ocean diorama

i need to know how to model adowned aircraft in the ocean

More details about the position of the a/c and what kind of seas would help in giving you a better answer.

This book, if I recall correctly (I can look it up for sure later as its somewhere in the basement), has a downed TBD Devastator diorama and I think the author, Shepard Paine, put the a/c on the base, and then covered the area that would be water with crushed up and then spread out aluminum foil to make small waves, and then he slowly layered the base with something and built it up to the desired height.

Sorry for lack of details…hope this helps some,

David

That’s right WW2- it was Paine, here’s a shot from his book How to Build Dioramas

I really recommend buying the book.

Alright, thanks for the visual. I knew it was in there somewhere, I just was too lazy to go look for the book lol.

David

lol not a problem, it was sitting right next to me at the bench [tup]

That Shep Paine book is really good!

JIM

That Shep Paine book is really good!

Jim

Another option…a guy I know from upstate New York did the following.

He aquired/built a plexiglass box about 10 inches high. He “channelled” the airplane 1/8 inch, i.e., he cut out a 1/8 inch strip all around the plane. He then took a piece of 1/8 inch thick semi clear textured plexiglass sheet that fit the interior dimension of the box and carefully glued the two sections of the plane to this. You could now see the palne from above the water line as well as into the water below it where a shark was cruising.

Was that the one with the overturned pre-May '42 Kingfisher floating over the shark in the 2003 FSM Annual issue?

Probably. I’d have to dig through the mags to find that.

Theres also this article from Verlinden’s “Modelling, Painting, Weathering WWII Aircraft”. The water meterial here is similar to Celluclay, called Sculptamold. Great book also…

This’s my Kingfisher WIP…

I poured plaster into a mold-box about 3/4’s of an inch thick and covered it with crumpled aluminum foil to form the wave-peaks. Then I carved out the Kingfisher’s float locations and set it into place, giving it a little more room than I needed, “wiggle-room” as it were. Then poured some more plaster to tighten it up. Once that was done, I removed the plane and painted the water with tempera paints, using blue, green, and purple, with stabbing/stippling applications of white…

Once I was happy with the color, I then started to appy layers of “Mod Podge”, a high-gloss medium that looks like white glue when you apply it, then dries really clear and shiny to give a wet-look…