Hi Guys! I got the OK from the Canada Aviation and Space Museum yesterday to do them a shadowbox storyboard diorama for their upcoming commemoration of the start of WWI. I am dedicating it to my wife's dad, Captain A.N. Morin of Quebec City, who unfortunately spent a lot of his youth in the trenches with the famous "Van Doos" Royal 22nd Regiment CEF.

It will be in 1/16th scale about the same dimensions as the Nieuport diorama that I did for them a few years ago.I will be using the new Hasagawa Camel and the new Model Airways Dr.I kits along with a few figures. Basically the story will revolve around a Camel that has been forced to land at a German airfield and is being inspected by German intelligence for its aerodynamic qualities ,which actually happened on both sides during the war. Now it is on to the research and development stage of the build.

Cheers! John.

I figure that I have about 10 months to put this together. The Hasagawa kit is plastic so that shouldn't take too long. The Dr.I is a wood and metal kit from Model Airways and I have built a lot of their stuff before,so I don't anticipate any problems there.

In order to fit two aircraft in the diorama without it becoming too big,the Camel's wings will be removed(for closer inspection)by the intelligence service. The first step will be a full scale floor plan in order to determine the size of box that will be required.Then I will make up a small cardboard diorama to determine the composition of the piece. The museum has given me full rein to do whatever I want which is really nice. Like usual nothing is written in stone when I start building ,I will just let things develop as I go along. It is a lot more fun for me that way and it also helps to keep me from getting bored.

I didn't see your previous diorama, this sounds fun, looking forward to more detail

Here is John's photobucket account and a direct link to his Nieuport 28 diorama.

Yes Stephen I am planning to make it about that size.The Dr.I would be approximately where the Nieuport is now and the wingless Camel would be where the truck is. Thanks for posting the pic. I haven't quite figured out the storyline yet but it will have to be something obvious without having the viewer resort to reading the title to understand what is going on.Any ideas?

This is the dio just before I shipped it out.

The same dio after they worked their magic.I am very happy the way it turned out.

I really like the shadow box idea as it gives you much more control setting the stage, especially the lighting.

In this case the dio was supposed to be lit from behind the barn siding as well but unfortunately that was before LED's were available.I did keep a photographic record of how I originally envisioned it though.Without the proper lighting it lacks a lot of the drama that I relied upon to make up for a rather weak storyline.

This is the original space that I had available to me.With a few alterations I will using this basic idea again.The sloping roof gives it depth and the straight on view allows for the maximum use of the space available.

Unfortunately this dio was made before I had access to LED's.The lighting as it now exists is on the inside only but I have lots of pics of how it should look.The next dio will have the same effect but with permanent LED's this time around.

I am experimenting a little here with the hangar floor design to make it more interesting and help draw the viewers eye into the piece.

I didn't show any nails this time and made it look a bit more like a normal hardwood floor for a change.

Taken from a video by MossieOz.

This time I will make the back wall 2" shorter than the front in order to make the side walls more visible when viewing the shadowbox from the front.

In the "Any Ideas" mode...

From Personal Experience... show mechanics working on the Dr.I, looking over (and smirking) at civilian 'suits' with tape measures, books, clipboards and the like, at the Camel. I was a 'suit' in such a situation and saw the mechs with a "what the **** do they know" look. (you might have one of the 'suits' glancing over his shoulder at the mechs).

The situation was always funny to me.

Beautiful Neiupot diarama.

Captn Tommy

Thanks Captn Tommy.

A vignette from the same diorama.

I am kinda looking forward to seeing what I can do with the plastic Camel to make it look more like wood.I have a number of ideas that I would to try with the shadowbox lighting etc...

As you can see here the wood has very little grain to it and hardly any shine. By scrubbing with a light abrasive and though the use of pastels as well as proper lighting I am pretty confident I can achieve a wood look for the Camel.The Dr.I is wood and metal of course ,like all the other Model Airways aircraft.They are planning to release it by late October I am told.

The color of the plastic for the wings and fuselage looks to be about the same shade as this model.

It is going to be a challenge to get it to look right,no doubt about that.

Model Airways new Dr.I will be the other half of the diorama story.

here is one of the figures that I will be using,a nice relaxed pose

Love the dog,so far all my dios have at least one dog in them.