Model Railways On-Line - Ashprington Road - Part 3
ASHPRINGTON ROAD Graham Plowman describes scenic developments on his South Devon layout Photographs by Paul Plowman Above: GWR Grange 4-6-0 No.6869 “Resolven Grange” crosses Ashprington Road Viaduct with a local train to Newton Abbott. Modelling scenery is an art form in its own right! One of the problems we face is that many scenic products, particularly those from the USA, are often too dark for a British outline layout. European materials can often be too bright. To achieve a realistic balance of shades, the scenery on 'Ashprington Road' has been created using a number of different materials from various manufacturers. Most of the material is from Brian Champion of 'SetScenes' (PO Box 63, Crawley, W Sussex, RH11 8YR). It was found that materials from SetScenes are closer to British shades than any other products. They also have very good textures. 'Connifer Green' was widely used as a base with significant amounts of 'Summer Green' and a light sprinkling of 'Spring Green'. Small amounts of Woodlands Scenics 'blended turf', Noch light green and other browns and off-green shades have also been mixed in to give variation. Many colour photos of prototype railways were used to observe how real scenery appears. Ground cover on the 'railway side' of the fence is nearly always less well kept than that on the 'public side'. 45xx Class 2-6-2T no.4560 running light passes the water tower at Ashprington Road Station. 45xx Class 2-6-2T no.4560 hauls a train of empty bogie bolsters through Ashprington Road Station. To achieve this effect, course materials were used on the ‘railway’ side while finer grades were used on the outside. Fencing is Ratio with the posts spray painted and the wire attached. Bushes and foliage are nearly all Woodlands with some Heki. Hedges are rubberised horsehair strips (available from SetScenes) covered with Heki foliage. Trees are a mixture of Woodlands and Heki. There is one exception a Britains oak tree very significantly modified. The larger trees are 8-10 inches tall and the Heki tree trunks are probably the best for this. Tree foliage is Woodlands on the Woodlands trees and Heki on the Heki trees and many other bushes. I personally believe that the Heki materials for trees are probably the best colours and textures. Gravel paths next to the track bed are crushed granite fixed with watered down PVA as for the ballast. There is some lichen, but when placed next to other materials, it really needs foliage added, as it looks rather primitive today. Photography Photographs of model railways are often spoilt by household features in the background such as doors, windows and furniture. The pictures in this article have been edited using Adobe Photoshop Elements software. The original digital photographs were copied into an upper layer of the image with one or more background layers below. The unwanted parts of the photograph were erased leaving holes in the layer through which lower layers could be seen. Suitable background photographs were selected, scanned if necessary and copied into one or more background layers. The use of layers in the image makes it possible to move background pictures to the most suitable position and to adjust their brightness, contrast and colour to match the foreground picture. Photoshop includes a fuzzy edged eraser tool, which enables the edges of the pictures in the upper layers to be blurred into the layers below. These pictures probably give a misleading impression of the model as we have gone a little over the top with virtual scenery. However, the process of producing these images has enabled us to identify where additional scenic work is needed in particular the areas suited for ‘tree planting’. The ability to use photographs for backgrounds and to manipulate their position is a useful tool for planning the artwork of the future permanent back scenes for the model railway. 45xx Class 2-6-2T no.4560 hauls a train of empty bogie bolsters towards Newton Abbott. 53xx Class Mogul No.5328 waits for the signal to clear for the section to Totnes. GW 45xx Class Praire No.4569 drifts round the curve into Ashprington Road with a two-coach ‘B set’ for Plymouth. GW 45xx Class Praire No.4569 arrives at Ashprington Road with a stopping train for Plymouth as 57xx pannier tank No.7754 heads east with a train of cattle wagons for Ashburton. The pannier tank trundles past Ashprington Road East Signal Box towards the viaduct with a train of cattle wagons for Ashburton. Paul was carried away with the digital photo editor! 45xx Class 2-6-2T No.4569 in lined green livery crosses Ashprington Road Viaduct with a stopping train to Newton Abbott. GWR Grange 4-6-0 No.6869 "Resolven Grange" heads towards the viaduct. A 53xx Class 2-6-0 approaches Ashprington Road with a train of cattle wagons. The 53xx Class 2-6-0 heads towards the setting sun with a train of cattle wagons.
One of the problems we face is that many scenic products, particularly those from the USA, are often too dark for a British outline layout. European materials can often be too bright. To achieve a realistic balance of shades, the scenery on 'Ashprington Road' has been created using a number of different materials from various manufacturers.
Most of the material is from Brian Champion of 'SetScenes' (PO Box 63, Crawley, W Sussex, RH11 8YR). It was found that materials from SetScenes are closer to British shades than any other products. They also have very good textures. 'Connifer Green' was widely used as a base with significant amounts of 'Summer Green' and a light sprinkling of 'Spring Green'. Small amounts of Woodlands Scenics 'blended turf', Noch light green and other browns and off-green shades have also been mixed in to give variation.
Many colour photos of prototype railways were used to observe how real scenery appears. Ground cover on the 'railway side' of the fence is nearly always less well kept than that on the 'public side'.
To achieve this effect, course materials were used on the ‘railway’ side while finer grades were used on the outside.
Fencing is Ratio with the posts spray painted and the wire attached. Bushes and foliage are nearly all Woodlands with some Heki. Hedges are rubberised horsehair strips (available from SetScenes) covered with Heki foliage. Trees are a mixture of Woodlands and Heki. There is one exception a Britains oak tree very significantly modified. The larger trees are 8-10 inches tall and the Heki tree trunks are probably the best for this. Tree foliage is Woodlands on the Woodlands trees and Heki on the Heki trees and many other bushes. I personally believe that the Heki materials for trees are probably the best colours and textures.
Gravel paths next to the track bed are crushed granite fixed with watered down PVA as for the ballast.
There is some lichen, but when placed next to other materials, it really needs foliage added, as it looks rather primitive today.
Photographs of model railways are often spoilt by household features in the background such as doors, windows and furniture. The pictures in this article have been edited using Adobe Photoshop Elements software. The original digital photographs were copied into an upper layer of the image with one or more background layers below. The unwanted parts of the photograph were erased leaving holes in the layer through which lower layers could be seen. Suitable background photographs were selected, scanned if necessary and copied into one or more background layers.
The use of layers in the image makes it possible to move background pictures to the most suitable position and to adjust their brightness, contrast and colour to match the foreground picture. Photoshop includes a fuzzy edged eraser tool, which enables the edges of the pictures in the upper layers to be blurred into the layers below.
These pictures probably give a misleading impression of the model as we have gone a little over the top with virtual scenery. However, the process of producing these images has enabled us to identify where additional scenic work is needed in particular the areas suited for ‘tree planting’. The ability to use photographs for backgrounds and to manipulate their position is a useful tool for planning the artwork of the future permanent back scenes for the model railway.