nother pic

What looks like large chunks is actually debris lying around from digging the hole.

Here is a low angle shot of this still unfinished area just to give me an idea of how the old grass will look.I still have a lot more work to do including more weathering of the whole area.

The old grass tuft is where the nose wheel will be placed.The two light spots are were the main wheels go.The bare strip between is the area under the engine and radiator.

When chipping away at the landscaping trying to dig a hole for the wheel/grass areas ,I came to realize just how strong this sand/glue or earth/ glue mix really is.
Anything that you would want to build for strength or that you would want to look like real cement ,such as sidewalks,cement blocks etc..this technique would be worthwhile experimenting with.
For example ,when making a cement block you would make a simple form,it could be wood or something else and then insulate the form and the cement from one another using wax paper or other water impervious material so the two will not be glued together and the block could later easily be removed.The properties and color etc..of your materials can be chosen to represent real thing.(Landscaping suppliers have lots of choices)Fancier molds could also be made for miniature statues etc..
Check your piece that you want to represent for color ,texture etc..(sand and real earth are available in different textures and colors) and then mix up a batch as follows.
It is a good idea to sterilize anything that you take from nature so heat it up in the oven or BBQ until hot to kill any possible critters laying about.The longer you heat it in a BBQ and depending on the temperature you heat it to, the sand/earth can be made to vary in color from natural to black.
Cool and then take your baked earth/sand and mix it with alcohol (75%) until it is the consistency that you require or you could pour the dry material into the mold and then use an eye dropper to apply the alcohol until it is thoroughly damp.Take another dispenser,(I use a small plastic squeeze bottle for this) and then drip by drip thoroughly wet down your sand/earth/alcohol mix until it is wet with another mix of 75% water and 25% white carpenters glue.This mix could also be colored using water based acrylics.Let dry,remove it from the form and you will have imitation cement.Have fun!

The wooden dowels are where the holes for the wire that holds the aircraft to the diorama are located.The grass is standing up too uniformly straight right now because the water affect it.Once dry I will bend it back to a more natural look.
There still needs to be some final touches and weathering to be done later just before I finish completely and do the final installation of the airplane.The airplane will now go back in storage for awhile.

duplipost

pic courtesy of Achime Engels
100 years later,some things never change

Please note:

The title of this piece has been changed to better reflect the real storyline.I now call it "The Road Taken".
The poem written by Robert Frost "The Road Not Taken." was the inspiration for this piece.It is an old story told many times before, in many different ways ,about how we make changes in our lives,sometimes on the spur of the moment,that continue to affect us way down the road .
Our young aviator ,in my diorama,is standing at the crossroads,the same crossroads that he stood upon years earlier.He is now reflecting upon how that decision he made way back then is affecting his life now and how it will continue to affect his life in the future.
The underlying theme here is one of loss,loss of the innocence of our young aviator but also the loss of innocence of aviation itself.

At the end of one of his choices of roads to take, sits his homes garage.The sign could of been put up by his kids or his mom or even his dad.I wanted the sign to be really subtle as if someone took some glue and cardboard or paper and just pasted it there.I don't want it to be too obvious, more to catch the views eye on maybe the second pass over the scene.A kind of " Oh Look " moment.

Please note: the unusual shape of this garage door is because it used to have an arched doorway to a stable for horses.The addition of the later siding squared it off to unusual proportions.

At the end of the other "Road Taken" lies a "Dead End" quite literally one of loss and destruction, represented here by the old burned out car and all the dead leaves.The sign represents the folly of misplaced patriotism by the public and the pressure that was put on the young to get involved in giving up their lives for nothing.
On a personal note : My view is that WW1 and most other wars are a waste of good lives on both sides. WW2 on the other hand was unfortunately necessary to rid humanity of a great evil.

nother pic

Why Keep Posting ?
You may be asking yourself,why does he keep posting this stuff when there is so little active response to his posts?

Number one is, to fulfill a promise that I made to myself 12 years ago to spread the word about dioramas as far and as wide as I possibly could,simply because I love dioramas.

Number two is, how do I know anybody is tuning in ? well in only one year I have got almost a million hits on my photobucket site. Yes,I can't believe it either.Most are repeats but still a million hits is very encouraging to keep on going with this stuff.
On occasion someone will tell me how they have been following my stuff for a long time ,sometimes on another site.

Number three is the amount of hits that I get on some websites that I post to.You guys may not always respond but I know that you are following along.

I want to thank all you guys and gals who have supported me now and in the past.You will never know how much your support means to this old guy. Cheers ! John.

A blast from the past !