These last few pics give you an idea of how important proper lighting is to a diorama.It affects the colors,the mood ,makes for great shadow effects etc.. etc...and it is lots of fun taking the pics too!

Nicely Done John!

Thanks Gregory and Stephen! Just doin' what I love.

Stephen,would you know where I could get some info on how to put Tom's modelworks Spandau gun jacket set together.I have never done anything this complicated in PE before.Thank you.Cheers! John.

Sergio Leone's genius.
Sorry about the low quality pic but I took it off my computer screen.This is a single frame from what I think is one of the greatest movie ever made " Once Upon A Time In The West".
For the dioramist his work is a wealth of information on composition.It was said that he would take hundreds of takes and if one little thing was out of place in his opinion ,they would have to take it again until he was satisfied.His buds would say who is going to notice that bottle or rock that looks slightly out of position in a grand sweeping shot of landscape and he would say "I will,take it again."

Studying other artists work is a great way to improve your dioramas.For old hangars,barns,western themes nobody does it better than Sergio Leone, in my opinion.
Note his use of lighting to bring drama and mood to the scene.Because this is a stage coach way station in the desert(Monument Valley)the light is allowed to filter down through what would be anywhere else a very leaky roof.Notice the careful placement of the objects(props) in the scene and how the light falls on them.The old swinging doors tell a story in themselves . etc..etc..
3D artists would be well advised to study the masters of set design and how they compose their work.2D artists have done this for years.
Think of your diorama as one frame of a movie, without music and dialogue to help tell the story.This is a huge challenge for the diorama artist to overcome.Imagine sitting in a theater and just watching the frames go by and try to understand what you are seeing .Let alone getting emotional over it.
Sergio is a master of removing as much dialogue as possible and let the pictures tell the story.I think that I read somewhere that there are only 15 pages of dialogue in the whole 2hour and 45 minute movie.
His facial portraits of the actors emotions ,without using dialogue, is masterful.
An art form at its best!

Yes I do as a matter of fact. Here is Tom's Modelworks diagram. The idea here as well as with other manufacturers is to "hang or attach the brass on a plastic shape like a facade." The fretted gun jacket at left is to be rolled over a drill bit, dowel or rod. Use the plastic item on the gun you are replacing. Again Tom's brass etch is usually too thin to heat is very easy and work with.

1. Pass the brass over an open flame til rehot -BRIEFLY-.

2. Plunge the piece into water. . . This actually makes the piece more plyable.

To detail this further. Brass that is covered in nickel "vs" steel or harder white metal. The reason model companies cover their PE in nickel is that it makes them look more uniform especially when they use metals that tarnish easy. Burning off the nickel and then putting the part into water is the most efective way of making the part plyable.

3. Roll the piece or wrap it around the dowl / rod.

4. Pull the dowl / rod out of the now cylinderical formed jacket.

Due to the very scale issue of 1/72 the brass used is often thin and plyable enought to skip Steps 1 &2.



From Never Say never again to PE machine guns - here at Aeroscale.

Thank you Stephen that is exactly what I was looking for.Cheers!

No worries John!

In my research on old airplanes I have come to the conclusion that over time most metal ends up blackened and rusty especially aircraft from eras where lots of steel was used.Even aircraft that have been covered for a long time with fabric still end up this way.My junk pile will have little paint left on most of the small items , the wheels I have used to help brighten things up a bit and give a little color contrast to the scene,so the weathering is not quite so severe.The wood on the panels needs more weathering.I had just put this stuff together quickly to take the pic.

Continuing to work on the aircraft junk and I started some garbage cans.Actually this is a lot of fun to do,very relaxing cause you can't make a mistake.The thing to remember is that it doesn't really have to look like anything other than a pile of garbage.
The work comes with the composition when you actually have to place the stuff in the diorama.

Hi John!
Sergio Leone's work has been rehabilitated in Italy only after it has been apreciated abroad, and many still consider his work as B-movies... as the latins said "nemo profeta in patria" (nobody's a prophet in his own home country)....

This said, I find your work to be wonderful! and it surely tells a story... Thinking about movies I wonder how would it be to shoot some pics from the inside with a fiber optics camera say, or doing a stop motion production in this set... very intriguing!!
have you never thought of it?

