A modeling bud wrote:

John: The reason that the fabric burned so fast was that it was finished with a celulosenitrate dope that flashed off very quickly. I know from personal experience just how quickly these old finishes are consumed when the Tiger Moth that I was flying caught fire after an accident.

The wood structures were finished with a varnish that contained a high percentage of lindseed oil used to help preserve the wood.

I've been following your build and enjoying every bit of it. Keep[ up the good work

Barney

Dirt is dirt,right? Wrong!
It is amazing just how many varieties of dirt that I have found just in my backyard.Different textures ,colors etc... I have found that fine crushed gravel that has mixed with topsoil about some of the best for 1/16th scale work.This happened naturally in my case as the crushed gravel has been there awhile and naturally mixed with the dirt.You could use fresh fine crushed gravel sifted through an ordinary metal household sieve and then mixed with a sandy soil to achieve about the same thing.The idea is to get a natural looking rock-soil mix that you would find in nature in 1/16th scale.For other scales you would need to use a finer sieve or a courser type sand to simulate small stones an pebbles.
I have collected a few different varieties of soil and two types of sand both sieved and non sieved.
I heat it up in my microwave to kill any lingering critters (while my wife is out of course)about 12 mins on high should do.I tried the BBQ a few times but it tends to blacken it too much.You will just have to experiment with the soil and sand in your area.Also keep in mind the environment that you are trying to represent,desert,tropical etc....

Here's what I mean!
I didn't make up a large enough batch in the beginning so I obtained two samples from slightly different areas of my backyard.As you can see one is slightly courser than the other and they are different colors.This is of no real concern to me as a bit of blending and all the turf to follow will easily cover this.

Diorama Book
Here is a great opportunity to download for free a great book on diorama making.My modeling bud Ken Hamilton wrote this book years ago and it is now out of print.The original book has recently sold on ebay for 100's of bucks.

http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/mercman51/DIO%20Book/

Enjoy! Cheers John.

Great fun ahead!
I am really looking forward to doing my version of this wrecked Albatros trainer .I plan to do mine with more structure showing where the fabric has flashed off in a fire following the crash.
This is a great chance to get real creative! Weathering to the extreme.I will start by building a sled upon which the wreck will rest ( which will also make a convenient stand for building purposes.)
The whole concept here is completely different ,as I will not have to be too concerned with as many highly detailed parts and pieces ,as a lot of this will be in pretty bad shape following the accident Example:the engine.I will be concentrating more upon the overall effect than small detail.Paneling the fuselage using real plywood and then breaking it should be fun .Over-stressing the skin of the tail planes,realistic looking fire damage etc...should keep me out of trouble for awhile.This is the wonderful thing about dioramas,the chance to be creative and learn something new never stops.

This is a shady area of my backyard and is kind of the look I am trying to create,especially the area in the lower R/H of the pic.The dirt is on the wet side and a little muddy.The grass is sparse and well trodden as I imagine a WW1 airfield may have been.

Research pictures needed.
After thinking about it for awhile,I plan to build the fuselage and wings pretty much like I built the others.Because the fuselage is split in two the only thing holding the two halves together are the control wires.Therefore the fuselage will be built initially in one piece,broken and then bend.How much of the plywood covering forward of the cockpit area that I will do will depend on the amount of fire damage that will be shown.The fire would have to be large enough to flash burn the fabric off the wings but not large enough to consume the complete engine area.If the accident occurred at the airfield there would have been an attempt to rescue the pilot ,which would necessitate the use of some type of fire fighting equipment or other to subdue the flames during the rescue .By the look of the wreckage he was killed by blunt force trauma or G forces and not by fire.
The wings will be built as usual with damage added later.
The aft half of the fuselage will require that a lot of the plywood covering be shown .The tails planes would mostly be stress damage.
If anyone has knowledge of any pictures of wood and fabric airplanes ,old or new ,that have suffered this kind of damage ,please advise.
__________________
It has been said that the difference between a "pilot" and an "aviator" is that a pilot is a technician,and an aviator is an artist in love with flight.

Now how the hell did he manage to screw that up Harley?
I really don't know.
Must of mixed the BBQ'd soil with the microwaved or something stupid like that!

Oh well ,I will just have to treat it like a chance to get creative.Can't say that I liked it all one color anyway.Rather than drive myself crazy trying to darken one or lighten the other,I think what I will do is create a whole new texture using fine sand to blend one into the other.Should work.(I hope)

Blending turf.
I dusted some very fine sand on and then came back with the different textures and shades of turf.I kind of like the results but I will make the decision later if I want to extend it or leave the rest as is.

Another pic

This gives you guys an idea how I plan to do the landscaping surrounding the Albatros hangar.
The bottom of the pic is the closest to the edge and the top closest to the hangar.I figure the closer you get to the hangar the most wear and tear there will be on the turf.It will all be pretty close cropped except at the hangar's foundation area where there will be some taller vegetation.Every stone is selected for size and glued down in a random pattern (which is a lot harder than it sounds )to get it just right.

Here I am working on the final placement of the "T" and the WW1 pilots on their landscaping module.I kind of like this arrangement as it allows some space for the viewer to be included.I also like the idea of the back of the leg of the Patton figure just touching the Fords tire.Why? I really don't know.I just think it looks cool.

Foundation underbrush.
I took a piece of wood wrapped it in waxpaper and used it as a simulated hangar foundation.I had originally built up a small mound a sand all around the hangar perimeter which left a nice little depression which I can now fill with vegetation.
There would naturally be more vegetation around the foundation as it is not as subject to wear and tear.
I used different colors of what they call "underbrush" and then played around with adding turf here and there until it looked more natural.In the pic the glue mix (25/75 )has just been applied so it still looks a little whitish but by this morning it is completely transparent.
The jar of underbrush on the right has had a little yellow ochre sprayed on it using the sieve/airbrush method.

Take a look over on:
http://www.scalemotorcars.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=69

for a couple of Camels and a Jenny build.