"How I Build Aircraft Dioramas"

[John W Reid]

[John W Reid]

[John W Reid]

[John W Reid]

I think I need a little change of pace for awhile so I thought that I would modify my returning war hero figure that will be going into the diorama.

I have changed the head for a more Canadian looking character rather than try to modify that hat.

I also will be removing all those wonderfully detailed medals from his chest and demoting him in rank.The rest of the uniform is of the military style of the era and needs no major modifications.

Please note : the replacement head is from my own collection and not part of the kit.

[gareth]

some how remids me of the texas chainsaw masacre

[John W Reid]

[John W Reid]

[John W Reid]

[John W Reid]

The above pic color is the closest to the facade's real color as it sits indoors.The next sunny day I"ll take it outside and see how it looks.I have started to weather this panel using dark grey and black pastels .I have also used an old toothbrush and sprayed a little very thin coat of raw umber acrylic over the whole facade to give it an older look.

[John W Reid]

[John W Reid]

[John W Reid]

Whats wrong with this pic?

Notice on the jig where it says "Front", now take a look at where the engine is placed in the fuselage.Now look where the leading edge is,then the trailing edge.@#$#$$$$$^&*!@# You guessed it the engine is on backwards.Wow what a stupid mistake!!!!!!!It is so easy to lose the big picture when you get too involved in the details.Somehow between Oct 19 and 21 I had a major brain fart of some kind and only discovered it today when I went back to work on the airplane.

Of course everything has been glued in place but luckily I think that the engine mount will be OK where it is, because if it was also involved I would pretty much have to start over again.

[John W Reid]

[John W Reid]

Thank goodness for "Uncure" and the fact that I didn't use epoxy!

The fix was easier than I thought that it would be and I am just happy I discovered it now and not after the wheels and other stuff were on.

This picture gives you an idea of where the major components should be when the flier is completed.(I better keep this pic near the workbench)

__________________

[John W Reid]

[John W Reid]

Fuselage/tail assembly.

I modified the jig by cutting off the bottom portion but still leaving the upper for protection for the wings.I then hot glue melted the wheels to a building board.(the glue is easily removed later by re-heating it).

The building board is exactly the width of the tail booms.I could have made a separate jig for the tail assembly but I thought that it would be more fun to build it like the original must have been done.

I know Curtiss used bamboo but others also used ash wood for these booms and spruce for the struts.I will use ash(basswood) for these due to the difficult of representing the growth rings on the bamboo which would hardly be seen at scale distance anyway.

The measurements I used for the tail assembly are from the Aeronautics publication May-June 1912,page 161.

[HOUSTON]

AWESOME Build....

[John W Reid]

[Loki]

Yes Sir - I gotta say that is some awesome building. Just taken 40 mins of life going through this lot, only sorry I didn't read it before....

Might as well give up this hobby now LOL

[John W Reid]

[John W Reid]

I cut down the tail jig to the center of the rod so that the tail can easily be removed at any time.The rubber bands hold everything down and keeps it all square until I can make up fittings for the tail boom.The horizontal rod at the tail has been embedded into the tail spar .It will then be sandwiched between the another spar of the same size to create the hinge line between the horizontal stab and the elevator.I don't want to create it as one piece so that I can place the elevator at an angle to the stab which will look more natural.

All four tail booms are attached to this spar, the top two have finished fittings at the upper wing and now must be cut to length and rear fittings applied.I then will repeat the whole procedure for the bottom tail booms.

I am designing this stuff as I go along from pictures that you will find on my photobucket site.Slow but fun!I hope that there are not too many surprises down the road.

For your info : the EAA has a new website that also has a new forum.

Check it out at:

http://www.Oshkosh365.org

[John W Reid]

[John W Reid]

I made the fittings from brass tube,cut it to length and blackin-it and then slid the pieces of tubing over the tail booms.Everything has been temporarily nailed it place and not glued.The horizontal black rod is where the elevator will be attached to the stabilizer(yet to be built).

When everything is squared away, I will take it apart and finish the fittings as required to accept the internal bracing wires.

I haven't quite decided whether or not to finish the tail,stab,elevators,rudder etc..I would like to build them but would our owner have really left them on his flier while he was off to war?On the other hand I guess they could have been covered with tarps etc...Because I plan to put a "welcome home "sign somewhere in the diorama it is possible that someone could have removed them prior to his arrival as a homecoming gesture.I could show the tarps lying somewhere off to the side I guess.

[shark 64]

OOOhHHH!!! thats impressive. True talent indeed. I like your work .

OLiver

[John W Reid]