Keep on working

ciao
Edo

Hi Edo!
I had heard that it was because he concentrated on American themes.Anyway movie making changed forever because of him.Director and composer came together much like Wilber and Orville Wright to create a masterpiece and things haven't been the same since.
I always loved his cinematography but never really knew why until I started doing dioramas.
I would love to find someone who knows about modern technology, that I could cooperate with, to create what you are talking about.
Cheers! John.

What is a stop motion production and shooting with fiber optics!

notherpic

I don't know which I like better the parts strewn out across the ground or the tipped wheelbarrow idea.This whole little vignette is quite close to the dioramas edge so I think that the wheelbarrow helps the viewers eye to rotate through the junk and not wander off the edge.The wheelbarrow also helps to confirm that this stuff has only just recently been put there for collection.(got to keep the base commander happy)
To brighten things up a bit I will use some old wood parts in the other barrels.
I could have saved myself a lot of time by only building and finishing one side of the engine but the problem with me is that I can't visualize how I want to place things until they are finished in the round.This is one of the disadvantages of building the way I do but I like the freedom to change things if I am not happy.When doing a shadow box type diorama it is a lot easier because you know exactly what side will be viewable.

Scale Modelings Golden Age!
I believe this is it! While there will always be some form of modeling around like there always has been over the ages, modeling as we have come to know it is in its "Golden Years".
I was in my local hobby shop the other day speaking with one of the owners and he was telling me that is youngest regular customer is now 40 years old.This hobby shop is your traditional variety that sells models and supplies only.Everything from a few dollars to thousands for some of the railway stuff.It is packed to the ceiling with stuff both new and old and they are doing very well money wise.They have no complaints but they are also of the over forty generation and they wonder as I do,where are the kids?
I know this subject has been brought up before here and on other forums but this store is unique in that it just like the kind that you would find 50 years ago and they are doing very well for now but just about every time I go there someone has passed on to the "happy modeling ground".
Remember old baseball or hockey cards and original comic books ,things considered of no value at the time so everyone threw theirs out.I have a feeling that not too far down the road after grandpa's RR layout is broken up and thrown out or uncle Tim's model collection is no more ,the same thing will happen to models from this golden age.

In the years after World War II there were Airfix, Aurora, FROG, Renwal & Revell model kit manufacturers. The first WWI aviation kit subject was FROG’s 1/72 Avro 504K in butyl plastic. In 1960 Cross & Cockade USA was born. In 1968 Cross & Cockade Great Britain rose into publication. Then, our very own Leo Opdyke brought us WWI Aero. The early sixties saw a resurgence in WWI aviation interest and with it Hollywood gave us “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines” and “The Blue Max.” In a little out of the way swamp near Pougkeepsie, New York a man named Cole Palen carved out an airfield where even today the cough and roar of rotary engines can be heard throughout the summer months.

I remember the dark days after 1966. Airfix, Aurora, MPC, FROG, Revell, with some minor exceptions, all seemed to aim their kit productions away from WWI aviation subjects of any scale . Fortunately the old Profile Publication issues were still in print. They covered many types of aviation subjects. Then it was the fledgling cottage industries that gave us vacuform kits, slush molding and resin castings that kept alive the interest in modeling subjects of First World War aviation. These were Veeday, Merlin (both run by Vagn Espensen), Pegasus/ Blue Max (Chris Gannon), Classic Plane (D. Schörsch), Formaplane of London, By-Planes (Pamela Veal), Rareplanes of Canada, AirFrame (John Tarvin), CramerCraft and countless others all gave us a steady stream of ‘historic plastic.’ One of the premier companies at this time was of course Contrail, part of Gordon Sutcliffe Productions, Somerset, England. They were using female molds to draw the heated plastic into their recesses. This allowed for more detail to be represented on outside surfaces than was seen on vacuforms made with male molds. Now as we have entered the new century, vacuforms tend to be passe to most modelers. While they seem to have been replaced by the use of resin/ rubber vulcanizing or low pressure, short-run injection molding there are still several superb companies that manufacture high quality vacuform kits. Long live multimedia !!!

