grey color.Do not seal the wood if you are going for a barn siding effect and leave the surface rough to easily accept the weathering pastels.

Confused?

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The Office Module.

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After all that window and door making I have decided to have a little fun and finish the office module.I plan to put a desk ,a cabinet,books, ,maps,a picture of Harley the company mascot,lamps ,an old style telephone and radio cabinet,a light in the ceiling and whatever else I can dream up.
It will be really great to actually finish something after all this time.The modules are attached to the main building by screws,so that they are easily attached or removed.They are sort of mini-dioramas on their own .Maybe I will even put a figure or two in the office.I can also light it up seperate from the main building.The rear door/washroom module and the workshop can also be finished prior to the completion of the hangar.
The hangar lighting will be a long repetative job so I really dont feel like tackling it right now.I have one light assembly built,the problem is I need about 20 more.
Cheers! John.

This is the office module.As you can see the module was an afterthought.The door into the main building was cut after the side panel was sheathed.If you look closely through the office door you can see the interior door leading to the hangar.The module is screwed on at the base and is removable.Since this pic was taken the doors and windows have been added.