How I build dioramas Part 2

[JohnReid]

This is module # 2 screwed together but not glued .I don't plan to finally glue anything until I am absolutely certain it won't have to be taken apart again.The individual modules will remain as separate entities and will be bolted or screwed together.
I plan to add more screws to the flat plywood, they will be sticking up at various levels to act as anchors in order that the sand/glue mix will be securely fastened to the plywood.

 

[JohnReid]

I have been kicking this around for awhile thinking about whether or not to share this story with you guys.At the risk of sounding like a loud mouth,I decided that because it is a positive story and is based on fact that you guys would take it in the right spirit.
Thirty years ago I picked up a book at the local hobby store "How to Build Dioramas" by Shep Paine.Immediately I was struck by the images in the book.I had never seen something that so appealed to my creativity.It was my lucky day!I was building HMS Victory in 1/72 scale at the time and decided that somehow I would make the ship into a diorama.
For the next twenty years I would leaf through that book until it became dog-eared over time.Something kept calling me but I didn't act on it until about ten years ago when I finally gave in,I would concentrate all my efforts on storyboard dioramas.From that day on things just seemed to fall into place for me like with no other art form that I had ever attempted.I knew that this was the niche that I felt most comfortable in and my creativity had finally found its true home.
I had always dreamed of doing the same quality of work that I had seen in Shep's book.I studied his work and read and re-read the text,learning something new all the time.I wanted the same creativity and quality in my own work but I wanted it to be different too.It was a fluke of luck that my hobby store happened to have 1/16th aircraft models and doll house stuff together in the same store.Why not take the dollhouse idea and make a slight change in subject matter and create something different?
Well I went with that idea and ten years later after working(playing) at it almost every day I have three almost finished dioramas and a fourth one underway.I have found a home for them at the Canada Aviation Museum of which I am very proud.They contacted me many years ago and I am still not sure how this came about.
Well now for the good part,remember Shep Paine ,I thought why not contact him and see if he would be interested in appraising my work for the museum.I did,he agreed and I couldn't believe it.Shep Paine appraising my work! So I waited for what seemed like an eternity while he looked at my stuff.Well this week I heard from him and I am still on a high that I have yet to come down from.Can you believe that he valued the Jenny diorama alone at $25,000 dollars.I was totally shocked as I had read in his latest book that he himself got $28,000 dollars(including inflation) for his largest dioramas back in the 70's.That he would even consider my stuff on a par with his own is beyond anything that I could ever have fantasized about .
Yes,artistic dreams do come true!

 

[JohnReid]

Beginnings
I would like to share the following with you.I found it shortly before starting my Nieuport 28 diorama many years ago.

Until one is committed,there is hesitancy,the chance to draw back,always ineffectiveness,concerning all acts of initiative(and creation).There is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:that the moment one definitely commits oneself,then providence moves too.All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occured.A whole stream of events issues from the decision,raising in ones favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.Whatever you can do or dream you can,begin it.Boldness has genius,power,and magic in it.Begin it now.

Johann Wolfgang Von Gorthe

Cheers! John

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

 

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[JohnReid]

Now that the lane way structure is finished ,I can move onto the final basic structure ,the building and their facades.


I want the back to be flat so I had to move the backboard back 6" to accommodate the set back between the buildings.
That leaves the possibility in the future of lighting the rooms and maybe even creating some shadowbox type portholes in the back to look into the rooms and out through the windows of the backyard.Wouldn't it be cool to look out the kitchen window from within and see the airplane and backyard scene from another perspective?Maybe 6" won't be enough Hmmmm.........This could be worth looking into !
This rear shadowbox idea just came to me as I was writing the above,funny how this creative stuff happens.

 

[JohnReid]

I heard from Ottawa today,(oh! by the way they call themselves the Canada Aviation and Space Museum now)and they are ready to take the first three dioramas.If I sat down and worked on them exclusively I could finished them in about two weeks.But it is summer here in Canada for only such a short time that nice days will be spent outside with the fourth diorama and cruddy days in the workshop finishing off the other three.
It may be a little confusing on this thread for awhile telling which diorama is which.With the first three gone it will free up a lot of space to work on the fourth one this fall and winter and my patient wife will get a lot of our house back again.Not all but a lot!

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

 

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[JohnReid]

Any ideas about finishing this corner?
I plan to fence off the far neighbors back yard for storyline purposes.With washing on the line and its pristine condition it represents normalcy and the life he left behind before he went off to war.The tall wooden fence at the end of the lane way will have an "Enlist Now" poster.Along this fence behind the airplane will go the old wrecked "T".

The near backyard I will use as a sort of stage for the airplane with no fences or obstructions for the viewer.It will represent where he is today physically and mentally.(Loss of Innocence,will it ever be the same?)
I like the idea of the low stone wall that decorates the stage but what I was wondering is how do I finish the rest without taking anything away from the main subjects, the man and his Flyer. ?
The sloping lane way on the right could contain an old Army Ford "T" in subdued Army colors or I could eliminate it altogether and let him walk home. The near road or lane way is the question.Other than vegetation should I put anything here?Maybe a small bicycle parked well down the street near the Garage/Toolshop.I plan to have an old car half way into the wooden garage with the door open but this is far enough away as to not gain too much attention.I could have a few tools laying around and a rear tire being changed to show some human activity without actually using a distracting human figure.I kind of like the sense of isolation this gives ,just him,his thoughts and his Flyer.

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

From this upper bedroom window I plan to hang a child's airplane model that can be seen both from the inside viewer port and the outside backyard.

 

[JohnReid]

RAF commission.
Way back in this thread I mentioned an RAF Museum, London U.K. commission that was agreed upon.We never got down to pinpointing an exact storyline and I never heard from them again.It was to be a donation as well and they seemed happy and were supposed to send me research material, which I never got. Strange eh!
I mention this because I didn't want my buds here to think I was bullsh...ing them at the time.

 

[JohnReid]

Wrong thread

 

[JohnReid]

Did it again! Damn.