doctorwayne In the photo below, some of the taller trees scale-out to 125' in height - tall and gangly, just fighting for their share of sunlight....
In the photo below, some of the taller trees scale-out to 125' in height - tall and gangly, just fighting for their share of sunlight....
Wayne, I think this an excellent representation of a forest, and a great use of the canopy. IMO, the foreground trees seen in full set the tone for what my eye perceives to be the size of the trees in the canopy. They don't look like shorter trees (IIRC, your canopy isn't even trees at all, but home fiberglass insulation worked to a frenzy and painted) They look like the same height trees, but more of them.
It probably also conceals the true height of the mountain you built. Whereas the tops of the foliage of the foreground trees might be 10 inches from the ground, the fiberglass canopy could be only a couple of inches from the actual mountain floor, simply being the thickness of the insulation strip resting on the mountain.
You can adjust the perceived grade of the mountain by simply playing with the height of the canopy.
- Douglas
Thanks for your kind words, Douglas. Your perception of the background trees is pretty-much dead on, with the insulation trees done in a manner which lessens the steepness of the terrain. It's actually "rock wool" insulation, so no harmful fibres to inhale or itchy arms and hands like one often gets when handling fibreglass.
Here's that same area before the trees showed up...
...and the other side of that scene, which will likely use-up a fair amount of insulation-type trees (it's on a peninsula which affords access to a partial upper level)....
There's some more info and photos to be found HERE if anybody wants to take a look.
Wayne
Thanks Wayne! Great examples and ideas. Nice work.
Are your trees made or purchased?
I completed one 2' section of the 40' backdrop with the forest edge at the bottom. These trees are about 6" tall and will be behind some kind of separator (wall, Fence, rocks) not sure yet and the mainline is 3" from the backdrop.
Gary
gdelmoro...Are your trees made or purchased?...
Most of them are homemade, but I do have some of those "evergreens" made for Christmas displays. My wife found them in a box of junk from a garage sale. I worked them over with scissors to make them a little-less uniform, then covered them with ground foam...
They're quite close to the backdrop, and I've decided that they look more like cedars than pine or spruce trees - a good fit for their location, with Chippawa Creek nearby.
gdelmoroI completed one 2' section of the 40' backdrop with the forest edge at the bottom. These trees are about 6" tall and will be behind some kind of separator (wall, Fence, rocks) not sure yet and the mainline is 3" from the backdrop.
Wow! That's a very well-done backdrop, with a lot of depth!! A fence would set it off nicely...perhaps just a farm-type wire fence, but my first thought while looking at the scene was of a dry stone wall.
Gary!
You are an excellent artist! The backdrop is enviable.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Thanks for all the nice comments.
I guess thats what makes this forum so good, there are many Model railroaders with many different talents.
I have availed myself of several who have helped me a lot.
Currently there are some helping me to build a curved Truss deck bridge and when I finally get some track layed I look forward to the assistance of another to re-power and DCC a 1990's Riverossi 4-6-6-4.
Happy Model Railroading