Greetings John and all;

Here is a piece i did for general use in photos. The stand its self would be made of wood. The one thing that belies its reality is there are no bolt heads that would be present on the full sized unit . I tried to show it as a "used" item that has been repaired itself and shows the stresses ans strains of having been used constantly. Originally painted white and grimed up with a black wash.

In most cases these items were made using whatever was available. Also for this piece the engine is being salvaged for parts so both parts are on their last legs as it were...

Nice job Stephen! I really like the poses of the figures especially the guy reading from the box(so natural).
Yes I have seen these "in the field" type of stands but I wanted something a little more permanent although my first instinct was to go with wood because of all the weathering possibilities.Thanks for the pics!
Cheers! John.

The stand went together easier than I expected.I cut the posts to equal length and then drilled the tubes and pinned them together.I didn't even have to build a jig,the small pins within the tubes hollow structure allowed everything to move and line up very easily.I then glued exerything with super thin superglue and painted it with black gesso ,with an overcoat of french blue straight out of the tube.All the Reid & Sons ground equipment is painted the same color.
Now I will install the caster type wheels and weather it up a bit.The two major objects in the engine shop are now just about finished so now I can go about making the rest of the furniture ,tools and workbench etc....

Another view

The above view of the underside of the engine would not normally be able to be seen in the diorama.(The casters are yet to be installed.)
The straight on view I posted so that you could see how the less than vertical engine clylinders are not so noticable with all the other angles to distract the eye.When the engine is installed in the diorama it will be even less noticable.I point this out to emphasize how dioramas allow for a little more flexibility(freedom) in using less than perfect parts.A well placed rag or cloth can also help a lot . When taking close up pictures sometimes these imperfections will be picked up.The trick is to just change the cameras angle a little.It is this little bit of extra freedom that dioramas allows me that keeps me going.While I admire the work of the perfectionists ,that is not what I am about.

My Dad.
On this eve of Rememberance Day I thought that you guys would be interested in this little piece of history.
I was searching through my local hobby store and came across a 1/48 scale model of the Dehavilland Mosquito NF Mk.X111.I noticed that it was of the same squadron (409)that my Dad was CO of in 43-44.I came home and looked through his logbook and found that he often flew R-KP the exact airplane depicted on the box.Well I went back and picked it up as a memento of his RCAF career.
__________________
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)

That's interesting John. Is it built, are you gonna build it?

Another pic

Stephen, if you want to move the last few postings to another thread,go ahead.

Well as you can see I am very proud of my dads' service during the war.
The pic of him (on the left) and his navigator/radar operator F/L John Peacock is from that era,about 1944.Unfortunately F/L Peacock was killed in action over France on his first mission after my dad left the squadron.
The list of aircraft is one that my dad kept in the back of his logbook with all the aircraft he had flown during the war.He was able to fly so many different types as his military career spanned training,ferry,bomber and fighter commands from 1938-45.

I havent yet quite made up my mind to build it or not.

Well good morning to all the vets,thanks guys!

As you guys know,who have been following this thread,my latest diorama "Memories of Flight School" has a Rememberance Day theme.
The first two dioramas of the Albatros and the Nieuport show the aircraft undergoing a rebuild.For this reason I wanted to show the aircrafts' tail raised to flying position undergoing the rigging procedure.With the Jenny I have the option of showing the tail skid resting on the hangar floor in its normal appearance while on the ground or not.Where with the other two aircraft I also had issues with weak undercarriages ,with the Jenny this does not seem to be a problem.Also at each wingtip there are skids that could be modified to help support the wings.
I have since changed the storyline of the diorama from a chance happening ,as to why the WW1 pilots were there ,to a more formal planned ceremony.
Because it is somewhat unusual to see an aircraft in the fully rigged ,fabricless state,the best way to explain this would to be indicate that this was done puposely in honor of these veterans.However ,there is no doubt that the airplane looks better with the tail raised to flying position.Even during the war it seems that for a more formal picture the tail was often raised on a sawhorse of some kind.Decisions,decisions............

Greetings John; I agree on the tails up position. You can tell Whenever I photograph my builds usually I do several quarter view shots on a trestle / saw horse. There is something about the lean into the wind posture that has the airframe in a natural state. Doing it stripped of fabric (fabricless? ) is even more intriguing. Like Superman's X-ray vision.

Though Early Aviation is strictly about that subject, I can't dissect posts and move them without deleteing them. I either have to move the whole thread or leave it alone. But let me also add your Memories of Flight concerning your father are touching. He was a hero in the service of his country. On this Veterans - Rememberance Day I offer my thanks to your dad for his service. My own father passed back in 2000. He was an Iwo Jima mud Marine. Your diorama after all is just that , a salute to the men who served.

I would like to ask that you do build the kit and offer it as a feature to our own Rowan (Merlin) or Jean-Luc (TedMamere) for the WWII title.

I have been fooling around a bit with photoshop and for some reason the last pic came out a little large(now you can see all the mistakes better)I added the casters and weathered the stand a little.I will finish it just before final installation.
The following pic is of the type of block and tackle assembly (Chain fall and Rope sling)that I want to hang from a rail on the engine shop roof joists.

I forgot to mention that if you look closely at the last pic of the engine stand , notice that the casters are weathered.If you want to weather with chaulk pastels over a bare metal shiney surface here is what I do.Take some 600 grit sandpaper and tone down the shine and create some tooth in the metal surface .Then take some acrylic matte medium and spray or brush on and let dry.The matte medium will create some tooth for the chaulk pastels to stick to.Apply the pastels to a newly dried surface as they seem to stick better if you don't wait too long.Don't be afraid to use lots of pastel color in your soft application brush.I scrape off some pastel from the stick using an Xacto blade and dunk my brush into the pile of powder.Try to imagine where crud and rust may gather on the piece you are weathering or where human activity would create wear and tear.Be creative.Have fun,you can't make a mistake,there are none!