The back scene has now been finished (nearly). This was made from a simple frame covered in 3mm MDF. I've found in the past that if you don't prime the MDF with a coat of oil based undercoat first then the emulsion/acrylic used after will only crack and peel.

Ordinary white emulsion was used for the sky. Some tester pots were obtained from Homebase (cheap) - sky blue and slate grey - these were dabbed on in several places and the white worked in. It creates a good effect without too much hassle and messing about - I call it my '5 minute sky'.

The hills and trees are all hand painted, but before you start assuming I'm a good artist (I'm definitely not), it is just a bit of trickery. I used a free downloadable back scene and manipulated it in a program called Poster.It (also free). It was then printed out on a black and white printer - these sheets were then pasted on in sequence and painted over with ordinary acrylics (a cheap set from Aldi). I just used a stiff brush for the trees and stabbed away until happy with the effect.

The Edwardian figures are from Preiser (very expensive) and are HO - they do look a little small, but are very nicely finished. This puts the layout in 1912 for the moment. The station and its environs are quite tired looking and I'm not sure that the GWR management would approve - but that's the effect I'm after.

Next Job - fiddle yard. Not too sure how complex this should be, but I might just go for a simple fixed track affair.