Can it get out of hand?

StephenLawson wrote:

Just check my website and e-mail me from there.

Sounds good.

In the end like all modelling it all comes down to personal tastes doesn't it? I saw a huge Dio in the Imperial War Museum in London a couple of years ago that depicted Auschwitz. It may still be there, it was in a feature section on the holocaust. A very sombre subject but the size of it was really impressive but needed to be to capture all the different aspects. It also needed to be large to accomodate the dozens of people viewing it at any given time.

But unless you plan on having yours on display somewhere like that for a lengthy period I just can't see what you're going to do with it. I have trouble finding somewehere to put 2' x 2' dios in the house.

The great thing about dios to me, as opposed to a model on a shelf, is that i can let my imagination take me into it. But i find that a small well crafted vignette can do that for me as well as something much bigger so I don't personally see the point in going huge-scale.

Like I said though, it's all a personal taste thing.  And i gotta say that I love the quality of your work.

Cheers

Mansteins revenge wrote:

Not sure I am familair with that theory by Shep.  Can you eloborate?  By the way, your work is very good.  Have you built other large scale dios, perhaps the disspersement/hanger area of Jasta 1?

I am at work right now so I'll get it out tomorrow and quote chapter and verse. As a matter of fact I have done a few.  Two under construction as we speak. 

One is a repair shop at Issoudon.  I wrote an article that was published last year in Cross & Cockade Intl. concerning Field Five.  I have about eight Nieuport 21 types in a shop undergoing various forms of repair.  It is based on a great image I have from a former mechanic.

The other is an End of War diorama depicting the British aircraft collection depot at Nivelles, Belgium.  This started as a way to use up the large inventory of decals that I had amassed over the years.    

One that I did when I was still building 1/72 (many years ago) depicts an abandoned factory that had been used as an advanced airfield by a German Jasta. Then it was abandoned by the German personnel when the British broke through the lines on Aug. 20 1918.  Years later a young girl went looking for some errant livestock and discovered this old building.  Her father asked the girl where she had found the livestock.  She said "At the nest of sleeping hornets..."    Later she showed her father the location.  The German fighters were marked with black and yellow bands around their nose and tail areas.  There were nine aircraft in that diorama and I didn't do any rigging in those days.  It won several IPMS accolades in its day.

The diorama posted here was a great method for me to enjoy a hobby and be at home for my family.

Fast Heinz wrote:

"In the end like all modelling it all comes down to personal tastes doesn't it? . . .But unless you plan on having yours on display somewhere like that for a lengthy period I just can't see what you're going to do with it. I have trouble finding somewehere to put 2' x 2' dios in the house. . . The great thing about dios to me, as opposed to a model on a shelf, is that i can let my imagination take me into it. But i find that a small well crafted vignette can do that for me as well as something much bigger so I don't personally see the point in going huge-scale. . . Like I said though, it's all a personal taste thing.  And i gotta say that I love the quality of your work. Cheers

Thank you Fast Heinz for your thoughtful words.  Yes, Large Dioramas can be space consuming.  The most common that come to my mind are model rail-road layouts.   I have the Lafayette Foundation as a method to display all of my works.  (They even offer my 1/48 single seat fighters as a "gift" to people who donate larger sums to the organization.  With two and soon three hangars, there is plenty of space for me to display my builds. 

On the subject of unique dioramas here is one I did several years ago that gives many modelers the creeps.

 

  

StephenLawson wrote:

Mansteins revenge wrote: Not sure I am familair with that theory by Shep.  Can you eloborate?  By the way, your work is very good.  Have you built other large scale dios, perhaps the disspersement/hanger area of Jasta 1? I am at work right now so I'll get it out tomorrow and quote chapter and verse. As a matter of fact I have done a few.  Two under construction as we speak.  One is a repair shop at Issoudon.  I wrote an article that was published last year in Cross & Cockade Intl. concerning Field Five.  I have about eight Nieuport 21 types in a shop undergoing various forms of repair.  It is based on a great image I have from a former mechanic. The other is an End of War diorama depicting the British aircraft collection depot at Nivelles, Belgium.  This started as a way to use up the large inventory of decals that I had amassed over the years.     One that I did when I was still building 1/72 (many years ago) depicts an abandoned factory that had been used as an advanced airfield by a German Jasta. Then it was abandoned by the German personnel when the British broke through the lines on Aug. 20 1918.  Years later a young girl went looking for some errant livestock and discovered this old building.  Her father asked the girl where she had found the livestock.  She said "At the nest of sleeping hornets..."    Later she showed her father the location.  The German fighters were marked with black and yellow bands around their nose and tail areas.  There were nine aircraft in that diorama and I didn't do any rigging in those days.  It won several IPMS accolades in its day. The diorama posted here was a great method for me to enjoy a hobby and be at home for my family.

