To cover a very long run, over 6 metres (20Ft) that runs across my back fence which looked a bit unsightly I constructed a backdrop from Fibre Cement Sheeting used to fill in under house eaves.
Because the upper level track overhangs the lower level passing siding track I had a plan to put a tunnel over the whole area but as
it over 6 metres long the problem of access raised its ugly head.
The solution I came up with was to cut out the sides a bit like a
cutaway drawing so the inside of the tunnel was visible. Part of the plan entailed my detailing the inside of the tunnel wall but at 6 metres long it was going to be a big job and the idea was shelved.
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Sketch of Proposed Tunnel
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The next plan which I finally went with was;
- On the Upper Level backdrop paint hills and mountains to give a feeling of depth to the scene to hide the ugly fence.
- On the Lower Level build three (3) Tunnels with the open
spaces in between them filled with fibre cement sheeting.
Upper Level
A backdrop made from fibre cement sheeting was screwed to the fence and painted pale blue.
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Track Level Overhang
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Across the bottom of the backdrop a polystyrene layer was added to form part of a cut through the hills that are painted onto the background, this gives a foreground against which the trains are viewed.  |
Polystyrene Cut Right Hand End
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| Polystyrene Cut Left Hand End |
Along the top of the styrene artificial turf strips were glued in an effort to blend the painted hills and the cut.
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Artificial Turf strip
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The polystyrene was covered in Acrylic House Render tinted with oxides to hide the polystyrene.Acrylic House Render
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Acrylic Render over polystyrene Cut
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Hills and Mountains were painted onto the backdrop, to give a sense of depth, using acrylic exterior house paint tinted with artist acrylic paints.
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| Hills with Mountains in background | | | | |
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Looking along Backdrop R-L
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Looking along Backdrop L-R
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Across the base of sheeting I used polystyrene pieces attached using exterior PVA glue to simulate a cut through the hills.
These were covered in acrylic house render which is coloured with oxides and then painted with washes made from tinted house paint.
There will be gravel along the base of the cut continuing out to where there will be track ballast track, to finish off I will lay artificial turf between the front and the ballast, similar to what I did on my Cane Layout.
At the end behind the high trestle I covered the fence with dark green shade cloth as used on shade houses in garden nurseries to hide it (it can just be seen in the picture "Looking along Backdrop R-L").
I kept looking at it and it just didn't seem right or natural to have a big vertical line between the backdrop and the shade cloth.
I got out the spray cans and did a little graffiti to solve the issue.
Lower Level (still to be built)
The three (3) tunnels will be constructed by laying small mesh over a wire former and overlaying it with artificial turf. They will be made to give the impression of the hills on the backdrop extending to the edge of the layout.
The tunnel mouth will be made from small mesh covered in tinted render
Where the Upper Level overhangs the Lower Level the space between the levels will be filled in with
fibre cement sheet covered with tinted render.
Each tunnel will be between 1300mm and 1400mm long (arms length),
Inspired by balcony roads like this one.
