How I build dioramas Part 2
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JohnReid
A Fixture
JohnReid
A Fixture
How easy is it to screw up? Let me count the ways.
I think our brick layer came back to work after a liquid lunch and somehow screwed up the brickwork.I only noticed the following after taking the pics.The two rows of dark colored bricks on the R/H side of the dining room window,are not level with the left.
The easiest fix would be to make the whole thing three rows instead of two.The other would be to lighten the dark bricks with acrylics but that could lead to problems.Maybe I will try something with pastels.
The window sills will be only temporarily installed for two reasons,I may in future want to lay the facade flat on its face and two they are too vulnerable to being broken off.
I think our brick layer came back to work after a liquid lunch and somehow screwed up the brickwork.I only noticed the following after taking the pics.The two rows of dark colored bricks on the R/H side of the dining room window,are not level with the left.
The easiest fix would be to make the whole thing three rows instead of two.The other would be to lighten the dark bricks with acrylics but that could lead to problems.Maybe I will try something with pastels.
The window sills will be only temporarily installed for two reasons,I may in future want to lay the facade flat on its face and two they are too vulnerable to being broken off.
JohnReid
A Fixture
This will make a great backdrop for taking pics.I am planning to do a series of "Public Enemies" vignettes using 1/18th scale cars.I am afraid that the museum won't be getting this diorama for awhile.
It has taken me a month to build half a wall and am only about 1/5th of the way along.I am hoping that now that the design part is mostly finished things will speed up a bit, however there now will be the boredom factor to contend with now that most of the creative bricklaying stuff is behind me.
Someone pointed out to me that the blocks/greystones at the foundation are not placed properly.I should have known better, that you never line the vertical seams up one on top of the other, as this only creates a weakness in the foundation.A quick fix would be to re-do the foundation blocks by gluing new block faces over the old ones, which would mean the blocks would not be quite flush with the brick wall.I think that some foundations may have been like this anyway.I will take a look around and see what is out there.I could try hiding it with vegetation etc..but the problem is I know its there.
It has taken me a month to build half a wall and am only about 1/5th of the way along.I am hoping that now that the design part is mostly finished things will speed up a bit, however there now will be the boredom factor to contend with now that most of the creative bricklaying stuff is behind me.
Someone pointed out to me that the blocks/greystones at the foundation are not placed properly.I should have known better, that you never line the vertical seams up one on top of the other, as this only creates a weakness in the foundation.A quick fix would be to re-do the foundation blocks by gluing new block faces over the old ones, which would mean the blocks would not be quite flush with the brick wall.I think that some foundations may have been like this anyway.I will take a look around and see what is out there.I could try hiding it with vegetation etc..but the problem is I know its there.
JohnReid
A Fixture
JohnReid
A Fixture
Now that looks better!I simply glued new faces over the blocks.In fact I think that they look better now as the original blocks were too dark and uniform in color.The irregular look of the blocks along the bottom will be hidden behind the boardwalk.
Just before I finally install the facade I will get the old pastels out and create a few shadows etc..
For the next row house I will use a different colors for the brick as well as door and window trim, which will help to make the facades more interesting.I will do the same for the third row house even though only about a 1/4 of it will actually be seen.
A lot can be done later to breakup any uniformity in the backyards using small additions ,outbuildings and vegetation.
Just before I finally install the facade I will get the old pastels out and create a few shadows etc..
For the next row house I will use a different colors for the brick as well as door and window trim, which will help to make the facades more interesting.I will do the same for the third row house even though only about a 1/4 of it will actually be seen.
A lot can be done later to breakup any uniformity in the backyards using small additions ,outbuildings and vegetation.
JohnReid
A Fixture
I know that some of you guys are asking yourself why does this guy keep on keeping on when he gets so little response to his work?
Is it the scale? or is the subject matter too far out of the mainstream? lack of interest? etc...
Well I know that it is none of these.How? By the number of hits I get, not only on the websites but on my photobucket and my photobucket albums.I average 150,000 hits a month on my photobucket and 1,000 album visits as well.
For some reason things really took off around last March and I still really don't know why.
The sites that I contribute to are all over the map,RR,car,airplane,figure,ship,diorama, armor and diecast.
I also understand that what the hell else can you say after making the same comments over and over(usually positive).I also know because of my workload I can't participate much on each of the individual websites but as I said in the beginning my main interest here is in promoting dioramas of all genres.Call it a labor of love I guess.
A special thanks to all those who have taken the time to express their opinions and comments to me directly, especially those offering their constructive criticism.
So now it is back to work! Cheers! John.
Is it the scale? or is the subject matter too far out of the mainstream? lack of interest? etc...
Well I know that it is none of these.How? By the number of hits I get, not only on the websites but on my photobucket and my photobucket albums.I average 150,000 hits a month on my photobucket and 1,000 album visits as well.
