Here is one effort by LION Which worked out rather nicely.
A follow up attempt at Prospect Park did not turn out so well, It can be redone. It would be nice just to add real fire escapes.
Or this one in Brooklyn...
And here is one at Canal Street. More of a backdrop than a structure, but it does its job well enough.
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The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
I have quite a few background flats of varying depth, although the scenes where they're located are mostly not complete. Look at the structures and ignore the unfinished scenery and backdrops. These illustrate a variety of situations, so I hope they're of some help.
The grain elevator at left is a few inches deep, while the structures at right are 1.5" - 2". The benchwork here is 53" high, so most viewers don't get much of a view from above.
This one is maybe 4" deep including the dock. It and its neighbor to the left can basically be seen only from this side and viewers can't get a good look from the end to see their depth. These were built somewhat shallower than the available space to leave room for loading docks.
These are also about 4" deep. Note that the spur runs into the structure from the end instead of being parallel to the backdrop.
This complex is at an angle to the backdrop. It narrows to only about 1/2", but the narrowest part also has full-depth structures between it and the viewing aisle. A visitor would have to get on a stool to see this view from above.
The closer spur track at this location is about 6" from the backdrop. The structures vary in depth and only a portion of one building reaches all the way to the track.
Rob Spangler
If you drive down the alley behind a row of buildings adjacent to the tracks, you will quickly see that the backs of the buildings do NOT "line up",t even if all the buildings are customers of the railroad and either ship or receive merchandise via rail car, Some may have enough room for a forklift and labor crew to off load the freight car. Others may have a dual purpose dock for rail and truck. Others may have overhead surge bins for bulk commodity loading, etc.
That means that the sky is the limit on how deep the building should be.
Now, if you want to allow room to reach into the scene to rerail or throw switches or couple/uncouple a car...well, mock it up and see what works for you. Scale is not the deciding factor...the fingers, the available space or method of rerailing, etc...all determine the necessary space to "GHA" rolling stock.
I will point out that IF you have control of the building width, and if some need to be more shallow...try this.
Try to put the "deeper profile" structures on the ends of the row of structures...that way, if you do have to put a building flat that is only 1/4 inch thick into the row of building "backs"...the viewer is less likely to notice because the buildings ebb and flow in depth. IF you have room to move the 1/4 inch flat to the same depth as a 3 inch deep "shallow relief" building, simply put a roof over the empty space. Use poster board or a piece of other stiff material such as styrene or Gator board or even real roof shingle or sand paper...as long as the viewer cannot see the "sides" or "front" then put the back where you want and put a roof over any that need visual support.
ctyclsscs Streets that hit a backdrop at 90 degrees aren't always the most convincing looking.
Streets that hit a backdrop at 90 degrees aren't always the most convincing looking.
A great place to add a small mirror. See this whole "Background" thread.
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
DoughlessWell...I think a backdrop building needs to have some real 3 dimensional stature to look right, more so than just a printed picture or something 2D. In HO scale, I would say a backdrop building should turn the corner at least an inch, but would prefer about three.
Actually the "realistic" depth of a backdrop building has a lot to do with the railroads height relative to the viewer. If the layout is high enough that you can't see all of the building roof, then the structure can be made a lot thinner and still look realistic.
This is an under-construction photo of a background building I made from DPM modules:
This later picture is poorly lit, but it's a better image of how the building fits against the wall.
This is in HO scale. I made the front of the building 2 DPM sections wide, and angled it back sharply into the wall. This let me spot a couple of cars in the covered loading dock area using an angled sidiing. I think the angled building is more interesting, and it let me add some interior detailing and illumination to the edge.
Jim mentioned roads going into the background. A couple of years back, there was an article in MR about blending a background photo with a layout road. I took a picture of the street outside my house, scaled it and printed it. Then, I repeated the process because I took the picture from eye level, and I found it works better if you shoot it from somewhere more like knee height. Anyway, this was the final result:
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Another thing to consider is if you want to have streets running into your backdrop between the buildings. Streets that hit a backdrop at 90 degrees aren't always the most convincing looking. Having them hit at an angle often provides a better way to hide the end of the street. But that requires angling your buildings a little which deepens their depth. On the good side, it you can angle your buildings a little, you avoid a short sidewall that hits the backdrop at 90 degrees which oftentimes cast unrealistic shadows in photos.
If you have room to play around a little with some mock-ups, you'll be able to get a better sense of how it will look. A really good backdrp scene is partly optical illusion, which is something that can't be obtained by just picking one standard sidewall depth (like 2") and making everything to fit that dimension.
Jim
Well...I think a backdrop building needs to have some real 3 dimensional stature to look right, more so than just a printed picture or something 2D. In HO scale, I would say a backdrop building should turn the corner at least an inch, but would prefer about three.
For some reason I have yet to understand, I think modern structures, like the Pikestuff corrugated siding buildings, can be made thinner than older brick structures, like DPM kits, and still look good. Maybe the uniformity of the corrugated siding needs less of a 3rd dimension to pull off the visual effect than does slicing off brick detail in the middle of a pattern, if that makes sense.
- Douglas
The depth of the buildings depends on the effect that you want. Many "deep" backdrop scenes use building flats that are each 1/4" thick or less. Many of these are printed out photos, flats designed using a program such as Evan Designs Model Builder, or a single side of a plastic kit. Printed flats are usually attached to a rigid material such as styrene or Gatorfoam to add depth and durability. Printed flats can also be glued directly to the backdrop, but you loose a greater sense of depth.
Flats are usually layered with forced perspective to make the scene seem deeper. Buildings on the front edge of the "city" should be deeper to provide a transition to the rest of the layout. The rail served industries should probably be about 2 inches deep, with the buildings behind them under 1 inch deep, followed by flats.
The most important part is to mock up the scene before you build it. A mock-up will give you a sense of how the finished scene will look, and you will be able to adjust the depth of the buildings to what you like (and can fit) before you build the actual structures.
S&S
Modeling the Pennsy and loving it!
WWtrainbut I am trying to figure out how far the spur track should be away from the wall. Thanks!
How big are your fingers? Hold a box car and try to put it back on the tracks. How much space do you need for your curled up fingers? Add to that the depth of your buildings.
LION figures a minimum of 3 inches, more if there will be a second row of buildings behind the trackside buildings. You can model the platform and maybe some outside plumbing or a fire escape on the flat to give it some more dimension.
If you model a platform, you will not be able to re-rail a car, but you will be able to lift it out and carry it away. If the platform is part of the picture and not a physical 3D, you will still want an inch or more from the building to give the illusion of platform depth when the car is spotted.
Some buildings have no platforms, but the train is right against the building wall and doors open aligned with the box car openings. For that era this is ok, for the modern era, this would probably not be done any more, as box cars come in all shapes and sizes, and most goods would arrive in a container, which would arrive on a truck elsewhere on the property.
ROAR
On a portion of my railroad I have planned to create a city effect with some backdrop buildings along the wall, with one or two of them being rail serviced. What is a good width for backdrop buildings? I don't have any particular structures picked out yet, but I am trying to figure out how far the spur track should be away from the wall. Thanks!
Edit: Forgot to mention that this is n scale.
Modeling the Maine Central in N scale.