I know,a long title but it does all fit together,believe me.
Lets start with the term "modeling for God".I am sure that most of you guys have heard this before but for those who haven't ,basically it is doing stuff that only you and God know about.Things that are hidden and probably will never again see the light of day or the camera for that matter.

Some of us,myself included have the compulsion to put it all in no matter what.Detail everything and hope for the best.On some work half of what I do is spent this way.
Well I think that I have found a solution for this but it requires a little planning ahead and basic picture taking skills.Personally I use no special camera or lighting tools to achieve my goals.
Why did I include dioramas and layouts together ? Because I have noticed that at many railway shows and competitions dioramas as stand alone units or modules for layouts are becoming more and more popular.
Anyway that is what this thread is about,I hope that you enjoy it...

Hi John.
I am following this (subscribed).
I am doing three campaigns that include small dioramas.

I would ask that you guys please keep an open mind on this thread.Sometimes in order to explain something that I am talking about I will have to move into different genres of modeling using pictures from a wide variety of subject matter in order to help me best explain what I am talking about.
There are certain things that are universal to all kinds of modeling.Personally I have modeled aircraft,trains cars and trucks,ships,figures,building structures,both scratch and modified kits and I have found certain things that are common to them all.It is this commonality that I what to discuss here,not the things that separate us into different groups.
The text will always reflect that which is common to all model making but the pictures may vary in subject matter.
I really enjoy sharing my modeling experiences with others just as many others have done with me over the years,it is in this spirit of sharing that I offer this thread.

Hi Richard ! glad to have you on board. Cheers ! John.

I must admit that I do a lot of modeling for God.The primary reason is that I keep changing my ideas as I go along.What starts out being visible often ends up covered over by something else and in the end becoming unreachable by the naked eye or even by the camera.Unless you plan everything in advance I guess that it is inevitable that this kind of thing will probably happen on occasion but then again I find that being too restrictive can take all the fun and freedom out of doing this stuff.Let the eye of your camera be your guide, use the magnification feature to spot things that may need attention but remember too that at normal viewing distance and angles a lot of stuff may not be viewable anyway.
Sometimes too,there is a plus side to all this as it can be a good way to practice your techniques of building,weathering and painting in a real life setting.
There may also be times when you would like to restrict the view of something you don't like or may have completely forgotten about and which you now have no ready access to.In this instance a well placed fence or object to block a view may become necessary.

Here is a good example of what I mean.The ceiling of this old car will never be seen but it was a lot of fun to do just the same and I got to practice a few techniques that I then used on the exterior of the car.