I have a city scene where a street runs directly into my backdrop and am wondering how to create (or purchase) a view that appears as though I am looking down a city street with buildings on each side of the street.
Your first option might be "Google Earth Street View" particularly if your are modelling a particular scene or city that is recognisable.
A second option is to use photographic techniques.
I have used both options on my layout.
About half way down on the page in this link
https://kaleyyard.wordpress.com/34-waterside-shopping-mall/
should take you to an explanation about using photographic techniques to achieve what you want.
Trevor
markie97I have a city scene where a street runs directly into my backdrop and am wondering how to create (or purchase) a view that appears as though I am looking down a city street with buildings on each side of the street.
You are going to have a problem... your view will only look good from one viewing angle.
I have visited several layout with streets going into backdrops, and even done it myself.
I have decided against this on my last layout. I will have a line of shallow buildings along the backdrop of my city scene.
My advice would be to mock it up first and see how you like it. If the effect is to your liking, Trevor's sugestions are very good.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Hi markie97,
I'm going to offer my opinion even though I haven't done what you are asking so please feel free to ignore my suggestions.
I have seen many examples of roads continuing onto (into?) a backdrop. Some are really effective and some are not. I think that one of the biggest differences between getting a convincing result vs a not so realistic result is the colour of the road. I think it looks much better when the actual modelled road and the backdrop continuation are exactly the same colour. If the colours are the same then the joint between the actual road and the backdrop road is relatively difficult to see. If the colours are noticably different then the joint becomes obvious.
That suggests to me that if you are going to use a photographic backdrop you might want to create the backdrop first and then match the actual road colours to the backdrop. (If you are painting the backdrop that will be easy. Just use the same paint.) If you are using a photographic backdrop then you will have to do some experimenting to get the right mix for the roads. I would suggest keeping close track of your mix recipe so you can duplicate it when needed. Maybe someone can suggest how to approach making a formula for worn pavement.
As far as Kevin's point about the effect only working when you are staring straight at the backdrop, one answer is to use taller buildings on either side of the actual road to limit the angle from which the backdrop road can be seen. I don't know if that fits your plan or not.
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I saw a club layout once that used a pair of small mirrors angled into the center of the street, reflecting the adjacent urban buildings. The effect was to make the reflections look like they came from further down the street. I think they had an elevated bridge above the intersection, which put the scene in some shadow and made it more effective.
I walked out in the street in front of my house and took a picture, which made a good background in a corner, but it was a tree-lined scene and the viewing angle didn't change the scene much.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
The way I try to do it is first find the scene you want. That takes time by searching thrugh pictures in magazines, internet etc. I model the center of old Leeds, therefore I searched through photographs of old Leeds. The older the better. Anything built after 1955 was discarded. Here are my efforts. They are not perfect by any means but they will do for now,
Where the layout board meets the backscene a vehicle is placed, A city scene has plenty of traffic.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
NorthBritThey are not perfect by any means but they will do for now,
I'll say they will do! They look great! I can't see exactly where the layout meets the back scene.
markie97, a guy here in town suggested a little trick that might help, depending on the layout height.
If you have room, have the road on the layout rise a bit an inch or two in front of the backdrop, then drop back down so that it intersects with the backdrop a little lower, so that you don't see the road intersect the backdrop when you're looking down the street. The road disappears over the crest, then reappears in the backdrop.
This may help when sighting down the road, but if you viewing height is much above the road, it won't really help.
David (NorthBrit), excellent town scene! Why don't you start a thread and share more of your layout with us?
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
A friend gave me a couple of printed-on-paper structures done from photos of real buildings. I mounted them on .060" sheet styrene, then stuck them at the end of a couple of streets which dead-ended at one wall of the layout room, "suggesting" that there was a cross street at the end of the modelled city block...
I think that they look decent-enough at the proper viewing angle, but not so convincing if you simply walked into the room to look around...
I thought these scenes to be fairly convincing...
...but this view pretty-well reveals the ruse...
Now, with the partial second level in place, the view, shown in the last photo above, is no longer possible...
On the partial upper level, I have some streets which dead-end at the tracks, and also dead-end at the wall. I built the faux overpasses as part of a plan to use photos or a painted street scene of commercial buildings receding in the distance, but it would also be one of those "looks right at one viewing angle", but "not so right from another"....
I'll eventually figure out something suitable.
Wayne
Dave. Many thanks for your comments. They are most appreciated.
Mark. I am not as good as a lot of guys on here, but I'll do a short thread.
Wayne. Fantastic modeling. Well done.
As others have mentioned, the joint between the horizontal benchwork and the verticle backdrop tends to be revealing. And its easiest to pull it off for one viewing angle, but not many different angles.
Hiding that intersection is probably best.
I like Pruitt's suggestion of concealing the joint with elevation. Wayne used a bridge. You can also use two vehicles.
Or all three tricks at once.
In addition to Wayne's work, I've been impressed with Tom Johnson INRAIL's work. Excellent backdrop transition, which is important because his shelves are only about 9 inches deep. He probably photoed the most advantageous angle, but still great work. And the photos here are probably a bit misleading, since they look digitalized:
- Douglas
Doughless...I've been impressed with Tom Johnson INRAIL's work. Excellent backdrop transition, which is important because his shelves are only about 9 inches deep. He probably photoed the most advantageous angle, but still great work....
I'm impressed, too...those are very convincing scenes, Douglas. Matching the road colours on the backdrop portion to those on the modelled portion really makes those scenes very effective.
doctorwayne Doughless ...I've been impressed with Tom Johnson INRAIL's work. Excellent backdrop transition, which is important because his shelves are only about 9 inches deep. He probably photoed the most advantageous angle, but still great work.... I'm impressed, too...those are very convincing scenes, Douglas. Matching the road colours on the backdrop portion to those on the modelled portion really makes those scenes very effective. Wayne
Doughless ...I've been impressed with Tom Johnson INRAIL's work. Excellent backdrop transition, which is important because his shelves are only about 9 inches deep. He probably photoed the most advantageous angle, but still great work....
Rich
Alton Junction
Those scenes are absolutely amazing! I'm glad that I won't have a backdrop on my free standing model railway. That saves me from having to match the artistic skills shown in the post!