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"How I Build Aircraft Dioramas"


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Back to Jenny for awhile.

The Camel bridges two of the landscaping panels which I only realized could be a problem till now.Will have to think about this! Either join the two panels together,figure out some way of easily separating the airplane from the truck or using two removable wheel screws instead of just one for stability.

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First step is to remove the military uniform.I do this by hand which takes a little time.Changing from military to civilian is great ,rather than the other way around, as it is a case mostly of removing stuff.The faint belt lines that you see are actually filled with very thin super glue and sanded smooth with the surrounding surface.The rest of the parts can be used as is ,it will make a nice 20's mechanic when finished.He too will also will be sporting a cigarette in his hand.

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Well now it is back to the crashed Albatros.I am really looking forward to doing this as it is something that I have never attempted before.I plan to build the whole thing on a skid type platform that I can easily rotate 360 deg for ready access to everything.I figure that chances are that if they were in a hurry to remove it from the field they would have slid planks under the engine area and dragged it off the field ,probably with horses.Once deposited near the hangar,there it would be scavenged for parts.

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What Happened?

My analysis of the accident scene is that for some reason the aircraft was subject to a nose over while the engine was still running which would indicate a mechanical failure of some sort or loss of control by the pilot.The undercarriage looks in good shape except for the one blown tire.Brake failure can be ruled out as the aircraft didn't have any.Overheated or jammed bearings in the wheel is a possibility though.The wing tips are in good shape so there doesn't seem to be any evidence of anything other than a straight nose over at hi speed or a crash why flying inverted close to the ground.The crash would have to be of such force that the fuselage would split at the cockpit area near the rear landing gear strut.There is no evidence of fire ,could lack of fuel be a contributing factor?Although the prop damage looks as though it was still spinning at the time of the accident.

On second thought,because the aircraft is relatively intact , maybe this is not a hi speed accident after all.The center section and wing struts show no sign of damage which you would expect to see in a hi speed accident.There is some damage to the R/H horizontal stabilizer and to the L/H elevator on the tail but none to the tail skid.Could it be that this was the result of the aircraft coming in contact with something on the ground?

Maybe I am missing something really obvious here ,any ideas?

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What I am planning!

My model will be somewhat different in that I am planning to do a structural type

model with fire damage.A lot of the fabric will be burnt off in a flash type fire.Because the airplane is inverted I plan to remove some of the bottom panels to reveal the engine.The model will show a combination of accident damage and some scavaging for parts.

I will start with the engine.

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What Happened? 2

On my model of this accident I will show the tail skid sheared off.Why? because the most logical reason for this accident that I can come up with is this.In order to break the fuselage in two at its most vulnerable point there would have to be some evidence of the tail striking the ground with great force.This could be caused by the aircraft descending(mushing)tail low at hi speed.Two factors could be at work here pilot error or weather conditions especially the wind factor (shear)close to the ground or a combination of both.

Why am I spending so much time on this? Well it is part of the storyline and would be of interest especially to the aviators among us.I know that personally any time I here of an accident my immediate reaction is to ask myself why?Usually it is a combination of factors with poor airmanship and lack of experience high on the list!

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I want my wreck to look more like this but with the broken tail also!

This is a good example of how a diorama idea can evolve over time.There is nothing wrong with being influenced by someone work as long as it is not a direct copy.Artists "borrow" ideas from one another all the time.Here I have taken Stephen's idea which he got from a photograph and adapted it to other photograph and come up with a new idea.

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