How I Build Dioramas in 1/16th.

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JohnReid

Guest
Hi guys! I am new to this forum but not to modeling.I have had a 1/16th diorama project underway for almost 5 years now.I am doing a series of 3 dioramas for the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa of which the Jenny Canuck is the latest.I am almost finished this project and hope to have it at the museum this Fall.

I have other dioramas in the works ,more on that later.Cheers! John.
 
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JohnReid

Guest
IMG_1776.jpg
 
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alan2525

Guest
Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing those photos of your latest work! Looks like WW1 aircraft models are proving to be very popular on here, between McGuyver's Nieuport and Greyheads superb SE5a!
 
J

JohnReid

Guest
Making Barnsiding or antique flooring. These are the steps that I follow when making old barn siding or weathered flooring.

-starting with a doctors tongue depressor which I believe is birchwood,I cut the ends off square.

-now taking the raw wood, paint on two thin coat of acrylic nimbus grey mixed with a bit of raw umber,letting the grain of the underlying wood show through.If the wood warps too much you can use some weights .

-taking a large needle poke holes in the board in a pattern you require.

-take a HB pencil and twist a little graphite into each hole.

-fill each holes with a small drop of very watery raw umber to swell the wood back level again.

-take an old toothbrush and flick on some of the watery raw umber.

-put a small drop of watery burnt sienna for the rusty nail look.Drag a little of the burnt sienna down the board ,here and there for effect.

-the second picture shows how pastels can be used to soften down the whole thing.
 
J

JohnReid

Guest
Making Barn siding , antique flooring or old ramp areas.

These are the steps that I follow when making old barn siding or weathered flooring.

-starting with a doctors tongue depressor which I believe is birchwood,I cut the ends off square.

-now taking the raw wood, paint on two thin coat of acrylic nimbus grey mixed with a bit of raw umber,letting the grain of the underlying wood show through.If the wood warps too much you can use some weights to hold it flat as it dries.

-taking a large needle poke holes in the board in a pattern you require.

-take a HB pencil and twist a little graphite into each hole.

-fill each holes with a small drop of very watery raw umber to swell the wood back level again.

-take an old toothbrush and flick on some of the watery raw umber.

-put a small drop of watery burnt sienna for the rusty nail look.Drag a little of the burnt sienna down the board ,here and there for effect.

-the second picture shows how pastels can be used to soften down the whole thing.
 
J

JohnReid

Guest
Not the best figure painting in the world but acceptable for diorama purposes.None of these figures will be viewed this close up when in the diorama.I painted these with the use of overhead lighting in mind.

One of my personal goals is to one day paint like the pros and sculpt my own figures but in the meantime this will have to do.My next diorama "The Backyard Flier" will have fewer figures but of better quality.(I hope)
 
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JohnReid

Guest
Deleted Pictures in this thread. Well I think that I have finally solved the deleted pics problem(DUH!)

Originally I thought that I was limited to 1000 pics in my photobucket album(which was never the case)and have been deleting the old pics as I go along.Mistake number one.The limit is on the main album but you can create as many sub-albums as you like.

Then I decided to move all the pics to sub-albums which of course broke all the original picture links.Unfortunately ,this is still the case until I get everything moved into sub-albums which should be soon.All my pics since the beginning will be there in the sub-albums.There they will remain until I croak as I don't intent to move them again.I haven't yet figured out if I can move them around in the sub-albums to put them in proper sequence without breaking the links again,so until I am absolutely sure they will be in a little disarray .

Sorry for the confusion you guys!In the future I plan to organize this thread into a sort of on-line book and at that time I will put the proper text with the pic that it is referring to.

My photobucket:

JohnReid - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
 
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JohnReid

Guest
I have finished moving the pics to sub-albums and will attempt to restore some of the later ones to this thread.The names on the sub-albums pretty much explain the contents however the pics within those sub-albums are in no particular order.
 
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JohnReid

Guest
The front panel! Putting the front panel back together for the last time.I have taken a series of pics showing how to take this thing apart and put it back together.It is surprisingly easy if you know how .The landscaping,modules ,hangar walls,roof and rafters right down to the hangar floor can be taken apart in half an

hour and put back together in about an hour.(it always takes longer)I would recommend to anyone building a large diorama that you take the extra time to make it easily taken apart.

I want to put together a picture package for the museum as I believe that in this case a pic is worth a thousand words.

The first pic shows the front area completely taken apart.The next few will show how to put it all back together again.

These pics are all located in my sub-album "Construction dio3".
 
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JohnReid

Guest
I am nearing the end of the Jenny diorama and probably have about 2 weeks building time to completion of the project.I have decided to go back and re-visit a project that I thought that I had finished 7 years ago.I have learned a lot about dioramas since then and the piece now looks unfinished to me now.

I am planning do the exterior landscaping and add another Albatros D.Va airplane as a basketcase being robbed of parts.I will post some pics here every few days but for an in-depth everyday update please see :

Welcome to The Aerodrome - Aces and Aircraft of World War I

See Forums,How I build dioramas......

Cheers! John.
 
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