Don't loose heart - I think what you've done so far looks good , certainly far more than I've managed.

I think sometimes we do get too critical of our efforts , whilst there's nothing wrong in striving to achieve a very high standard , I do think that we overlook the positives.

As for the hardstanding , is it intended to represent tarmac? I have a concreted area on my layout ,and I used phoenix paint's "concrete" colour , which apart from a bit of weathering doesn't look too bad for that. I guess black is one of those colours which doesn't quite scale down , if you understand what I mean....?

If i may offer some comment;

What I would consider doing is respraying the foreground trees a shade of green closer to the ones used on the backscene, and possibly look at recolouring the ground cover on the right hand side of the picture to a paler green. The fence looks very good colour wise and does match the backscene nicely. Also under the trees on the left there is a light area which could be darkened a bit, possibly by extending the colours of the backscene trees down to the baseboard level. Drybrush the main station building top fade its colours a bit, and you will have something that looks more 'matched'.

For the tarmak, try drybrushing it with some lighter greys and maybe an attack with some fine sandpaper to wear it out a bit.

Remember its all a learning process, and its not going to be perfect first time every time. Just have a go and don't lose heart. You are not happy with it currently so theres not much to lose, and if nothing else you will learn something.

Cheer's

Rhys

Motorisedandruff.blogspot.com

Rather than spending too much time and money on a lost cause, I'll learn from my mistakes for my longer term projects. The trees on the right are ones I made to match the colours of the backscene (and I'm fairly happy with), but I found it so utterly tedious I caved in and bough a load of trees for the rest. At the moment airbrushing isn't likely to happen either as my compressor is on the other side of the globe, and with a return looking to be in the forseeable future now I'm loathe to buy another for one job. This layout was built basically using spare materials, rather than draining resources from the main layout (which now has an uncertain future anyway!).

For the main part, the station has been toned down a lot already, and the walls are the colour I want. It's meant to look like one freshly modernised and fittings painted up into corporate image, as part of a station refurb which would have seen the new platform shelter installed. The roof and guttering needs work, as they have details yet to be fitted (there's a job I missed off my list).

A repaint to a concrete colour would probably suit the hardstanding well. I used Roughcoat as primer, which gives a nice texture, but having moved the layout into the house from the garage some filler shrank and cracked, which would lend itself to a concrete appearance.

Anyway, I feel at the moment the visual blend with the backscene mainly concerns physical view blocks of the join than trying to match colours. Look out onto a vista, and the closer to you something is, the stronger its colour appears owing to atmospheric effects, so to tone everthing down to match the backscene would make it look shallower.

I don't think the issue with the tree colours is one of toning down/reducing saturation - more that the trees on the left have a different hue (much bluer) than the backscene trees and stand out as a result. Rather than airbrushing them, maybe you could give them a going over with hairspray/spraymount and suitable scatter? With a typing paper screen it's possible to do this in-place on the layout - I've re-flocked my lone tree on Tanis a couple of times like this. A rattle can of Tamiya paint might be an easy option too - lots of good camo colours - but check it doesn't eat the foliage first

I respectfully disagree with Rhys about the grass, I think that looks fine as-is, again because the hue is close to the backscene. You may also find that the backscene interface is less important as you get a few more foreground features and details in (some low shrubs in front of the station maybe?) to break up the flat board.

Talking of colours, I really like the blue door on the station building - it draws the eye right in to where it should be!

Having seen it in the flesh it looks good - just a thought, there was (note was) a reason to keep the layout so narrow bt in the new signal box/house you needn't. How about curving the backscene and then infilling the hole that's created?

I'd make the hardstanding much lighter - concrete would be good. Paint the front fascia as well - that'll mae a huge difference.

kev