For some reason things really took off around last March and I still really don't know why.
The sites that I contribute to are all over the map,RR,car,airplane,figure,ship,diorama, armor and diecast.
I also understand that what the hell else can you say after making the same comments over and over(usually positive).I also know because of my workload I can't participate much on each of the individual websites but as I said in the beginning my main interest here is in promoting dioramas of all genres.Call it a labor of love I guess.
A special thanks to all those who have taken the time to express their opinions and comments to me directly, especially those offering their constructive criticism.
So now it is back to work! Cheers! John.
je_touche
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2005
- Messages
- 128
Hi John,
I can only speak for myself but I assure you that I am following this thread with interest even if I rarely give a comment. As you said yourself the number of hits you get proves that there is a huge interest in your work.
I am figure modeller and painter which does not mean that your diorama building is of no interest to me. On the contrary, I am always eager to learn new techniques, and I find your present project and facade making fascinating. I am considering to do sth similar myself though in a much smaller scale (well, 1/72nd, so tiny indeed by comparison). But scale is unimportant, and many techniques can be adopted to any scale.
So please keep up the good work, and keep sharing your work even if there is so little response on pf.
I can only speak for myself but I assure you that I am following this thread with interest even if I rarely give a comment. As you said yourself the number of hits you get proves that there is a huge interest in your work.
I am figure modeller and painter which does not mean that your diorama building is of no interest to me. On the contrary, I am always eager to learn new techniques, and I find your present project and facade making fascinating. I am considering to do sth similar myself though in a much smaller scale (well, 1/72nd, so tiny indeed by comparison). But scale is unimportant, and many techniques can be adopted to any scale.
So please keep up the good work, and keep sharing your work even if there is so little response on pf.
JohnReid
A Fixture
One of the great by-products of doing art is how it makes you much more aware of your surroundings.I mean what is more mundane than a brick wall?
Really boring stuff right? I know that I never gave it much attention before actually building one.Now I find myself looking at the colors,the designs while driving down the road ,watching TV etc..Not only that but many old brick walls have a history if you look closely enough.Additions and subtractions made over the years.The builder never really being able to match the weathered color of the old brick.Windows and doors walled up which makes you wonder why?Additions of extra stories to a building,weathering,old signs for now non-existent products etc..etc.. There is a lot of our history tied up in brick walls for those who care to read it.
A lot of what we do as artists/craftsmen is "paying attention" to what has always been there.Most of us never really look at a flower until we come to paint it or an airplane until we come to build it or even a human face until we draw or carve it.
Really boring stuff right? I know that I never gave it much attention before actually building one.Now I find myself looking at the colors,the designs while driving down the road ,watching TV etc..Not only that but many old brick walls have a history if you look closely enough.Additions and subtractions made over the years.The builder never really being able to match the weathered color of the old brick.Windows and doors walled up which makes you wonder why?Additions of extra stories to a building,weathering,old signs for now non-existent products etc..etc.. There is a lot of our history tied up in brick walls for those who care to read it.
A lot of what we do as artists/craftsmen is "paying attention" to what has always been there.Most of us never really look at a flower until we come to paint it or an airplane until we come to build it or even a human face until we draw or carve it.
JohnReid
A Fixture
JohnReid
A Fixture
Many thanks to Kees(Varese2002) of The Aerodrome forum for the above picture ,which up until now I never knew existed.
It is a glass negative from the Chicago Daily News and it shows Mr J.E. Mair in his backyard at 3106 W Fullerton Ave Chicago in 1910.There is no record that it ever flew.Evidently the backyard is still there on Google maps.
Of course like so many other things that have happened to me while building these dioramas, this info has come to me just when I needed it.(strange but true)
My thoughts have recently been turning to the next step, the landscaping of the backyards.I see from the pic that the backyard is just like I thought it would be ,lots of mud in front and overgrown vegetation in the back.(Who the hell has got the time to worry about things like that when there are much more important things to be done?) Sound familiar?
I also noticed a smaller version of a boardwalk along the L/H fence line, which if I install it will have to run along the opposite fence due to the positioning of my figure in the composition.
Mr Mair and I have something in common, his backyard looks like my workshop/studio.Note the angle measuring device laying on the boardwalk's bottom left in the pic, and what looks like a yardstick on the ground under the wing.
Funny how he just had to install the pilots seat and control wheel even if it now gets in the way.Mr Mair must have sat behind that wheel many times during this build with wonderful dreams of flight running though his head.
Fifty years later and we were headed for the moon.Thanks Mr Mair.
It is a glass negative from the Chicago Daily News and it shows Mr J.E. Mair in his backyard at 3106 W Fullerton Ave Chicago in 1910.There is no record that it ever flew.Evidently the backyard is still there on Google maps.
