I've been mucking about the backscene on the spring module a bit these last couple of days. I decided to paint an impression of middle-distance trees directly onto the original photographic backdrop, with the idea being that, placed in the right position, these will be able to soak up the shadows cast by the taller 3-d trees in the foreground.

I started by mixing up some gungey greens and reddish-green shades using almost neat acrylics, and then dabbled them onto the backscene using the rough side of a kitchen scourer - actually just a small piece torn off one of these - which produces a stippled effect quite unlike anything you'd get using conventional brushstrokes. The foreground scenery is then gradually blended into this painted layer to produce a (hopefully) subtle transition.

It has to be taken slowly as even the undiluted paint will cause the thin card backscene material to cockle. My experience is that this cockling will gradually eliminate itself but you won't want to overdo it. I will need some tall stands of backscene trees to swallow some of the worst shadow areas so I am working up to these in stages. Obviously I want to suggest spring-like degrees of leaf cover, rather than the full bloom of summer, so relatively muted shades are the order of the day. At the moment I am still working on blending the foreground and background; there's a long way to go.

Clearly the visual illusion works best from the side-on; angled views tend to foreshorten the backscene detail and make it obviously 2-D. However, most of the time I'm viewing trains from somewhere in the middle of the room, not looking along the module from one end.

Ultimately it's a bit of an experiment; if it doesn't work, I'm minded to replace the entire backscene with an entirely painted version, as I've already done on the winter module. The benefit of paint is that it's very controllable and accidental damage, smudges, etc, are easily corrected. I do like the look of photographic backscenes when done well but they are difficult to tweak, and while they may seem a bit old fashioned, I also like the traditional painted backscene if done subtly.

Elsewhere, this Hornby derelict stable block was an impulse purchase. I felt I needed something to sit on this hill - the composition of the scene wasn't quite working, to my eye - and as soon as I plonked this structure lightly in place it seemed to sit there very well and look "right". Obviously it will benefit from additional weathering, blending in place etc, but I really like it and look forward to adding some rusty old farm equipment around it. Cheers, Hornby!