Due to the volume of work that I have at present ,I haven't been able to keep up to date all of the websites that I have opened.You can however find all my postings over on the first site I joined up at http://www.theaerodrome.com once on the site click "Forum" at the bottom of the pic,then click on "Models" under forum navigation,look for "How to........." at the top of the page.
Because of the number of sites that I post to I had to pick one to post everything to and I thought that the first one I started would be the most logical.I will still be posting to this thread but not quite as often as I did,hopefully things will calm down a bit in the near future.Some day I plan to condense everything down into a more readable version and post it on all the sites.I hope you guys understand. Cheers ! John.
You may also want to take a look at a new thread I started over there called Shadow Box Dioramas.

I like the airplane facing this way towards the center of the diorama, with the "T" wreck filling the corner.The high fence on the right is almost the edge of the larger diorama.Another backyard and facade will be on the left side so the aircraft pointing left should encourage the viewer to look around the diorama .The open space in the fence at the bottom left is where the figure will be standing looking in at the airplane.On the other side of the fence will be the back lane way .The brick facade will be not be the back edge as I plan to put lighting in the rooms behind with curtains in the windows.The Victorians were very afraid of sunlight!

I think that I have settled on a Spring 1919 scene somewhere in Southern Ontario.The colors are more subdued this time of year and there is not a lot of vegetation competing for attention.The returning airman and his airplane is the central story here, so I have to be careful not to overpower it with too much stuff.Other things will be added or eliminated one by one as the diorama develops.I like the creative freedom of operating this way as opposed to building to a set of plans.It makes it a lot more fun not knowing how it will end up when finished.
For those who may have missed it earlier the title is "Loss of innocence,will it ever be the same?" the storyline revolves around the returning airman seeing his backyard flyer for the first time since he shipped of to war.There will be a sign on the backyard brick facade saying "Welcome Home" but other than that no other sign of life,just him and his airplane.
Both the airman and aviation itself have lost their pre-war innocence,can he ever go back to his airplane feeling the way he does now.I think every veteran of war has asked himself the same question ,in one way or another.

John
You never fail to impress,fantastic my friend

New composition.

nother pic

Changed my mind again!

I am planning this time to partially cut off the long side of the facade where the fence used to be and take it down to ground level again and put back part of the original fence.I will retain the second backyard and its sub-story.I like the multi-level idea and the angle of the two backyards to the base.
I will still build it as three modules for ease of working on and all three will be removable for easy transport.
The tail of the aircraft will be pointed in towards the modified building's short facade.More bricks!
With two backyards I will be able to retain the clothes washing on the line ,which is something that attracted me to the idea in the first place!

nother post

I slept on this overnight and I still like this idea the best.Why?Well number one is the fact that because the R/H side is kind of walled off,it forces the viewer to look at the diorama from the front and slightly to the left to get to best view.
This puts the airplane/man on center stage high and on a pedestal so to speak.
The viewers eye would more than likely go there first, which for this diorama is a good thing.I want the main storyline up front this time, unlike the dog/airplane storyline which would be discovered almost by accident.
The views eye,I am hoping will then work its way down level by level expanding on the central storyline.I may have to re-work the clothes line idea and put it closer to the house rather than stung across the backyard,where it would command too much attention.
The pilot's car and the wreck in the backyard fits into the main storyline OK and the third car parked at the lowest level in the L/H lane way and maybe even half in the garage,should not be a distraction away from the central story.The rest is just eye candy like they say.
It is almost like a shadowbox without the box as it limits and directs the viewers eye where I want it to go.
Questions and comments?

Working on this composition is the most fun that I have had in a long time.This is the really creative stuff that artists live for. In fact once your done with the design or mock-up the rest seems a little redundant and really is done more for the viewer than anything else. Wouldn't it be fun if all we had to do is make mock-ups and then let others do the hard stuff,like actually making it.Just kidding!
This is where the artist/craftsman comes in.I find it easier to be the artist than actually getting my hands dirty but I get around this by staying open to creative changes as I go along, as it keeps me interested too.This is especially true when I reach about 2/3rds along in any project when boredom starts to creep in.If I can just press on through this (so far,so good) and get to see the light at the end of what can be a very long tunnel ,then the anticipation of seeing it finished begins building .
In fact even early on when your sitting there making nail holes in the boards behind the toilet or bricks one by one, it can be a long road.
I don't think that I will ever build again exclusively from plans only.I did that for a long time when ship modeling but I still turned it into something more interesting,a diorama.

I now have a renewed respect for architectural models.For anything other than the simplest design a scale mock-up is a must.I would hate to think about the amount of wood,time and money that I would have otherwise spent if I had not worked in foam board first.
Next I will paint matte black all the areas that are the base/frame.Everything unpainted black, will be actually modeled in a life like way, in 1/16th scale.
Then I will have to cut the already made 1/16th facade in the appropriate place and add it to the R/H side.The only other facade left to do after that will be the L/H garage/shop area.

The enclosed backyard needs an opening in the wall as well. These units were built using the same basic layouts and an enclosed backyard would not allow acess to the same road way.

Here you can see the visual barrier set up that I made on the R/H side.There is a large fence that runs down the backyard and lane way on this side that I will leave in the realistic style.It is not a see-through fence so the barrier idea will still be in place without a massive black wall.
The airplanes wing I may hang over the edge of the fence, just a bit, for added interest.