Great Model Railway Challenge What I Learned

I was glued to my TV last night watching the first episode of Great Model Railway Challenge. Here’s one great tip I picked up.

Did you see it?

Channel 5’s Great Model Railway Challenge is a fun and enjoyable series showing the activities of groups of modellers as they compete to make a model railway. It’s on My5 TV and here if you missed it – for show times see here.

It skips on the details of making and building a model railway but then it is for the TV masses. I did, however, learn one thing.

3D Backscenes

I’m a huge fan of back scenes and have written about them before. I’ve also written about forced perspective – the technique of using different scales in models to achieve the impression of distance.

What I hadn’t considered however was combining them both so your back scene has multiple layers, with objects of different depths protruding from it to create a 3D effect and using forced perspective to create a feeling of depth.

I’ll certainly be incorporating this into my next project. In the meantime, I’ve ordered myself a copy of Paul Bambrick & John Ellis-Cockell’s authoritative book Creating a Backscene.

Update: I’ve since received my copy and it doesn’t disappoint. It’s packed with ideas and tips and inspiring photography. If you haven’t already, get yourself a copy soon.

If you don’t have a model railway but the programme has tempted you, I’ve collected some of my best articles to show you how to get started.