another

John, I can't say how much I appreciate this thread. It is the heart and soul of the Eartly Aviation title. Don't stop keep it comin!

I am starting to play around with the different elements of the diorama,deciding what to put and where.This is loads of fun but very important to get right.One big decision I have made already is to cut down on the the number of items actually going inside the main hangar.The modules have lots of stuff in them and look good a little junky but the main hangar has been cleaned up to just the main elements to tell the story.The focus is on the aircraft conversion to a barnstormer and the WW1 pilots in conversation.Trying to add anything else to the composition is not only confusing but unnecessary .
I will give the mechanic a few tools and stepping stool ,add a stand of two but that is pretty much it. The outside of the hangar will be a different story.There I plan to have lots going on.If you were to look at this diorama only from the front view it would tell the main story ,the rest is just eye candy but a lot of fun to do! I was worried in the beginning about having anything going on beyond the perimeters of the main hangar and its modules but by keeping the front view simple and the rest behind the hangar door side structures, I think that I can get away with having a bit of fun in eye candy department without it being too distracting to the viewer.
The cleaned up hangar would also fit into the storyline as management would probably have wanted things a little tidier than normal for the guests on Veterans Day.

Congratulations John thats fantastic news!
An aditional bonus is that I will be able to go along and see your work "up close" as I visit there regularly!
You should be quite rightly feeling very proud of yourself!
Nige

Any of your work would do a museum proud matey.... Looking forward to see what you gonna come up with.

Fighter Pilots
I wanted to show this as a tightly knit group of fighter pilots ,which is the way I remember them as being from my childhood.They are a select group trading war stories.No BS just enjoying the brotherhood of each others company.
__________________
It has been said that the difference between a "pilot" and an "aviator" is that a pilot is a technician,and an aviator is an artist in love with flight.
JohnReid (Aviator)
Guide my hand in your work today.
My photobucket:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/

Sea-Camel
Hi guys! While working on the somewhat repetitive business of installing the main hangar lighting I have kept busy planning for the sea-Camel conversion of the Model Expo kit.As far as I can see there were 3 different versions of the airframe.The Camel 1F.1(RFC/RAF),the 2F.1 Sea-Camel(RNAS) and a 2 seater training version with no armaments.(the 2 seater would also make for an interesting build if good research material could be found)Sea -Camels had the 130hp Clerget,other models also had that same engine installed in addition to the 150hp Bentley BR:1 and the 230HP Bentley BR2.
The conversion does not look to be too difficult .The main differences seem to be the 2 part fuselage,shorter wingspan and smaller tail surfaces.Most other minor changes in rigging and bracing are due these changes.One other major change is the flying controls.The controls on the Sea-Camel are rigged the same as the 5F.1 Dolphin.
I have already had some experience in the modification business by converting the Jenny to a Canuck which was not too difficult.I will list some of the other minor changes later.
I plan to build a Camel for the "Memories of Flight School" diorama but I don"t know if any of them shipped to Canada after the war were Sea-Camels.More research I guess...........
__________________
It has been said that the difference between a "pilot" and an "aviator" is that a pilot is a technician,and an aviator is an artist in love with flight.
JohnReid (Aviator)
Guide my hand in your work today.
My photobucket:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnReid View Post
I thought that maybe you guys would like to follow me through the research involved in doing a diorama from scratch.I will at sometime down the road start a new thread on the actual build.The build will definitely be built around a WW1 storyline.Wish me luck! Cheers! John.
Wow!this is fun. As you can see this research business leads you down many different roads and at times is quite confusing due to conflicting information. I have found that even the experts get it wrong at times.This is another learning experience for me.As you can see I really know very little about the Camel or its history at this stage ,so please bear with me in this research adventure.

Storyline idea #1 Sea-camel at Hendon airfield.
When planning a large diorama I try to keep 2 things in the forefront of my mind
1-buy what you can,build what you must.
2-Did it happen or could it have happened?

Keeping that in mind ,and wanting to stay in 1/16th scale, and the fact that the next aircraft I have available to me in that scale ,is a Sopwith Camel ,here is my idea.
The Royal Navy during WW1 experimented with a modified Camel ,called the sea-Camel ,which was developed for defense against German dirigibles.It was built lighter in oder to climb to great heights,with only one gun and the fuselage could be broken in half for easier storage on a ship.These aircraft were considered expendable by the navy so no provision was made for them to land back on board.
In keeping with criteria #2 above,could the following have happened?A sea-Camel has departed HMS Furious(one of the 1st aircraft carriers)in defense of London during WW1,probably about 1917.Having run out of fuel over London it attempted a landing at London-Hendon field and crashed short of the runway.The aircraft was hauled into the Grahame-White factory for repairs.
My diorama would depict the aircraft nearing completion after undergoing extensive repairs(open structure-no fabric).I could envision the two halves of the fuselage(a unique feature of this aircraft) being re-joined together by a couple of mechanics under the watchful eye of a few RAF types.

