Photo plank

[invercloy]

As you may have seen in the 009 News feedback thread, both myself and Steve are keen to make more of a feature of the Heritage Collection in the coming months and years that we are in the editorial hotseat(s) for.

So, to that end I've agreed to whip up a photo plank for use at the Convention to photograph as much of the collection as possible in a scenic setting. These will then be reproduced in the News in due course. I made a start on the photo plank tonight.

The baseboard is made from 5mm white foamboard, all of it came from one A2 sheet for £2.99 from Hobbycraft. The setting is an embankment on a slight curve. This will allow photography of items of stock either side on or at a slight angle.



A hot glue gun made quick work of fixing the foamboard together. I have designed it so that the embankment is located forward of the join between ground and backscene. This will hopefully lead to more realistic photographs from lower angles.

Overall dimensions are roughly 2'x10".

The scenery will only be grass so as not to distract from the stock being photographed, after all that is the purpose of the thing! Therefore the ground doesn't need to retain trees or other structures, and so can make use of the ancient technique of scrunched up newspaper and paper maché to save weight.



I left it in this state and then my wife asked if she could do the paper mache, so in one evening after work it's gone from flat sheet to a bare landscape ready to accept colour (once dry).

More soon.

[gtmspyder]

Good idea Tom.

Regards,

BrianT.

[MickT]

Excellent Tom, good job you aren't waiting for mine to appear!! (Tom has been nagging me to make a photo plank for about 2 years now.........). One tiny suggestion if I may: you may like to consider extending the width of the backscene board 6 inches or so either side so that angled photos of posed stock still has something behind it.

Will the backscene be simply "sky" aka blue as per Andrew Burnham's Peco travelling portable studio set up, for the same reasons that you have decided to keep the scenery as simple grass so as not to distract from the photo subject.

And finally (!): As you said that you are making the photo plank in order to provide something to pose heritage collection items on, don't forget that there are 6.5mm. 8mm and 12mm gauge items in the collection as well as 9mm! Another little challenge to overcome?

Mick

[Tigger]

As Mick has said, an excellent job Tom, well done.

We were always going to do something like this so we could have a regular 'heritage' feature in the News so the members could see just what the Society actually had - but there were always more pressing issues to be addressed.

[MickT]

Multi-gauge can be for version 2!

One way to accomodate this is to make the trackbed removable and construct sufficient alternative trackbeds to accomodate everything that may be "high on the list for coverage in the News", such as the Aire Valley stock at 12mm gauge and Pete Wilson's quarry locos at 8mm gauge.

Mick

[invercloy]

Thanks all.

Mick, I have plans for an adjustable gauge for this one. Actually I may cheat and only have the front rail as the idea is for low level photos looking up the slope of the embankment towards the item of stock. If I can hide the rear 'rail' behind the front one then I may get away with it...

Then again, I may just think 'sod it' and end up using flexi track as per the photo :)

And I've had an idea re. the backscene, might be a little drastic, but I think it'll make it more flexible in terms of the images I can produce from using it... More soon.

[JulienW]

From memory Pete Wilson's 008 stock will sit quite hapily on 009 track - just don't ask it to run through a point!

[MickT]

I think I balanced the 8mm stock on normal crazy track when I photographed the collection and I know I managed the 12mm gauge stuff with a little out of sight blutack! So all things are achievable, I just thought I would mention the multi-gauge "challenge" in case Tom wants to be his usual self and do it professionally and without horrendous bodges!

Mick

[Hugh Norwood]

You could have the two rails fixed together like parallel rulers (I think they are called?) Then you can set the gauge to anything within the maximum...

[Tigger]

Am I correct in thinking that two parallel lines are merely two concentric circles going off at a tangent? ;D

[Elmgate]

I thought two parallel straight lines are concentric circles of infinite radius. But on this forum, we all go off on a tangent!

[invercloy]

Quite, Tim, look what's happened :)

Mick, expect a bodge. If I achieve better in time for the Convention then brilliant but, looking at how busy I am with other things, a bodge is more likely for now!

[rod335]

This all makes the 9mm/12mm demonstration track I knocked up for the Convention look really naff!

Rod

[invercloy]

Rod, if it's any use to you for displaying items of the Heritage Collection on it over the weekend, feel free to borrow it when I'm not photographing!

I'm now thinking of ditching the backscene. Relying on natural backdrops instead will allow me to take photos over a much wider range of angles, and I've been planning on photographing them in natural light (weather depending).

[Alan Feldon]

Tom
Will this build stretch to 100 pages?
Alan