The Best Scenic Instuctional Video Ever !

[Krizzy]

Just had a look on the F R /WHR facebook page. They have posted a taster video of the two railways using a drone. It gives the modeller a super aerial view and perspective of how the modeller should aspire to build the landscape on a layout irrespective of what railway the video portrays. Look at the various shades of greens, browns, greys and other colours. There are far too many layouts that are mundane with flat monotone greens. Look also at the number of trees beside the railways. Too often a layout will have one or two 'token' trees.

You aspiring modellers out there take time to look at the video and learn. People ask me at exhibitions about how the scenics are achieved on my layouts. The answer always observation of the landscape both sides of a railway line. Well here is a chance for you to observe on your pc/laptop instead of getting off your backside and going out there.

Roger

[Chris Lambeth]

Thanks for the link. Fantastic video. Makes me want to go there again soon, but the wife has booked South Wales. Maybe next year. Great shots for modelling.
Chris

[MickT]

Have I missed something? Couldn't see a link!

Mick

[Otty]

Try this (fingers crossed it'll work for you)

https://vimeo.com/134145726

[MickT]

Thanks very much, link worked fine.

Opening shots of Blodge reminded me very much of photos in Hornby Mag, Model Rail etc - highly photoshopped and smoke effects coming from the Fairlie!

Some of the Welsh Highland views in the Pass towards the end of the sequence were actually quite reminiscent of Roger and Stan's Gairloch & Wester Ross from those angles - meant as a huge compliment to Roger and Stan's scenic modelling skills.

Mick

[Frank]

Wow that was incredible - many thanks for spotting that and posting it.

The scenery is just incredible and it shows what you have to do to make a good realistic model.

Also, did you notice how slowly the trains seem to be running?   They don't seem to go very fast at all, even the "mainline" passenger ones.

Frank

[Stephen Clulow]

Super video - thank you for posting it!!

[alan]

Very enjoyable; thank you!

[clayliner]

Look also at the number of trees beside the railways. Too often a layout will have one or two 'token' trees.

This is a good point, Richard, and one most of us would do well to bear in mind. From a practical point of view, however, there are some good reasons for our sparse landscapes: trees are either expensive to buy, or time consuming and tricky to make convincingly. But personally it's something I intend to work on. Some people have resorted to various tricks to create mass tree effects which make the task easier, of course, but one still needs to recognise the desirability of plenty of trees in the first place.

I would also heartily endorse the point about the value of observation if one's after the right 'look'.

Thanks for the video link, too! (I've only just come across this.)

David.

[Krizzy]

-Regarding the number of trees on layouts. Yes there are many more trees on Tan-yr-Allt and my other layouts than other modellers have on theirs. But then I did not obtain them all at once. They were obtained piecemeal over a long period of time and planted to create and enhance further the layout scenery. The real landscape evolves over time and I feel a layout should evolve also.

Roger

[jimowers]

There is always a balance between realistic use of trees and how much it will cost.

Even a small proportion of my latest layout which is 3ft by 2ft has taken 220 conifers. At least you can buy them in bulk unlike most deciduous trees.

[Krizzy]

The same goes for our now retired Gairloch. Conifers (Heki) were a bulk buy and they were 'textured' before planting. They just don't look right straight out of the pack.

Roger

[jimowers]

Yes, Lochsanda Tramway has bulk packs (fir) and Faller (Spruce) which add a little variety to simulate Scottish managed woodland.

[Krizzy]

In the general section of the forum Stuart Bass has posted a superb set of photos of Gairloch taken at the recent Wigan Finescale Modellers 2015 Exhibition. Many of them show the forestry using Heki and other manufacturers trees planted on the layout. When Stan Williams and I built and scenically developed the layout we planted the trees in such a way as to screen and separate the different parts of the layout. Many trees were planted, especially in the corners, to frame scenes to focus attention in desired areas of the layout. This is something I learned when a member of Warrington Photo Society listening to judges' photo competition comments. I felt that we were creating a scene similar to a photographic one and that the trees 'held' the image ( or scene) together, albeit in 3D instead of a 2D image.

Roger