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21 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

Lovely photos, Tom.

 

Any chance of some names to the faces in the last photo, please?

 

 

By all means! Now edited into the original post.

 

 

Apparently John couldn't  stop talking about it on the journey home!

Edited by 9793
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3 minutes ago, kandc_au said:

Tom,

How are you planing on doing the backdrop? Painting/collage of photo's/other

 

Khris

 

A friend is painting it for me. I personally prefer painted back scenes to photographic.

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Hi Tom,

 

I think you're absolutely right about painted backscenes, and it's even better if you can get a proficient artist to do it for you. That way you can get the mood of the picture to match the mood you're trying to capture on the layout, which of course allows you to pick the season, prevailing weather, and even time of day, if you really want to.

 

I wonder whether you're aware of this website, which allows you to download the actual panorama profile for a specified location and direction?

 

http://www.udeuschle.selfhost.pro/panoramas/makepanoramas_en.htm 

 

Worth a play, if only as a check that you've got the main elements of the topography right!

 

All the best,

 

Geraint

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Thanks for the feedback guys.
I'm really happy to go with my friends work. I've been very impressed with his back scene work, and he's happy to go with the dark, moody sky above the Snowdonia mountains....we may even have a touch of horizontal rain! ;)

 

I want to really emphasis the bleak, and remoteness of the area.

 

IMG_8415.jpg.036894eed2d47ad49b3208ecb0a2d9a5.jpg

Edited by 9793
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I do like the look of the sky in that last photo Tom, much more interesting and atmospheric than the traditional light blue. I was wondering when the next layer of grass was going on, or are you waiting for the back scene to be painted so that the colouring can all be blended in.

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Just now, westerner said:

I do like the look of the sky in that last photo Tom, much more interesting and atmospheric than the traditional light blue. I was wondering when the next layer of grass was going on, or are you waiting for the back scene to be painted so that the colouring can all be blended in.

 

Im hanging fire until I’m satisfied with the position of the gates, so I can do the drystone walling. Once that’s done I’ll see about adding the top layer.

 

I would prefer to take my time and get it right. The priority recently has been to move Cwm Prysor back so Bala can have a good 15 inch backscene, which has meant having to make a cut in Cwm Prysor’s 18 inch backscene for the shed support. 

 

F439F75B-DC51-4DE1-A473-5CA4F4A6D06E.jpeg.fa3058724f6a44defba843ea82d8340c.jpeg

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Backscenes seem to have become one of those polarising issues, but it depends on how the layout builder thinks he (she) can best convey the picture they want to create. We may differ in our personal view of how effective that has been, but to be honest, I have seen effective backscenes both painted and photographically.

 

in the USA, Mike Confalone has created some terrific scenes using photos, by carefully constructing the scene so that they blend in - a photo of a tree covered hill has model trees in front of it, and the eye moves seemlessly from one to the other.

AGR-102-and-103.jpg

Or a factory loading bay might be modelled in 3D, but placed against a photographic flat of the rest of the factory.

Andover-4.jpg

 

On the other hand, Pierre Oliver in Canada has spoken with an artist and used just two shades of paint to create the effect of far distant Californian hills,

IMG_3122.JPG

with a simple wooden fence providing a visual break between 3D and 2D.

POliver-2018-XII-15-07.jpg

That’s a scenicked fiddle/storage yard, by the way so not everything is perfect!

 

I am more and more inclined to look at good modelling in the same way as we are taught to look at good art: to think about what the artist/creator is trying to say (and maybe how) and to try to understand the interpretation of the scene. Close-ups don’t do that for me: they are for marvelling (or otherwise!) at the technique used.

 

As an example, Geoff Taylor’s Penmaenpool layout has featured in the model press and on here before, but the photo Tom posted recently really brought home to me what this layout is about, despite the “extraneous clutter” of the setting, including control panels, lighting, the surrounding room and of course the actual people enjoying the layout: which is the whole point after all!

Dsc_2682.jpg

Two-colour backscene again!

