Build a backscene

Paul Bambrick takes an in-depth look at backscenes and shows you how to add authenticity and the illusion of perspective to give your layout the perfect setting.

Paul Bambrick takes an in-depth look at backscenes and shows you how to add the illusion of perspective.

Backscenes for urban and industrial layouts very often feature a single row of low-relief building façades. They do a great job but sometimes, if the baseboards are quite low or you view the layout from a high vantage point, you ought to be able to see more rooftops beyond the backscene buildings. This follows the rough principle where the higher up your vantage point is, the further you can see. The answer to this can always be found by studying a building’s relationship to the horizon, and this relationship is easy to check. Use white card to create a backscene all around your layout, to the maximum possible height. Cut holes for trains to enter and leave the scene and include curved ends, rather than hard corners. Once you’re satisfied with the path of the rear panel around and behind the layout, temporarily fix it in position (it will be replaced with wood at a later stage). Use the height of your layout to judge the optimum horizon line. Pencil a level horizon in, as though your landscape were a completely flat desert. If your first row of buildings conceals the horizon line (in the case of a relatively low viewpoint), no distance beyond can be observed. You can then direct your attention to making the backscene buildings and sky as good as possible. If your horizon datum line does occur above the rooftops of the nearest buildings, the roofline of a town scene stretching into the distance will come into view. This sounds as though it’s going to be complicated. In fact it’s quite easy to create a 3D townscape, as long as you give yourself some landscaping space to work in. You need the space for a series of focal layers made out of collaged and overlaid prints. It’s a quick and straightforward job to undertake and it avoids that unrealistic ‘edge of the world’ look.

KEVIN WILSON This layered village is part of Bucks Hill’s 3D backscene, which graduates from relief to 2D image, so it’s a model at the front, and an image at the back. It only occupies a few inches of actual depth, but something like this might help add some...

Higher horizon: This sketch shows an urban setting from a higher elevation. The foreground descends accordingly, and the datum appears to move up in relation, rising above nearby buildings. An overview to distance now appears, and a detailed townscape...

Low horizon: this elevation might well be concealed behind a row of buildings, as in this sketch. The skyline will be broken by the nearest buildings, thus obscuring any view to the far distance. A certain amount of layering can be seen here, but only...