Stunning shots Paul.  Well thought out and very prototypical - they could be real.   :thumbs

Thanks a lot Peter. I wish I had a micro camera to get into the backboard and shoot facing out.

Hi again all.
Some example shots of the scenery forming bunched tree, undergrowth and scrub foliage using WWS dark green lichen and given variation using different mixes of WoodlandScenics Green Blend, Earth Blend and Course Turf (Dark Green).

Sorry some of the compositions are not in complete focus but the iPhone lens focal point was on the main foliage.  

Superb groundworks Paul.   :thumbs  Love the way it's all blended in with the shrubs and trees.  

Where did the bacscene come from - the house fits perfectly.

Thanks again for the feedback and encouragement Peter. Regarding the house fitting perfectly, did you mean the one in the road bridge photo or the one in the small river photo?
Paul

The one in the small river photo Paul.

Looking at it again, it could be that it's part of the layout and not the backscene …….. ( the house I mean)  :roll:

Ah-ha. Correct, that is part of the layout and one of the buildings I constructed - still some work needed on that but getting there. There are some well positioned (and planned) farm outbuildings on the backscene as you can see so that helps add realism to the scene. The backscene is ID BackScenes ‘Into the Town’ pack B … think this is mentioned further back in this thread. I plan to add some painted mud tractor tracks onto the backscene leading from the open gate - I already did that on another part of the layout to good effect.
Paul 

Fantastic scenics Paul, possible puzzle pics there.

Many thanks Alan. Still some work to do but close to getting there now.Paul

Excellent work merging the layout with the back scene Paul. I am a great admirer of the ID back scenes, just wish they had been around when I started Granby…..so much better than the Townscene that I used. Your blending with the layout is some of the best I have seen

Best wishes

I'm humbled with your comments John, very kind of you. In a lot of the layout the blending works really well - probably because I placed most areas of foliage loosely first and moved it around until it looked natural and pleasing to my eye. It also helps that naturally your eyes see closer objects clearer and more vibrantly … and the distance objects are less focused and colours are normally more faded with blue hues - hence the backscene 'hopefully' has depth of field but always tricky to get the mix right with flat 2 dimension backgrounds. 
By the same token some things did not blend so well and I need to revisit over the coming weeks.

Lets take the image below (posted previously) as examples of what I mean.

Works well - trees and shrub foliage varied, irregular in size and colour and even though the field behind in the backscene is mostly obscured, there is enough still showing to inform the viewer there is a big open field right behind. I also added some brown, muddy tractor tracks swinging round the the left directly onto the backscene on the other side of the gate - simply done but once again tricks the eye that the background is completely part of the foreground.    

Needs attention - the large foreground tree is too high and needs reducing. It is also too close to the backscene because it leaves a distinct shadow on the backscene which does not look right. I need to move this forward so any shadow will be negligible or at worse, just a soft shadow. 



I also plan to stick very small touches of the foliage directly onto some specific areas of the backscene, with a view to bringing parts 'forward' as the eye sees it - its just trickier really but does work if handled right - fingers crossed. 
Ah, I just remembered - there are some nicely placed telegraph poles elsewhere in the backscene where one comes close to the foreground and is larger in size - for this I will stick an actual N gauge scale telegraph pole (coloured and weathered appropriately) directly onto the backscene, blended into the foliage.   
   
I believe I am also lucky to have quite an "artist's eye" for shape, form, tone and foreground/background transition having spent many years drawing and watercolour painting (studio and on location stuff) which I naturally apply to model railway scenery in this case. Then again, that could be a hinderance too as it makes me too fastidious and fussy to get things right  :roll:

Paul  

Good evening .. and Happy New Year to you all. 

Just a quick post on some incidental aspects of a layout model which cannot be underestimated in terms of eventual realism - the unexpected details.


First image - a selection of ground signals that would have be positioned (mainly) to guard against uncontrolled siding goods traffic joining the main branch through line. Its pretty hard to find quality old GER/LNER style ground signals so I made these all from scratch as best I could. Given that they are tiny and unlikely to be scruntinised too deeply I hope they should more than suffice once in place.

Second image - a selection of trackside and goods yard debris cast aside and subject to the weather elements. Most are hand made ie. wooden planks, oil drums, soil pipework, wooden boxes, old level crossing gate, various grain sacks … but a few are cast offs from off the shelf items ie. railway sleepers, few rusting rails, broken fencing and gates, dustbins.

Once all these, along with some other items not shown, are fully in place I hope the layout will really feel 'alive yet past its best' in terms of realism.


Thanks for reading and keep safe.
Paul   

Looking very good Paul…. 
I overcame the “tree too close to the backscene” shadow effect by blending the tree into the backscene.

A light spray of hairspray onto the backscene behind the tree and then gently blow the appropriate foliage scatter onto the sprayed area. More spray and scatter as required.

A couple of examples…

https://yourmodelrailway.net/view_topic.php?id=362&forum_id=21&page=45
Post 890

https://yourmodelrailway.net/view_topic.php?id=362&forum_id=21&page=46
Post 819

Hope that is of some use to you.

Keep it coming…

Thanks Marty … thats a really good tip and your examples show just what can be achieved in terms of backscene tree shadows. I'll look to see where I can utilise the same effect.
Paul

Hi everyone.As you can see from the dates of the last posting from me on this thread, its been a while - actually just over a year!
Long story short - few medical issues (nothing serious), new 2nd grandson, further training of our rescue dog and busy writing various articles for various good people on my layout construction …. which didn't leave too much time to finally get my layout complete.
Well, it is finally 'nearly' complete but looking pretty much as best as its going to, other than some minor tickling here and there. I just have some final tasks to do - checking the levels of my new homemade trestles, creating a lighting rig and ordering some heavy duty cardboard 'removals wardrobe' boxes to customise for storage of each 4ft section - all these activities are part of the planning in readiness to actually start exhibiting the layout at shows … if anybody wants it that is!!   
Oh .. and I might find time to add a small hidden fiddle yard at one end of the layout, as a reconsidered after thought. 
I also have my new layout website complete to showcase everything in one place https://braughingstandon-railwaylayout.uk/

Here are some of the final images, in all their glory, for your enjoyment. 

Very nice Paul   :thumbs

Many thanks Sol ... I also just added the website link to my post.

Great layout Paul and had a quick look at the website :thumbs



Ed

Really appreciated Ed   :thumbs

Brilliant scenery there. Particularly as it's in N gauge.