Great piece and well presented too! Broken kits are super for this kind of treatment.

Never in my wildest dreams did I believe 12 years ago that one day the two artists that I admire the most , one in dioramas and one in aviation art,would acknowledge my work like this.Yes folks dreams do come true ! If I can do it in my 60's you can too.But ya gotta' start now.

It is not always necessary to have a complete storyline going in.Most of mine develop over time.I usually start with an aircraft type in mind and start building it first but I don't complete it at this stage so that I can't cheat and stop short of my goal of building a full fledged diorama.

A great place to start looking for story lines is to study the work of artists that you admire.In the beginning my greatest influence was Shep Paine.I studied his stuff for a long time on and off for almost 20 years while I was building HMS Victory and doing other types of art but it was because of his influence that Victory is now my first diorama.Shep didn't do any WW1 stuff but his books are full of great ideas that are easily translated into the WW1 era.

I also studied Jim Dietz's work closely for ideas and composition.You can see his obvious influence on me with my Albatros-dog piece.His fighter pilot gesturing with his hands about how he got on the tail of the enemy is a gesture that I have personally seen many times from my dad and his fellow WW2 fighter pilots.Jim really knows how to put emotion into his pieces and thereby get his viewers involved in his work.

Still a desert out there for any new WW1 dioramas.

I don't know when the WW1 guys will get over the WNW kits and put one in a diorama.All they seem to do is congratulate one another on their wonderful builds.
How boring is that ! There just has to be more to our hobby than kits ,decals and color schemes.

John,
Check out Edoardo's Thread, "Oh my dear! A Camel in my bedroom" (last update 24 Dec.) He's got a "smokin" WWI Diorama in progress; I think you'll be somewhat pleased at what's going on there!
Cheers & belated Seasons Greetings from someone almost as old as you!
Also, congratulations on the recognition referenced recently in your Thread; I assume the "Thank You" was from our PM?

Lance

Actually it was from the museum director Stephen Quick.He too is a fellow professional artist who works mostly in 2D.Funny how it was two artists that really gave me my break.One in the beginning of all this and one at the end who supervised the finishing.
What I am really most proud of is that I did this stuff in the decade of my 60's.Being only a few years younger than me I think that you know what I mean.
I have been blessed with good health, a keen eye and a steady hand.I can only hope that my 70's treat me as well.Cheers ! John.

Model airways latest 1/16th scale will be the DR 1.I could think of a lot of great storyboard dioramas using this aircraft as the central subject matter.Why not give it a go and create something different that you could truly be proud of ? It is getting awfully lonely out here in WW1 diorama land.

Need some inspiration ? Diorama blasts from the past.

sds

kjkjk

jjjjhj
Modeler unknown

A lot of these examples come from shows and competitions so in many cases the modeler is unknown to me.

In my opinion these guys raise our hobby to an art form far beyond the mere assembly of a bunch of parts.While not are all are full blown storyboard dioramas they are still great vignettes ,each one with a unique story of its own.

Some of these models were sitting on display tables at shows,so I doctored them up a bit using photobucket.

Still Waiting!!

John,
Patience my friend I've never been quick builder.But after my stroke I'm even slower. But on the bright side both vehicles are finished and the first plastic has been cut for the scratch built SPAD A.2. Just not enough to take photos of yet. I'll keep you posted.
Regards,
Gregory Jouette

Wow ! That is great news Gregory.Glad to hear that your still working on it.Love to see some pics when you have some.Cheers! John.