That should be "failures"

The base,walls,interior beams&trusses,and the roof will all be separate pieces that will be able to be removed if need be for ease of construction purposes and for photography and transport purpose as well.In the end I will let the museum decide if they want it as is or do they want a more permanent arrangement using screws and glue.

I like the basic composition, if I was doing this piece for myself and other WW1 modelers it would be sufficient to stop here but this piece is going to be viewed by the general public ,especially the younger generations.With this in mind I have decided to add more to the overall visual interest by creating more detail as I did for "The Homecoming" diorama.That story was in the beginning meant to be a lot simpler and appeal mostly to adults ,especially veterans and was originally intended to be titled "The Road Taken."
I realized that this was a mistake, I got into this whole thing with the intention of helping to educate the younger ones about what aviation used to be about many years ago before the modern era by concentrating on the periods before,during and right after WW1.
Through the use of lighting I can pretty much control where the eyes of the viewer will first be drawn to,then it will important to hold that interest using what has been called the "Wow factor"
by letting the viewers eyes discover the more subtle detail through deeper visual exploration.So here's what I am planning....

Good Morning everyone (Lurkers included)This is the first pic from the new composition.I am really excited about this especially because it is a completely new design and not a modified repeat of the first shadow box.

You know it takes 10 times longer to build on the fly like this but it sure is a heck of a lot more interesting for me when I am involved in a long project.I doubt that I would ever finish anything if I planned it all ahead.Just too boring that way.It is a messy way to build but it all seems to come together in the end.Highly recommended !

So far I am planning to turn the upper level into a wind tunnel model workshop,where the airplane,a Fokker 1/72 scale E.V will be just viewable through the windows and door. The rest will be for storage as I have lots of left over parts and pieces from other builds to fill it with.Up front and center though will be a wind tunnel 1/72 scale Fokker D.VII on a stand of some sort.Past ,present and future Fokker designs will all be represented.The 1/48 scale E.V I have will hang on a wall above the wind tunnel.

I am betting here that Fokker had an even bigger wind tunnel in an adjacent workshop available to him through the L/H door that will be installed along the L/H side wall.Well I am off to my hobby shop to pick up the 1/72 E.V and D.VII,probably the ones by eduard.

I picked up the Roden kits in 1/72.I will be finishing them like they are wind tunnel testing models.The quality really doesn't matter, as they are so small when viewed within the boxed diorama.I will mount them on a wind tunnel stand and finish them like they were made of wood.

John I really enjoy watching your work and it is a pity that more people don't comment on it. I wish I had more time to look through all of the sites on the network.

I have lots of lurkers

There is no way that I will have this piece ready for the opening ceremonies of WW1 ,maybe for the closing. I never know how these things will evolve time wise .I thought that being a boxed diorama as originally planned there would be a chance to have it ready but.. things got out of control again. As much as I enjoy building ,I enjoy taking pics even more, especially pics where I create little vignettes as I go along.Most of these vignettes are one of a kind and unique in that they were taken while the piece was under construction.Once the diorama is closed up that opportunity is lost forever.It is better ,in my opinion ,to do a little "modeling for god"(or the camera), slow down and forget about deadlines.If I had started about a year earlier it would have made more sense but then again the 1/16th aircraft were not available until recently,so that would not have been possible either.

I will be experimenting with a different way of aging the upper level floor boards.Until now I have usually thinly painted each individual board with washes of acrylics letting the natural pattern of the wood show through and then glued them down.This time I will lay the floor in natural wood and then hand spray the surface using an old tooth brush to apply the acrylics.I figure that the upper level floor would not be as subject to the same wear and tear as the lower level.I can experiment in an area that will never be seen in the final diorama.

Fantastic build. Really looking forward to seeing it all finished.

Me Too ! Thanks Stephen.