The Art Of The Storyboard Diorama

[JohnReid]

Here is an old OX5 engine that was removed from the military Jenny and is being packaged up and sent out for major overhaul.We are equipped to do minor repairs to engines and airframes here but the major stuff requires outside help.Right now the guys are on coffee break so the truck drivers are having a little game of checkers while they wait.

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

This is a night view through the engine shop doors.The guys are working on an old water cooled Mercedes engine from a Fokker D7 racer of which there were a few around just after the war.Last one out has to turn off the lights and stumble around in the dark looking for his car keys.

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

No mention of this era would be complete without the topic of air racing.Many of the guys here at Reid & Sons are avid fans.Our company is more concentrated on the airshow aspect but we do help on occasion with some of their research and development and the occasional pilot.Our worlds exist side by side but their emphasis is on speed and aviation technology where ours is more on entertainment.
(between 1913 and 1931 Schneider cup winners increased the speed from 45.71 mph and 340.08 mph)

 

[JohnReid]

On some of the newer websites that I post to there seems to be a misunderstanding about what my posts are about.

About ten years ago when I first started posting it was my intention to promote the building of dioramas on the web.The armor guys had been well into this for a long time but there is little communication between the two groups.I wanted to help change that situation at a time when a lot of modelers thought that a diorama was a nice wooden base to put your model on.
I post to about 30 different websites.RR,auto,ship,figure and aircraft as well as some other art and photo sites and I am also writing an online book about storyboard dioramas.I have always been a teacher and I love to share whatever knowledge that I may have with others.This is more of a How to..... thread than anything else.I am also an active builder of dioramas for museums and at 70 years old this keeps me very busy.I just don't have time to socialize on the net.If you are expecting feedback on every post , you won't find it on this thread.Please try to understand.I know that there is a lot of interest out there as my photobucket averages thousands of hits a day and that is reward enough for me.Cheers! John.

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

On this walkaround we are now rounding the L/H corner of the hangar .The sign on the hangar door shows just what a progressive company that we are.Our flying instructors are required to be on duty only 12 hours a day instead of the normal 24.

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

Along the L/H inside wall things are busy.One of our mechanics,Rod, is putting in a little overtime stripping the JN 4 fuselage cockpit of any usable parts as spares for the Canuck barnstormer.This is an era of very little regulation so you will sometimes find a real mixture of parts on any particular airplane.For example on the barnstormer they have used the wooden tail feathers from the JN4.Pilots will often ask us to change the wing stagger of their barnstormers to make them even more unstable for their aerobatic routines.
Because of the Veterans day commemorations we have hung some flags from the rafters,put up a few decorations and cleaned thing up a bit before the dignitaries arrive.Believe me the floors are never usually this clean.

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

The newly re-built Canuck barnstormer is just about ready for its fabric covering.She has been temporarily assembled for this occasion and has already undergone an engine run-up or two,hence the oil leaks.The propeller attachment bolts are being changed and are missing. Lawrence the crew chief is giving it a final inspection before the guests arrive.These guys are ex-military so a little extra effort was put in to itmake sure everything looks ship shape. Billy Bishop is a friend of the boss and it was he who arranged for this special visit.
Our fighter pilot guests are very familiar with this airplane as most of their basic training was on the Jenny ,at different airfields, both here in Canada and in the U.S..Although under powered it was a very stable aircraft on which to learn how to fly with few bad habits and was lots of fun to train on.
Wouldn't you just love to be a fly on the wall to hear about their training adventures ?

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

Unaware that the other guests have just arrived ,the boss man Windy and Mike one of our airmail pilots ,who is just passing through,are in conversation with an earlier arriving RAF type.Because these fighter pilots have just returned from a city parade commemorating this special day, they are still in dressed in their various uniforms.

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

This is the off season so the mobile advertising sign has been put away till next year.During the season we operate a mobile show going from town to town.When we arrive in a town or village to do an air show and give rides we will drag this sign down main street and have one of our pilot do a low pass or two over the town.This usually generates lots of business however the numbers have been dropping off recently and our pilots are being forced do riskier and riskier stuff to keep the crowds amused.
The going rates in the air circus business these days for large exhibitions or movie making usually runs around the following.
-crash airplane,fly into trees,houses etc.....$1,200
-Loop with man standing on each wing standing up $450
-airplane to airplane change $500
-upside down airplane change $500
-Change motorcycle or car to airplane $150
-Fight on upper wing,one man knocked off $225
-upside-down flying with man on landing gear $150
-Head-on collision with automobiles $250
-Blow up plane in mid-air,pilot chutes out $1,500

 

[JohnReid]

 

[JohnReid]

Mike,one of our airmail pilots is here to pickup a pretty good load today.Airmail is becoming more an more popular these days .I hope it is just not a temporary novelty that will soon wear off with the public.A lot of guys around here are literally risking their necks on a daily basis to try to get this stuff through in all kinds of terrible conditions.Pilots are being lost all the time and at an increasing rate.Boy it sure would be nice to have some type of navigation equipment other than dead reckoning railway tracks and rivers etc...