Dunno

Your font is far to awkward to read, sorry.

Any chance you could please change the font to something sensible?

Ta

Jim

Thats an interesting thought Lisa.

It does seem a little pointless when you could just move the track away from the edge of the baseboard though. Its what I have done with Highclere and it seems to work. By keeping the track well away from the baseboard edges is also a good way of creating the impression of space.

Black can be a bit harsh if used wrongly but it does focus the eye away from the areas painted black and onto the bits you want to show off.

Missy

We decided that black was not a suitable colour as it takes the eye away from the model.

I recall from my art lessons that strong dark and lights lead the eye to the start point in the picture.

So we went for green. Agreed a dark green, but I think that this works because it is closer to the natural colour.

However recently, having attended a few shows were there are no barriers (and we put up a perspex screen) I wondered if there was a better way.

I think that the problem is that there is likely to be permanent way or features toward the front of the baseboard. Lets call this the structural baseboard. I was thinking that perhaps the area in front could be filled with a non-structural baseboard. I like the idea of an angle, but I was thinking of something springy with basic scenery (nothing breakable). Although you would still have that vertical drop at the front in whatever colour you desire it does move the foreground would be away from the model. This would also give a depth of field.

Does this make sense? It sounds ok in my head.

Makes sense to me brightspark.

I used a neutral beige on my layout, which seemed to work in concentrating the eye onto the layout itself, not the stark fascia. I also agree with Julia, in as much as the simplest, and possibly most effective way of solving the problem is to move the track further inboard.

I've always thought the "mainline" should be 2/3 to the rear and the front of the "focus area" ie the track, about a 1/3 in from the front of the layout....Water on the front always works well for making reflections too

As to black, I like it....its liek been in the theatre or cinema

and you can always crop the photo to suit

i suspect the fascias are black to emphisise the layout and keep your attention focused in the centre of the "frame"

Then why are most picture frames natural wood?

Then why are most picture frames natural wood?

Cos its not quite the same.....a picture frame is part of the decor, a layout fascia is deliberatley not part of it...... IMO of course

Hi

His resoning was, you go to a great deal of trouble creating a very realistic scene. Then when you photograph it, close up, you spoil the effect with the black facia panel.

Lisa

I prefer white iPads because I find that the colours look better against the white border than the black. Somehow the white is less objectionable although when out of use the black is much less offensive. Perhaps the borders of layouts should, therefore, be a light colour? As others have said not having track right up to the edge of the baseboard is going to work better and careful composition/cropping is going to remove any facia that remains.

Painting the fascia a similar colour to the foreground of layout is a way to go. As can be seen here on this layout by the X street gang. German US modellers. http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showpost.php?p=242473&postcount=5 These photos are taken from a European US show and only 1 of them has a black fascia.

dave

I think that the black fascia probably comes from theatre and diorama/architectural modelling practice. "Off stage" and areas outside the dramatic illusion are normally painted black in the theatre. Where buildings or other things are cut through at the edge of a model/display case, normal practice seems to be black or dark grey for the flat of the section cut through the earth/model. I suppose the idea is to emphasise that this is an artificial slice through reality - a plain , artificial, neutral colour in contrast with the realistic detail and colouring of the model

I initially painted the front edge of my layout black , but a friend who's an amateur artist argued strongly that it was far too harsh and aggressive and he persuaded me to repaint it in a brown. All I could find cheap in gloss paint was a purple brown, but it is a considerable improvement on the black, because it is muted

I know that I'm over a year late in this thread - only just been reading it. 

Personally, I edit photos to remove extraneous stuff, such as a fascia, so I wouldn't bother what it is.  My own layout runs close to the front edge of the baseboard and, if I'm photographing locos or stock, I paste in a plain colour foreground to suit the photo.  There's an example in my blog at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1405/entry-12835-trial-of-the-reds/

It depends on the scene but, visually, I think the fascia should tone in with the layout.  If it's a rural layout then green cloth seems to work, while grey may be more appropriate for an industrial scene. 

Mike