Sea-Camel
Hi guys! While working on the somewhat repetitive business of installing the main hangar lighting I have kept busy planning for the sea-Camel conversion of the Model Expo kit.As far as I can see there were 3 different versions of the airframe.The Camel 1F.1(RFC/RAF),the 2F.1 Sea-Camel(RNAS) and a 2 seater training version with no armaments.(the 2 seater would also make for an interesting build if good research material could be found)Sea -Camels had the 130hp Clerget,other models also had that same engine installed in addition to the 150hp Bentley BR:1 and the 230HP Bentley BR2.
The conversion does not look to be too difficult .The main differences seem to be the 2 part fuselage,shorter wingspan and smaller tail surfaces.Most other minor changes in rigging and bracing are due these changes.One other major change is the flying controls.The controls on the Sea-Camel are rigged the same as the 5F.1 Dolphin.
I have already had some experience in the modification business by converting the Jenny to a Canuck which was not too difficult.I will list some of the other minor changes later.
I plan to build a Camel for the "Memories of Flight School" diorama but I don"t know if any of them shipped to Canada after the war were Sea-Camels.More research I guess..........

Storyline #2.Camel nightfighter out of Hendon
This would also make a good storyline,A Camel nightfighter being repaired at Hendon ,while defending London during WW1.It would also be a nice piece, dedicated to my dad , who found himself doing the same thing out of Auckland airfield in Beaufighters and Mosquitoes during WW2.
This would be one of the first ,if not the first fighter aircraft, to be dedicated to the defense of a city, at night, during wartime.Now if I could only find some drawings or plans or pictures of the Camel "Comic Nghtfighter".I would suspect that it would be a lot like the trainer version with the pilot seated aft and the fuel tank where the student pilot would be, because of CofG considerations.Must have been awfully tail heavy on empty tanks though!

Please note!!!!!!!!
I hope you non-aviation types can bear with me during this research stuff. Research is a big part of any diorama making project and I just thought that following me through the twists and turns of this would be helpful ,especially to new dioramists who are also looking to develope a storyline.

Main Hangar bulb changing.
In an effort to try to make bulb changing in the main hangar a little easier I have been trying ,every which way ,to design something that is easy to get at once the roof is on.I have designed the roof and the rafters to be removed as one unit.The problem is to get at the screws that hold the wires in place ,in the light fixture ,in case the whole fixture needs replacing.Maybe I am carrying this a little too far but after the problems I had with the Albatros hangars lighting arrangement ,I wanted to be sure I got it right this time.I think that I have solved the problem by separating the light fixture unit from the wiring box and inverting the box so the wiring screws can be reached from the hangar floor side of the rafters.(What?)Anyway when I get one built I will take a pic to show you.
__________________
It has been said that the difference between a "pilot" and an "aviator" is that a pilot is a technician,and an aviator is an artist in love with flight.
JohnReid (Aviator)
Guide my hand in your work today.
My photobucket:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/

Stealing Ken's ideas!
After much research I have decided to steal my friend Ken's ideas on how to finish a diorama.This idea comes from Ken's book"How to build Creative
Dioramas",page 11.
I really like the idea of the gray edging following the undulations
of the terrain.The brownish cover looks great with the barnsiding.
I also love the idea of the junk surrounding the perimeter of the building.

I almost forgot!
Now that I have rejected the "old dining table" idea as a suitable base ,for the "Memories of Flight School" diorama ,I almost forgot to ask myself,What am I going to replace it with?
In my enthusiasm to do the final buildup, I forgot something very basic ,how am I going to make the new base?In order to attach this new base I will have to break the whole thing down again to the basic plywood floor,do a new base and rebuild once again.Trying to build it up any other way would be a nightmare,imagine trying to work around fragile airplanes and the like.
Soooo!once again it is back to the bare table again.This time I will be building what the RR guys call a homasote-type base.Homasote,is a composite wall board/insulation material available in most lumber yards.It is glued over plywood to give it strength(see Chapter 4 of Ken's book)
Contoured edges are a must to give the diorama that "slice of life" look.

Out of Print!
Unfortunately Ken Hamilton's book "How to Build Creative Dioramas" has been out of print for some time now.Ken however, has given me his kind permission to use some of his photos for this thread.Thanks Ken!
I will describe and take pics of my attempts to create a similar Homasote base but on a larger scale.I will have to modify it a little for my purposes but essentially it will be the same base as the one described in his book.

John,

You are the kind of modeler that inspires many of us (in particular, ME!) to avoid the status quo and strive for bettering each model. You are an ace!