Backdrops are what define your layout, it could be and industrial scene, country scene, hillsides or plain old sky. They are fixed to your back board using double sided tape which will help stop the “bubbling” effect you get with glue.
Once you have your back boards done then you can add the tunnel mouths, retaining walls, cuttings, grass banks etc. These are the things that surround all railways. Most railway lines are built into the landscape not the other way round. Quite often cuttings were cut through hills to keep the track on an even keel.
As you can see I started off by glueing cardboard to the baseboards and back scene to create my landscape, this doesn’t have to be too presice as this will be covered. At this point you are just creating a basic landscape. Offcuts of wood are used to create a flat surface for the retaining walls.
Somebody once said “every picture paints a thousand words” and in this case I believe that to be true
To create the contours of my layouts world I use good old masking tape, three to four layers should do it and once covered with PVA glue and dry you will have a solid structure to add detailing. Before adding however paint it green for hillsides and brown for trackside this gives a base to work with and any small gaps will not show through.
You will see that this is a good time to check your buildings will fit into your landscape, better to find out now if you need to tweak your cuttings.
So next up I’ll be finishing the back round by adding grass, bushes etc and also building a Metcalfe goods shed.
So for now happy modelling.
Alan.
Railway Imp 