Good morning all....I'm trying to get some help/idea's for the background of a section of my layout. Here is my delemma....I only have about 1" of space between track roadbed and adjacent wall...this is a moutain area and although i can place small rock close to track..no room for big outcropings etc...if anyone can point me in direction for reference articles etc....would love to hear or see them. I know that there are commercial background pics/wallpaper...if anyone has used them would like cretique....if painting is only recourse...i'm not an artist and do not want to mess this up as it will be very viewable...anyway..thanks for any and all comments and help........Tom
Maybe get a piece of half-inch thick extruded foam (the pink or blue stuff) and carve a rock face into it? I assume the inch clearance is on a straight section - no curves.
How big an area is this? I mean, is it 10" long, or 7 feet? Also, what height is your layout at? A solution for a high-level (e.g. chest/shoulder height) and a lower level (e.g. waist) might be very different.
Background/backdrop is probably a good idea, but the key will be to create a visual break, camouflaging the 'joint' between that 1" wide space and the wall. You need something 'in between' so that the horizon of the backdrop appears to go down 'behind' something.
If you're at a higher level, a very thin building (nearly 2-D) might work well, as long as it ends up high enough you're not looking down at the roof - and would still have a visible "seam" between reality and backdrop. The latest MR has an article about just that kind of building.
If lower level, it's tricker. My best suggestion is to get a retaining wall as mentioned above, then try to plant some trees along the top -- they might even need to be "half round" trees to fit, but that would certainly create a nice illusion of continuity.