HMS Victory as a Storyboard Diorama.

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

 

[gordy]

Simply incredible.

I consider myself to be extremely patient and diligent, but the rigging alone would drive me mad

Excellent work!

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

Simply incredible.

I consider myself to be extremely patient and diligent, but the rigging alone would drive me mad

Excellent work!

And there is even more that goes with the sails!

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

It has been my experience that ship modelers have more difficulty in figuring out the sequence of the rigging than the rigging itself.I know I sure did.
When I rigged my Victory I only had a couple of ropes that were out of sequence and these I belayed to the shrouds rather than the foot of the mast.I figured that was pretty good considering this is a very complicated ship to rig properly.
This info will only be available on my photobucket and is intended for my modeling buds only.Good luck. Cheers! John.

My photobucket:

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
Look for the album Friggin' in the Riggin'

 

[JohnReid]

Simply put ,to rig a ship you generally work from front to back,bottom to top and inside to outside.I started with the bobstays and worked aft.
Note:Bobstays [2] refers to their location in the drawing or diagram (in my photobucket ,look for the Album ; "Friggin...... "

 

[JohnReid]

Deleted for better pic.

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

The above pic was taken today.I was trying to compose something a little different using my Nelson bust and the model.The only problem is that the bust is fixed permanently in the case.I was severely limited in my camera angles ,lighting etc... because of this fact.
I tried silhouettes and different pics of all kinds.Normally you would not want the subject in the foreground to be out of focus but rules are made to be broken,so I tried to make the bust look like a B&W chalk image that someone drew on a photograph.I am quite happy with the results.

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

Rather than just posting a bunch of pics of the Victory I will start a little thing on dioramas and how I go about building them.I have only built one ship diorama but many things apply to all dioramas such as painting and modifying figures for example or weathering etc...
I guess the best place to start is at the beginning. so.........

 

[JohnReid]

What is a diorama?
Traditionally a diorama was a shadow box or three-dimensional picture,however in our modern era it has come to encompass just about anything where objects are positioned in such a way as to interrelate with each other and usually tell or suggest a story.The key is that it must be three dimensional.The setting can be very realistic or fanciful depending upon your own imagination.The magic of the diorama is that it takes a somewhat static object or group of objects and makes them come alive.In my mind it takes the craft of modelling and elevates it into the realm of art.I think that it is the highest expression of what we do as modellers.The whole craft vs art controvery just slips away and becomes irrelevent and even the kit vs scratch dilemma really doesnt matter because now the focus is on your creative ability to raise an emotional response in your viewer. Let your imagination run wild,contact that 10 year old kid that exists in all of us and you cant help but be a successful dioramist.Cheers! John

 

[JohnReid]

Best book?
I think that Shep Paine is probably the modern day master of the diorama.
His book "How to build dioramas " belongs on every modelers bookshelf or preferably their workbench.It is not expensive and is readily available. I will mention other books later but this is the best place to start especially for the basics.
Dioramas are not hard to do but they do change the focus a bit from pure model building to storytelling, using your own models.

 

[JohnReid]

Another great book along the same lines is "How to build car dioramas" by my modeling bud Ken Hamilton.It is out of print now but he has given me permission to use it for teaching purposes.Many marine diorama scenes could include harbors or docks that could contain any number of things worth building other than just the ship model.Wharves,sheds,figures,barn siding,bricks and masonry walls etc...etc..whatever your imagination can come up with. That is the fascinating thing about diorama making it can encompass such a wide variety of subjects and modeling techniques.