...that "sleeping hornets' nest" sounds cool---got any pics? Were any of your dios in Military Modeler magazine, etc?  Where does your passion of WWI a/c come from---you sound like a very interesting person...

 

Most of my publishing concerning models has been on other websites and in a rival magazine to Finescale.  But Even Finescale published one of my photos back in 1999. WWI has been an interest for me since about 1965.  I was about 9 years old then.  I have about 25 real history articles that I have published in Over the Front and Cross & Cockade Intl.  There are about 18 articles I have published on modeling WWI aviation subjects.   I think I have a few old images that are not too out of focus I could  post here.  But remember this was before I learned about optivisors.

Mansteins revenge wrote:

'Not sure I am familair with that theory by Shep. Can you eloborate. . ."

Here we go. . .in the fourth printing of Shep Paine's work "How to Build Dioramas"   (1984)   We start in chapter 2 on about page 10 "Planning a Story Diorama".   The point in question is on page 13. ". . .If you have a big event . . ." into the next column ". . . Another consideration when laying out your diorama is what to do with 'dead space'. . ."

The essence is too much open space can make the viewer think your work is uninteresting or unfinished, lacking something.  In 1/72  scale tossing leaves down is ok but where did they come from ?  Now you have to have trees.  In images of the large Staakens when parked there are no trees anywhere nearby (for good reason).  For me the key was as Mr. Paine has said "Balance".  

....ah, I understand now...I thought you meant he said it was GOOD to have large open areas in 1/72 scale dios...dead space is never good in all kinds of mediums, even in publishing (called trapped white space)...IMO smaller dios can convey a sense of movement and drama...the Japanese, in particular, are excellent composers of smaller dios, IMO... 

StephenLawson wrote:

". . . Yes, Large Dioramas can be space consuming.  The most common that come to my mind are model rail-road layouts.   I have the Lafayette Foundation as a method to display all of my works.  (They even offer my 1/48 single seat fighters as a "gift" to people who donate larger sums to the organization.  With two and soon three hangars, there is plenty of space for me to display my builds.  On the subject of unique dioramas here is one I did several years ago that gives many modelers the creeps.

 

 

I was asked to elaborate on the above diorama  "The Last meeting of IPMS Ragwing." Here we have five die hard modelers in their club house / garage stacked with various kits, doing what they, ah...er, did best. One re-enacter is wearing his coalscuttle and hob nails working on the club transportation. They need after all something to get back and forth to the hobby store, right? One fellow seems to have ‘bought it' putting the finishing touches on a spiral striped Fokker Dr.I. The fellow I call ‘the stone cutter' will for ever admire his last bit of work on his partially completed ‘John Phillip Law' sculpture. If you look closely you'll even see his masonic ring. In the cockpit of the Sport Flyer Fokker Dr.I we see the club President ‘da Baron' making those last minute flight checks before he takes off on his final mission. Then lastly we see the boney knees and boots of the R/C enthusiast of the club. Seems the poodle was locked in there for a longgggg time. While immensely funny to many this was just too close to being the truth for others. Having won several awards the real prize was just out of reach. Yes, sadly this diorama has never been given the coveted ‘Lopez Demente' award by the Albuquerque chapter of the IPMS. (What in the world were they thinking when they gave it to that ‘Toe-Tractor?') Yeah, you read it right, ‘Toe-Tractor.' It just proves how subjective judging can really be.

Mansteins revenge wrote:

"...that "sleeping hornets' nest" sounds cool---got any pics? Were any of your dios in Military Modeler magazine, etc?  Where does your passion of WWI a/c come from---you sound like a very interesting person..."

 

Here is a bit of fun.  "The Forgotten Nest of Sleeping Hornets."