Of course like so many other things that have happened to me while building these dioramas, this info has come to me just when I needed it.(strange but true)
My thoughts have recently been turning to the next step, the landscaping of the backyards.I see from the pic that the backyard is just like I thought it would be ,lots of mud in front and overgrown vegetation in the back.(Who the hell has got the time to worry about things like that when there are much more important things to be done?) Sound familiar?
I also noticed a smaller version of a boardwalk along the L/H fence line, which if I install it will have to run along the opposite fence due to the positioning of my figure in the composition.
Mr Mair and I have something in common, his backyard looks like my workshop/studio.Note the angle measuring device laying on the boardwalk's bottom left in the pic, and what looks like a yardstick on the ground under the wing.
Funny how he just had to install the pilots seat and control wheel even if it now gets in the way.Mr Mair must have sat behind that wheel many times during this build with wonderful dreams of flight running though his head.
Fifty years later and we were headed for the moon.Thanks Mr Mair.
JohnReid
A Fixture
JohnReid
A Fixture
Kees found me a third pic to go along with the other two.Mr. Mair is on the left in this pic the other man is unknown.
There is a lot of good info in this pic besides what our builder looks like.The front building facades confirm this to be a fairly well off neighborhood.I can't see a roof on the building but this could be a separate apartment building ,different from the row houses that I am building.
Some of the airplanes structure is shown but on first impression it looks like what you might expect ,a very primitive build.This has been identified as a copy of the Wright Flier but I beg to differ for many reasons.First and foremost is the square wingtips more reminiscent of a Curtiss design. I still believe that this was a true backyard flier of Mr Mair's own design, with a little Wright and Curtiss thrown in.(more on this later)
From the picture Mr. Mair looks like a young ,intense,intelligent man(look at the eyes)who got caught up in the excitement for aviation at the time.An early EAA'er for sure.
If you look closely above the upper wing you will see what looks like a porch or veranda probably from where the first two pictures were taken.
Note Miss Nosy Parker peering from behind the curtains,I guess there is one in every neighborhood.
There is a lot of good info in this pic besides what our builder looks like.The front building facades confirm this to be a fairly well off neighborhood.I can't see a roof on the building but this could be a separate apartment building ,different from the row houses that I am building.
Some of the airplanes structure is shown but on first impression it looks like what you might expect ,a very primitive build.This has been identified as a copy of the Wright Flier but I beg to differ for many reasons.First and foremost is the square wingtips more reminiscent of a Curtiss design. I still believe that this was a true backyard flier of Mr Mair's own design, with a little Wright and Curtiss thrown in.(more on this later)
From the picture Mr. Mair looks like a young ,intense,intelligent man(look at the eyes)who got caught up in the excitement for aviation at the time.An early EAA'er for sure.
If you look closely above the upper wing you will see what looks like a porch or veranda probably from where the first two pictures were taken.
Note Miss Nosy Parker peering from behind the curtains,I guess there is one in every neighborhood.
JohnReid
A Fixture
JohnReid
A Fixture
This is the pic that first inspired me to do a backyard flier.Somebody identified it as a Wright brothers copy, which is wrong for a number of reasons.Besides that, what is really interesting is that the builder looks like he was experimenting with some type of design for longitudinal control, other than wing warping ,a patent at the time that was jealously guarded by the Wrights.If you look carefully at the pic you will see a hinged flap sort of design outboard near the wings leading edge.He has cut the ribs at the spars and hinged it to the trailing edge of the front spar on both upper and lower wings.There also seems to be the beginning of some sort of rigging for their control.If this is what I think it is Mr Mair was surely involved with some very early innovative and creative aeronautical engineering.
I love this pic as it tells so much about the human creative spirit.Don't forget this is 1910 when many looked upon aviation as a oddity and a foolish thing to pursue.I can only speculate what his family and neighbors might have thought.
I love this pic as it tells so much about the human creative spirit.Don't forget this is 1910 when many looked upon aviation as a oddity and a foolish thing to pursue.I can only speculate what his family and neighbors might have thought.
JohnReid
A Fixture
JohnReid
A Fixture
I was going to use 3 different colored bricks as seen in this pic, but I am afraid that those long vertical lines between brick wall separations may distract the viewers eye away from the airplane to the wall.
When I first look at this pic I see the policemen,then the brick wall and then the cars.In my diorama.I am looking to reverse this a bit and put less emphasis on the building and more on the airplane.The figure because of its position in the diorama would not be the first thing the viewer would notice but would probably be replaced by the "welcome home" sign.
