Thanks for posting this, John. It’s a really informative read.
You’re the first Montrealer I’ve come across here, although I know there must be some others kicking around.
Thanks buff,good to hear from a fellow Montrealer.Looks like its going to be a good winter to hunker down and build. Cheers! John.
Maybe I am carrying this cross-fertilization thing too far but if you guys would like to see a diorama that took me 15 years (about 6000 hrs shoptime) to build go to :
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/misc/sail/victory-72-mr/victory-index.html
Cheers! John.
Hi guys! I thought that it was a good time to post the Victory pictures in that it is now 200 years the other day ,since that epic battle took place.It was probably the most decisive battle in naval history and ended Napoleons plans to conquer the world.
Indirectly it was this battle that got me into modeling.When my dad was off to war for 5 years ,I was raised by my grandmother who was a late Victorian and always spoke of the sea,Nelson and the sun never setting on the British Empire.She would take me for walks along Lake Ontario’s shores ,in a city that is filled with naval history ,Kingston ,and that is how I fell in love with the sea.
Thirty years later,I passed a hobby store window and although I was ,at the time ,almost totally immersed in aviation,I just had to build the HMS Victory that I saw there.At the time I knew nothing about old ships but I was soon to learn.
I think that I will post a new thread on what are your earliest memories that may have sparked your future interest in modeling?I am sure that there must be some interesting stories out there.What or who sparked that interest that made you the modeler that you are today?
Cheers! John.
My Stuff:
http://www.wwi-models.org/Images/Reid/index.html
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/misc/sail/victory-72-mr/victory-index.html
This post has been edited by John
John,
As always, it’s great to see your work. [:)]
I especially like the action scenes on the ship.
Regards,
Thanks Drew,I am glad that you enjoy it.I sure have fun making them.I find that the figures really bring it to life.Cheers! John.
I am presently finishing off the garage door/Model T module.Everything in wood has been weathered using my standard method of acrylics followed by pastels .
I made up some wheel chocks and will drill some holes in them that will provide for a black wire that will run down through the floor to secure the Model T to the module.
The garage doors are finished and awaiting final positioning, these will be secured to the module floor with small dowels.The only other thing that I will add to the module will be a couple of posts to hitch the swinging doors to.The door hinges will be fake as they are not operational nor are they even attached to the hangar.
I am undecided about if I should weather the car now or leave it until final installation.The cars left front tire has been left hanging over the sloping ramp so that no jack is required to change the tire.I may leave a wrench or two in this area if it is not too distracting. There is lots of room around the car for sight lines into the hangar, and the doors sort of act as a shadow box reveal, inviting the viewer to look inside.
Cheers! John.
“And let’s get one thing straight.There’s a big difference between a pilot and an aviator.One is a technician;the other is an artist in love with flight.”
E.B. Jeppesen.
page 1&2 of the Travel Air story are now up.
I have now finally finished the Garage module and have begun working on the rear entrance door/WC/Coal storage area.Unfortunately, I am back to sheathing the walls, inside and out, with those good old popsicle stiks and tongue depressors.Not my favorite job, but I hope that this is the last of it on this project.After designing the area and cutting out the foamboard pieces,I think that it will make an interesting addition to the diorama.This rear hangar area needed some life as it is mainly just a large barn wall.I plan to hang some interesting signs but in keeping with my KISS plan for the outside,that will be about it.The sight lines through the doors and windows are somewhat limited but I think that there is enough there to keep the viewer interested.
I dont know if I will furnish the WC or not.Maybe i can find a dollhouse fixture that may work.This is not meant to be an outhouse but a septic system so I dont have to worry about it being too close to the lunchroom area. Maybe I will add a small grated area for heat. Cheers! John.
This is the area;
http://www.arcforums.com/forums/ind...showtopic=70057
(last picture on page)
“Travel Air D4D, Labor Of Love”
I am doing a series of articles on how my dad,myself and a wonderful artist/craftsman by the name of Al Pow remanufactured a 1929 Biplane.Pages 1-7 are now up over on ;
http://www.arcforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=70029
or
http://www.largescaleplanes.com
see Forum,then Off Topic
Cheers! John.
Just checking in!
The rear door/WC/coal bin module cont…
-I have now sheathed and painted all the interior walls and doors of this module.I have built the coal bin which I plan to stock with kitty litter(if my cat will let me have some) I guess that I will have to build another liner,fill it with litter,glue it and spray paint it black(any other ideas?) There is a small opening in the bottom for a shovel and an opening to the outside for a chute.
The interior of the module is thinly painted with Titanium white(light beige) and the door pine green,allowing some wood grain to show through. I find that this washed effect looks the best when using acrylics and is very easy to weather… I still havent found a facility(whitefaced bowl) for the WC. Maybe this will be the first one ever to be scratchbuilt for a diorama.
Now its on to the exterior board and batten sheathing,making the roof,doors and windows.This is going a little slow as I cant stand sheathing for too long a time and tend to goof off doing other things. Cheers! John.