 

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12 hours ago, 9793 said:

For those interested, the planned back scene sketches on the computer.

393294385_DSC05435(3).jpg.e78e968cfbe75bf960c42a5671dd98a2.jpg

 

The mountain on the right, and the focal point in the area, is Arenig Fawr. 

1611978937_DSC05325(1).jpg.0800515cbfca719974f158f63cdf8a60.jpg

 

Opposite, on the other side of the Tryweryn valley, is Arenig Fach, which should be a nice contrast with it's brown/purple top.

DSC05420.jpg.0dd116a97464683c7fcb5ff72b59b180.jpg

 

Love the weak sunlight coming through in this pic!

 

Khris

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7 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Or you could try this Tom!

Although my Bala Town Backscene is nothing like Bala, and Seven Mills is more Snowdonian.

 

Bloody hell, What a GREAT video...pity about the battery dying but, brilliantly presented for the beginner like me!
Thank you Andy!

 

Khris

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 01/11/2018 at 08:03, 9793 said:

 

 

As a kid, I had a real fascination with Pylons.... a lot of it came from this advert from the late 80s/early 90s. Anyone else remember it?

 

 

 

The pylons seen in the photo at Capel Celyn, follow the path of the railway and then head over the mountains towards Llan Ffestiniog. This power line appeared in around 1960 (I presume in connection to the building of Trawsfynydd Nuclear Power Station). There is an older power line that shadows the new line but deviates near Capel Celyn and follows the route of the old Bala-Ffestiniog road.

 

On days I've been bored, I've followed the power line routes on google maps! :lol:

   Tanygrisiau Power Station L3 pylon modelled in 4mm scale. 

1FE353F8-06DD-4DED-B857-51406744034C.jpeg

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36 minutes ago, Pylon King said:

   Tanygrisiau Power Station L3 pylon modelled in 4mm scale. 

Do you get out much? ;)

 

(That’s a superb piece of modelling, by the way, and no different to us trying get the details right within the railway fence. In fact, such attention to the prototype should extend outside the boundary fence.)

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1 hour ago, Regularity said:

Do you get out much? ;)

 

(That’s a superb piece of modelling, by the way, and no different to us trying get the details right within the railway fence. In fact, such attention to the prototype should extend outside the boundary fence.)

Thank you. Building these towers really gives an insight to how well engineered the prototypes really are. Love or hate them they have been part of the British landscape for over seventy years , but are seldom modelled. 

8C2B77E2-317B-4E75-AB99-FF7E94D23474.jpeg

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Likes a good pylon, I does, striding across the countryside so confidently.  My favourites are the big ones carrying the cables over the River Severn alongside the old Severn Bridge, pylons on steroids.  

 

But trains are better!

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6 hours ago, The Johnster said:

Likes a good pylon, I does, striding across the countryside so confidently.  My favourites are the big ones carrying the cables over the River Severn alongside the old Severn Bridge, pylons on steroids.  

 

But trains are better!

Largest in 4mm is this L6 BICC 400kV  tower which are found  at both ends of the old Severn Bridge. The line runs under the river then reappears to travel west through Wales.

1CCEDB20-36D3-4EC4-A8DB-44488ECE6755.jpeg

A36C27C7-9641-4AE3-BAF1-B8303796D112.jpeg

Edited by Pylon King
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On 25/02/2019 at 13:35, 9793 said:

 

A friend is painting it for me. I personally prefer painted back scenes to photographic.

After the exhibition season has quietened down, Tom, I'll be up to paint it for you.

 

I've also got to complete Grantham's.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Pylon King said:

Largest in 4mm is this L6 BICC 400kV  tower which are found either side of the old Severn Bridge. The line runs under the river then reappears to travel west through Wales.

1CCEDB20-36D3-4EC4-A8DB-44488ECE6755.jpeg

A36C27C7-9641-4AE3-BAF1-B8303796D112.jpeg

Impressive!

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Very nice work there Tom. 

 

You can't beat a nicely distressed steel mineral wagon. 

 

 

Rob

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