Then in late 1976 ‘the cottage industries’ started moving steadily away from their beginnings with vacuforms to small short run injection molded kits. For various personal or financial reasons many companies closed their doors while others flourished. Fortunately we have a fairly comprehensive record of these events as chronicled by two historians that followed this same path of success. Brad K Hansen gave us WWI in plastic and the indefatigable Ray Rimell. Brad has not been heard from in many years. Ray has been the greatest force in the publication of informational data on modeling WWI aviation subjects. Avlon Hill gave us the “Richthofen’s War” board game. Since the early 1980's anyone who has ever sought this type of info has had the great fortune to be able to turn to Albatros Pub. Ltd. and purchase Windsock magazines, Datafile monographs and other Special related issues. Ray had moved away from writing for Scale Models (Nexus Pub.) And opened his own shop. But in late 1986, Cross & Cockade USA fell silent. But in late 1988, Over the Front was the phoenix that rose from the ashes of the old C&C USA. When Soviet Russia fell in 1991 suddenly there was hope for all. A small Ukrainian company began pumping out some fine 1/72 scale kits. ToKo, led the way.

In the area of aftermarket productions we can not forget the decal companies that have provided so many great scheme markings. For many years Blue Rider and Krasel industries (Microscale and Superscale) gave us great profiles. Gone are Aeromaster and Eagle Strike as they were purchased by Squadron. A new company stroking for WWI aviation modelers is {b]Microsculpt.[/b]

Finally in 1992 company from China, Dragon Models Limited gave us kit #5601, their Fokker Dr.I also in 1/48 scale. In the following years they gave us a Spad XIII, Fokker D. VII and a Fok. D.VIII all in 1/48 scale. Then they fell silent. Now simply called Dragon, they have closed their WWI aviation line and sell large scale multi-pose WWII figures and small scale WWII aviation and armour subjects. In the same year another small company (named after a an ancient knight from the region of what is now the modern Czech Republic) that opened up the way for hope to grow. With their main thrust being the production and sales of aftermarket photoetch metal parts, Eduard gave us kit #8001. It was their Siemens Schuckert D.III in 1/48 scale. To show you what I mean I am providing a partial list of 1/48 scale WWI aviation kits that Eduard has given from 1992 to 2004. That is at least 52 kits in 12 years.

We are in the “Golden Age of WWI aviation modeling.” In all my years of building their kits I have never found an Roden or Eduard kit in the bargain bin of any hobby shop. They keep their worth. But Eduard is growing and as such it is changing its direction. What it will leave behind is the contact with our era modelers. While we will continue to buy and build, modelers are looking to some new up and coming companies to fill the gaps that Eduard has left behind in it move away from WWI subjects. It is about survival. For a company to grow it has to touch other markets. The comparative new kid on the block is a company called Roden, based in the Ukraine. They began producing1/72 scale kits and only in the past two years have started cranking out high detail, modestly priced 1/48 scale subjects. While Eduard has promised that 2005 will be their year of the “Fokker” their recent subjects of the Sopwith aviation type are as detailed as a modeler could expect and it can be said that they lead in the multi media market. Roden is a strong contender in this area and what they have in store for 2005 will be astounding. A giant leap in modeling is promised. With the world economy striving for a free - trade community and the internet bringing all of us closer together I wonder, where we will go from here?

WWI aviation history is preserved in national record offices and private museums. One such repository is the Lafayette Foundation in Platteville CO. http://www.lafayettefoundation.org/

Research fiends, enthusiasts and devotees regularly visit its hangars to study their model displays, documents, uniforms and to watch full and 80% scale replica WWI fighters take to the sky. A warm greeting and a hot cup o’ coffee is always on the stove every Friday and Saturday or by appointment.

The “internet super-highway” allows us to transport to various websites on a daily basis. Modeling sites have popped up like little towns that line the highways from here to there. Here's to the hope that we can become one of those fine recreational venues

Others provide links to the image based or informational sites. Even the top membership society journals of real history like Cross & Cockade Intl and Over the Front magazines have their own websites. One can find that large scale control line, free flight or radio control subjects have several companies with plans or complete kits for purchase all on the internet. For the individual looking for that old kit, uniform or photo there is e-bay. There are even personal computer flight simulation games with our favorite aviation subjects.

Today, general subject modeling magazines are beginning to turn their backs on publishing 1914-1918 aviation kit build ups. Will our arena of scale kit modeling eventually phase out due to lack of interest? Will kit prices continue to climb to where they can not be afforded? Will all of our modeling eventually be 3-D and done on a computer screen? Or will the future see a group of adults that come back to kit modeling as a way to revisit their youth? It may be that in that future time we come full circle and see cottage industries again purchasing old injection molding machines and pressing out long forgotten subjects. As for today, we the WWI aviation kit builders are having our day in the sun.

With manufacturers like Eduard, Mirage, Planet Models, Roden, Special Hobby, Techmod and Wingnut Wings the evidence is very clear.