Let’s start at the beginning, if needed to change the oil in my car, (read on, railway stuff will follow) and since North Wales isn't known for its gloriously sunny days, I decided to do it in the garage in the dry and relative ease. So the layout was moved to a corner. Yesterday I went into the garage just to remind myself on things that need doing to the layout and I’m glad that I did. On the corner of one of the station boards had some mould on it. The good news is that it has only affected the one corner.
Hopefully, some new windows, painting, sealing etc (and possibly insulating) will result in a nice (and safe) place to put up the layout. I was thinking about what I was going to do about the back-board(the board with the 'sky' on it at the back), after looking at quite a few layout, I noticed that some have ones a few inches high, some had ones two foot high, but others had none.
This got me thinking, backboard or no backboard? I was thinking of a backboard about 5-6 inches high, just to 'protect' the layout. But then saw this picture. It's one of (in my opinion) best 009 layouts on the exhibition circuit, County Gate. I thought the layout looked good with the photographs printed on the backboard, but in my opinion (no offence to John de Frayssinet, whose modelling skills are outstanding) the layout looks much better without a backboard at the rear. I know it is needed to hide the fiddle yard at the back of County Gate, but my fiddle yard isn't at the rear, so it's ideal for me.
It's a controversial subject. For photography I think you do need something behind the layout - whether that's a fixed backscene or a board with a picture of some sky on it that can be positioned while the photograph is taken doesn't matter. When viewing a layout in eral life I don't think a backscene is so important, but it depends on how the layout is designed, and personal preference (and some people have very strong preferences).
ReplyDeleteI agree. It's all about personal preferences.
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