Brian Keene Sam Chui Interview.


Brian's work is nothing short of stunning! His dioramas are truly impressive. If I remember well, his TWA terminal diorama is now displayed in the TWA hotel in JFK.

Here in Brazil, there are three very cool dioramas of both São Paulo airports (Congonhas and Guarulhos) and Rio de Janeiro (Galeão) which are based in the headquarters of Flap magazine, a Brazilian aviation magazine. These are also made in 1:400 and are very cool. See the videos:

São Paulo - Guarulhos (GRU)

São Paulo - Congonhas (CGH)

Rio de Janeiro - Galeão (GIG)

all three dioramas have the same mastermind behind the work: Mr. Guilherme Loffredo, a truly skilled guy!
 
Brian's work is nothing short of stunning! His dioramas are truly impressive. If I remember well, his TWA terminal diorama is now displayed in the TWA hotel in JFK.

Here in Brazil, there are three very cool dioramas of both São Paulo airports (Congonhas and Guarulhos) and Rio de Janeiro (Galeão) which are based in the headquarters of Flap magazine, a Brazilian aviation magazine. These are also made in 1:400 and are very cool. See the videos:

São Paulo - Guarulhos (GRU)

São Paulo - Congonhas (CGH)

Rio de Janeiro - Galeão (GIG)

all three dioramas have the same mastermind behind the work: Mr. Guilherme Loffredo, a truly skilled guy!
Blue lights on the runway? HUH???? Those should be white. Blue is for taxiways.
 
Indeed... these dioramas have a few other errors aswell, including some mix of eras. This bother me a lot but I decided not to comment about it because these model airports are still very impressive!

that and the spacing between certain aircraft just simply isn’t realistic in certain areas. The scale and size of these things is still incredible to behold though. Very jealous! I’d love to see chicago ORD, MIA, DFW, or other massive projects in the future.
 
Indeed... these dioramas have a few other errors aswell, including some mix of eras. This bother me a lot but I decided not to comment about it because these model airports are still very impressive!
The IND diorama that @Purpleplane and I are working on is intended to accommodate a range of eras from the 70s through 2008. The building and ground layout are circa 1993.
 
Indeed... these dioramas have a few other errors aswell, including some mix of eras. This bother me a lot but I decided not to comment about it because these model airports are still very impressive!
The LAX and BOM do this mainly; the JFK and LHR dioramas look more true-to-theme. I wish Sam Chui had asked about this in the interview. Maybe it was a deliberate stylistic choice? It’s an interesting fantasy to see classic 747s and DC-10s parked up against modern Dreamliners, but I wish it had been addressed.

The other thing I felt is that, while the LAX and BOM dioramas were technically impressive in their scale and detail, they lack the handmade charm that the JFK and LHR models have. It felt like a lot more love was put into those earlier dioramas than later ones (especially the JFK given Brian’s personal connection to it), but maybe that’s just me.
 
the JFK and LHR dioramas look more true-to-theme.

There are a few anachronisms though. The JFK diorama is supposed to be a 1970s era, but we can see a Varig 747 (first ones were delivered in 1981) and even an Emery DC-8 (late 80s/early 90s bird).

Right at the beginning of the video, at 0:04, there are TWA 747s in the early 1970s scheme next to British Airways 747s in Landor scheme, which was unveiled in 1984 as far as I know. One of the Landor 747s even seem to be a fantasy 747-8! Anyways... 😝
 
There are a few anachronisms though. The JFK diorama is supposed to be a 1970s era, but we can see a Varig 747 (first ones were delivered in 1981) and even an Emery DC-8 (late 80s/early 90s bird).

Right at the beginning of the video, at 0:04, there are TWA 747s in the early 1970s scheme next to British Airways 747s in Landor scheme, which was unveiled in 1984 as far as I know. One of the Landor 747s even seem to be a fantasy 747-8! Anyways... 😝
I didn’t notice the 747-8 (must be the JC Wings version)! I’ll have to take a closer look.

Meanwhile, I don’t think the other things you pointed out really hurt the diorama - the theme is “late ‘70s, early ‘80s,” which is a pretty tight interval. I think there’s enough continuity among the pieces that they don’t look out of place together, even if they might be slightly anachronistic (we’re talking no more than a few years here). Compare that to LAX, where you see Pan Am 747s in the old stripe livery parked up alongside A380s - that’s a gap of 30-40 years!
 
There are a few anachronisms though. The JFK diorama is supposed to be a 1970s era, but we can see a Varig 747 (first ones were delivered in 1981) and even an Emery DC-8 (late 80s/early 90s bird).

Right at the beginning of the video, at 0:04, there are TWA 747s in the early 1970s scheme next to British Airways 747s in Landor scheme, which was unveiled in 1984 as far as I know. One of the Landor 747s even seem to be a fantasy 747-8! Anyways... 😝

I really really want someone someday (hopefully me!) creates a diorama at that large scale down to fully accurate sized and shaped ground markings with accurate aircraft depicting a certain time of day or certain specific year (you could use old time tables for older eras there). These dioramas where your kinda blending a few years always do end up great in the end but for me I enjoy the little details lol
 
One of the Landor 747s even seem to be a fantasy 747-8! Anyways... 😝
Yup, I saw the JC Fantasy 747-8. There were also a couple of Landor 747-400s and a 747-200 (with “World’s Bigger Offer” titles from the 1990s) in that frame, all Phoenix. I have to say, the Phoenix 747 mould doesn’t look as bad in a diorama.
 
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