How I build large scale dioramas! (1 Viewer)

Alb3076.jpg
 
I think that this will be the basic composition that I will go with.The tipped wheelbarrow adds to the storyline by confirming that the junk pile is there only temporarily.It will now have to be glued and pinned down piece by piece.
A little more subtle weathering is now required.
 
Very cool John!:) I'm curious what did you use to make the bricks on the rowhouse, and how did you achieve the effect on them?

Best Regards,
Vick
 
Dioramas as a one frame movie!
"What we wanted to do at the beginning of all this,was to show what happens when you take human beings and put them through hell,then wonder how in the world they will approach life when they come home".

Steven Spielberg on his new piece The Pacific.

I was reading this in my newspaper this morning and it struck me how similar his idea for making a 10- part mini series on the war in the Pacific, and my idea for my latest diorama "Loss Of Innocence,Will it Ever Be The Same" are alike.(We must be reading each others mail.)
This is exactly what I have been writing about recently on the power of the storyboard diorama as a one frame movie.
A movie tells a story in all its thrilling detail and action,on a big screen with music,dialogue etc... a diorama does the same but with one frame.That is the magic and the challenge of the storyboard diorama reducing it all to one frame and still tell a powerful story.Sometimes the story is even more powerful in diorama form because it is left up to the viewer to connect the dots in his mind.A movie lays it all out for you ,a diorama requires a little more imagination on your viewers part.
This is why I believe storyboard dioramas are as much an "Art "as any of the other visual media.
 
Due to the volume of work that I have at present ,I haven't been able to keep up to date all of the websites that I have opened.You can however find all my postings over on the first site I joined up at http://www.theaerodrome.com once on the site click "Forum" at the bottom of the pic,then click on "Models" under forum navigation,look for "How to........." at the top of the page.
Because of the number of sites that I post to I had to pick one to post everything to and I thought that the first one I started would be the most logical.I will still be posting to this thread but not quite as often as I did,hopefully things will calm down a bit in the near future.Some day I plan to condense everything down into a more readable version and post it on all the sites.I hope you guys understand. Cheers ! John.
You may also want to take a look at a new thread I started over there called Shadow Box Dioramas.
 
Thanks for the updated information John. I will bookmark that site and catch up on your progress.
 
Dioramas update
Went to the CAM in Ottawa on Friday and the new construction is well underway.They are hoping to have the official opening of the new area in Feb 2011.
The Albatros,Neiuport and Jenny dioramas will be on display for the opening and the backyard flyer at some later date.That will be the last of the really big ones for me,as I plan to limit myself to bread box size shadow boxes after that.
My wife will be very happy to get half her house back again after all these years.
 
I like the airplane facing this way towards the center of the diorama, with the "T" wreck filling the corner.The high fence on the right is almost the edge of the larger diorama.Another backyard and facade will be on the left side so the aircraft pointing left should encourage the viewer to look around the diorama .The open space in the fence at the bottom left is where the figure will be standing looking in at the airplane.On the other side of the fence will be the back lane way .The brick facade will be not be the back edge as I plan to put lighting in the rooms behind with curtains in the windows.The Victorians were very afraid of sunlight!
 
I think that I have settled on a Spring 1919 scene somewhere in Southern Ontario.The colors are more subdued this time of year and there is not a lot of vegetation competing for attention.The returning airman and his airplane is the central story here, so I have to be careful not to overpower it with too much stuff.Other things will be added or eliminated one by one as the diorama develops.I like the creative freedom of operating this way as opposed to building to a set of plans.It makes it a lot more fun not knowing how it will end up when finished.
For those who may have missed it earlier the title is "Loss of innocence,will it ever be the same?" the storyline revolves around the returning airman seeing his backyard flyer for the first time since he shipped of to war.There will be a sign on the backyard brick facade saying "Welcome Home" but other than that no other sign of life,just him and his airplane.
Both the airman and aviation itself have lost their pre-war innocence,can he ever go back to his airplane feeling the way he does now.I think every veteran of war has asked himself the same question ,in one way or another.
 
Your diorama is breath taking John. Thanks you for sharing the photo along with an explanation as to your future plans.
 
Now back to the Jenny.
Airshow Camel with fake guns, used for simulated dogfights or for running down main street to drum up business for the airshow.
 
This is where I am now in the finishing process of the Jenny diorama.Once this office area is completed ,I will work around to the front and then the roof.
I thought that while I had the office module removed I had better take some pics through the office/hangar door,the figures and the horse Comanche while I can.See my photobucket album "Hangar 3 exterior" for these new pics.(some have yet to be deleted)
 
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