I know that I seem to be going overboard with all this but it really is very important to the success of diorama.The connections to the storyboard part will come after the initial visual impact.The solitary figure,the sign,the weathered flier,the different backyards etc..will come later into the viewers imagination. (I hope)
When I first look at this pic I see the policemen,then the brick wall and then the cars.In my diorama.I am looking to reverse this a bit and put less emphasis on the building and more on the airplane.The figure because of its position in the diorama would not be the first thing the viewer would notice but would probably be replaced by the "welcome home" sign.
I know that I seem to be going overboard with all this but it really is very important to the success of diorama.The connections to the storyboard part will come after the initial visual impact.The solitary figure,the sign,the weathered flier,the different backyards etc..will come later into the viewers imagination. (I hope)
JohnReid
A Fixture
More what to leave in and what to leave out decisions that I soon will have to make is regarding the flier itself.As you guys who have been following this thread already know,my storyline is a lot different than what is depicted in the original pic.
As it is already it would make a very nice story about an early EAA'er building a flier.The very busy Mr. Mair working intently on his flier pretty much unaware of all the things going on around him. The kids more fascinated by the lady with the dog (I think but hard to see) ,the boys sitting on the fence either too shy to approach because of the girls(this is 1910 remember) or maybe Mr Mair doesn't want them around his airplane.The washing on the line etc..etc leads me to believe that the photographer really knew what he was doing when he created this composition.Mr. Mair himself was probably staged but the rest is probably spontaneous.A wonderful "slice of life" story in itself.
I have however decided to cut down on the complexity of the story .I want to make it simpler but with more emotion.My story revolves around a single individual and his relationship with his love for aviation.It is a story of the loss of innocence both of the individual and aviation itself.What seemed like such a wonderful,innocent thing to do in the beginning now turned out to be just another instrument of war.Looking at his flier he is probably wondering "can I bring myself to complete it" knowing now what I know to be true?
The feeling among the general population after all the killing in WW1 was not very positive about machines of war,airplanes included.Most fathers would not encourage their sons to become pilots.Most pilots couldn't even find jobs other than exhibition pilots or barnstormers.So it was the mood of the times that I want to capture in my diorama.I am not sure that everyone will get it but I bet a pretty high percentage of servicemen will.Those who don't will still have something interesting to look at.
As it is already it would make a very nice story about an early EAA'er building a flier.The very busy Mr. Mair working intently on his flier pretty much unaware of all the things going on around him. The kids more fascinated by the lady with the dog (I think but hard to see) ,the boys sitting on the fence either too shy to approach because of the girls(this is 1910 remember) or maybe Mr Mair doesn't want them around his airplane.The washing on the line etc..etc leads me to believe that the photographer really knew what he was doing when he created this composition.Mr. Mair himself was probably staged but the rest is probably spontaneous.A wonderful "slice of life" story in itself.
I have however decided to cut down on the complexity of the story .I want to make it simpler but with more emotion.My story revolves around a single individual and his relationship with his love for aviation.It is a story of the loss of innocence both of the individual and aviation itself.What seemed like such a wonderful,innocent thing to do in the beginning now turned out to be just another instrument of war.Looking at his flier he is probably wondering "can I bring myself to complete it" knowing now what I know to be true?
The feeling among the general population after all the killing in WW1 was not very positive about machines of war,airplanes included.Most fathers would not encourage their sons to become pilots.Most pilots couldn't even find jobs other than exhibition pilots or barnstormers.So it was the mood of the times that I want to capture in my diorama.I am not sure that everyone will get it but I bet a pretty high percentage of servicemen will.Those who don't will still have something interesting to look at.
JohnReid
A Fixture
A fellow modeler has just informed me that these buildings on Fullerton St in Chicago still exist,in fact he lived not too far away on the same street in the 1970's.
Art is truly a living thing and does provide us with a little comfort knowing that it does really have a life of it's own, beyond the lifespan of the individual artist.
I wish I knew the photographers name ,in his day he would be at the top of his game which really comes through to me in the pics.In fact ,that is what first caught my "artist's eye" ,the creative angle from which the pic was taken.Rather than just the usual airplane pic he captured a story which lives on to this day.100 years ago an artist/photographer takes a pic and all these years later an artist/modeler builds on the foundation of his work.Maybe a 100 years from now, using a medium that we can't even imagine today ,another artist will be influenced and expand on our work.And so it goes.........
Art is truly a living thing and does provide us with a little comfort knowing that it does really have a life of it's own, beyond the lifespan of the individual artist.
I wish I knew the photographers name ,in his day he would be at the top of his game which really comes through to me in the pics.In fact ,that is what first caught my "artist's eye" ,the creative angle from which the pic was taken.Rather than just the usual airplane pic he captured a story which lives on to this day.100 years ago an artist/photographer takes a pic and all these years later an artist/modeler builds on the foundation of his work.Maybe a 100 years from now, using a medium that we can't even imagine today ,another artist will be influenced and expand on our work.And so it goes.........
JohnReid
A Fixture
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