Amelia Earhart Lockheed Vega Diorama 1/72

[Coreyeagle48]

Greetings Everyone:

For my latest diorama, I decided to go smaller than 1/18, actually way smaller than 1/18. This is a 1/72 scale Amelia Earhart diorama.



This diorama measures 10" by 13". It is built into a picture frame that has the glass removed. The base is foamboard with that model railroad grass mat stuff on the top. I then added model railroad shrubs and trees as I felt appropriate and to make things look nice but not over the top.



The centerpiece of the diorama is the Amelia's Lockheed 5B Vega. This aircraft is the one Amelia used to fly across the Atlantic in 1932. The model is the aircraft that was released as part of the Hallmark Legend's In Flight series many years ago. I made some minor modifications to the Vega. I figured out how to get the canopy off an added a Hobbymaster 1/72 scale pilot with a brown painted flight suit into the cockpit. This figure had to be cut a lot to make it fit. I also painted the engine detail of the Vega a bit to give it some realism as the original piece is just black plastic. Other touchups include painting the wing navigation lights the correct color and adding some detail to the exhaust pipes and propeller.



The crowd is a group of very difficult to find Preiser 1/72 figures. I used a couple of different sets, picking the figures that would look most realistic for the scene and painting some details on some (such as the waving cloths) to make them different from each other.



Another view of this small diorama.

[bobb428]

Looks pretty cool!

[tmanthegreat]

Fantastic work Corey I really like the way you did the audience waiting to greet Amelia - or send her off. Nice touch!

[granch]

Corey, it's a wonderfull little diorama! I think you deserve to also figure yourself in this scenary: the man who's missing is a photographer who catched the view you give us today in 3d.

[flayrah]

Very nice. I like the crowd waving. Hope they get out of the way before she takes off.

[normandy]

Nice diorama, the ground work and trees look just right for 1:72 scale. The plane is a Hallmark as in
Christmas ornament ? Very cool.

[Coreyeagle48]

Thanks all!

Normandy,

The plane is actually from a series of models Hallmark made. They were called the "Legends In Flight" series. The line consisted of historic aircraft and ran from 1999 to 2001. The aircraft were between 1/72 scale and 1/48 scale...there was also an F-14 in the 1/100-1/200 scale. This was a "fit in the box" series so the models were made as large as possible but needed to fit in the same box across the line. There were some great models in the series like the Vega, a Spirit of St Louis and Gee Bee. The detail was about on par for the time period but some of the models were more toyish and plain looking than others. The series never sold that well and was stopped in 2001. It had been planned to make many other models but Hallmark gave up on it and just stuck with the ornaments

Corey