Hi Guys! I am still working on the rear door module and about to start the roof.I sure will be glad to get back to building the Jenny itself after all this other stuff.I have about 90% of the first Jenny, a Jenny Canuck, finished.The 2nd Jenny ,the basketcase JN4D,I will build this coming Winter.The plan right now is to have it being stripped down to supply parts for the Canuck.Some parts will therefore be missing,in the workshop or in storage.I plan to have the major wing and tail surfaces in various states of disrepair but still recognizable as coming from a JN4D as one of my purposes in doing this diorama was to show the various differences between the 2 versions.The Canuck is a barnstormer and the JN4D ex-military.I plan to have a lot of fun weathering the old JN4D with faded colors and torn fabric.The museum plans to use this diorama for educational purposes so the more interesting I can make it the better.
While the ARC forums are down,if anyone here was following the story of the re-build of the Travel Air D4D back in the 1960s I have now continued it over on;
http://www.largescaleplanes.com
go to Forums,.then Off Topic and you will find it there.
Cheers! John.
How do I post pics here on this forum?
Cheers! John.
Well today I went back to furnishing the workshop.I have already built some shelves and benches.Now I would like to build a nice old laminated woodcarvers table,with a prop in a vice,receiving the last few coats of varnish.A friend sent me a pic of a full scale diorama depicting this,that he saw in a museum in Europe.I like the idea of a woodworkers workshop,so I will leave the engine rebuilding out on the hangar floor where most of it was usually done anyway.Most of the tools I have purchased from the local hobby store that carries doll house accessories.Although they are intended to be used as 1/12th scale,the tools that I buy can come in all sizes so that is not a problem(ie:screwdrivers,wrenches etc…)The ones that I can’t buy I will make.
I will stock the shelves with various aircraft parts that I haven’t used from other projects or that I wont be using from the 2nd Jenny.The roof of the workshop will be left off so that the workshop floor can be seen through the viewing hole in the roof.There are also windows all around for viewing both from the outside and from the interior.I think that I would rather spend my time doing this,rather than a WC that can hardly be seen at all.I plan to obscure the windows with a whitewash for privacy so you can’t see inside at all.Problem solved.
Cheers! John.
This is the workshop from inside the hangar
pic
I still cant figure out how to post pics here.So if you want to see pics go to the Scale Auto site,click on Dioramas.
Cheers! John.
An internet friend of mine sent me a great picture of a 1:1 scale museum diorama depicting a workshop where a propeller is on the workbench.I have decided that this idea would look great in my Jenny diorama.I already have an extra propeller that I made when I was experimenting with colored glues between the laminations of wood.Generally I use various species of wood to get the layered effect but in photos I have of the Jenny prop, it is all one color wood, with only a very narrow glue line.It creates a very interesting pattern on the finished prop that I want to maintain.
The workworkers workbench is a nice varnished woodcolor that has been weathered to show its age.I started by laminating some 1/4X1/4 pine strips together.Use pine that has a subtle grain patern so that it won’t be overscale.I used ordinary carpenters glue. I want a nice varnished look so I finished the sanded slab with Tung-Teak oil.Laquer will not give the same effect and oil will get a great patina over time.The workbench legs were made with the same material and nailed and glued to the tabletop slab using those black railway nails that the RR modelers used for the laying of tracks.They make nice represenations of lag bolts.
While the glue was drying ,I made up the entrance door for the rear entrance module.I generally save all the pieces of foamboard from the cutouts I make and use these as the core.I first frame in the door opening and fit in the foamboard.If the door is to be left open or partially open, I reduce the foamboard as required and glue 1mm stripes all around the outside perimeter of the door, and carefully fit the door to the opening.If the door contains a window I follow the same procedure.Then I sheath the door on both sides using narrow width stir stiks,sand,paint and weather. to be cont…
Cheers! John.
The workbench in the workshop is pretty much finished now.Ihave added a couple of wood vices at each end.I weathered it using pastels and they work very well, even over the oil finish.I also added a couple of carpenters type vices.One to hold the end of the prop in position and the other is stored under the table.
I picked up a wood lathe cast in metal from a doll house manufacturer.It is quite crude with lots of flash but with my trusty file I was able to take care of that.Once it is cleaned up and painted it should be quite convincing.The cast parts are normally sealed with a 1/3rd laquer thinner, mixed with 2/3rds laquer base.Over that I put gesso and then acrylic paint.I used the same type lathe in the Albatros diorama for making metal parts, but this time it will be a woodturners type lathe.
Next ,its on to the furnishings and decorations in the workshop.The lunch table idea has been scraped for lack of space.Maybe I can make room in the office.
Cheers! John.
Today I searched the house looking for the right size cardboard or plastic box in order to make a large toolbox for the workshop . I use a premade cardboard box as a structure to build the wood around as it is much easier this way.It is a fairly large box, that will stand on end ,with the tools hanging inside.The inside will be varnished wood and the outside painted grey and weathered.I have also selected a few other boxes as shipping crates for the hangar floor.The rest I will make.
The small toolboxes will be solid hardwood painted to look like metal.Various size wood pieces will be used to make smaller wood boxes for nails,screws etc…Fire pails filled with sand will be hung at various places in the shop and in the hangar(maybe with a few squished cigarette butts) I dont use any loose material such as sand in reality, as if there was am acciden it could be disasterous.What I do is glue a thin layer of sifted sand to thin plywood with carpenters glue, and then blow off the excess .If I want more shape in the sand I glue it to preformed foam.
Cheers! John.
For pics of this project see the Scale Auto Forum.