Project - Sophisticated Backdrop Technique - Kipapa Army Airfield Example

Fascia in view

Photographer Unknown
Photo 3 Army Airfield, Kipapa (Oahu)

Photo 4 1940 Ford Woody Station Wagon by Ertl 1:43 Scale

Photo 5 O scale railroad crossing sign

Photo 6 Left view of scene - Scratch built fence of styrene and tulle

Photo 7 Vines applied to speed limit sign

Photo 8 Three center tents painted by Katherine Kalis

Mountains are 2 1/2 inch tall rear range is almost 3 inches tall

Photo 9 HO scale Army truck exiting the airfield

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How could a 2 1/2-inch tall mountain range possible work on a backdrop (rear mountains take the scene to a total of 3 inches in height)? Coupled to a layout in 1:20.3 scale, the idea seems especially preposterous. But work it does, indeed, it is my favorite part of my layout. Two matters that help make this work is shelf benchwork here that at a bit over chest level brings to scene to eye level. Also at work is that the benchwork here is only some 17 inches deep. I learned decades ago from the Layout Design Special Interest Group, that effective backdrops are first, not very far below eye level and second, have a low horizon. Mind you it takes discipline to restrain oneself from painting large mountains and leaving most of the backdrop to sky and clouds. While it wont be easy, this discipline will pay dividends in the end. This low horizon mimics nature a bit. As an experiment, the next time you are driving down the highway, gaze off to your side (be sure someone else is driving) and take a look at mountains you are passing. Are they towering over you? Or are the peaks at about eye level? In most cases, the latter is the case. So it should be with your layout. While some die hard operators might differ, model railroading is about escapism and getting lost in the scenery the layout present. Somehow, the low horizon that fools the eye into looking far into the distance will draw in the viewer - he gets lost in the scene so to speak - in a way that oversized landscapes cannot do. Large painted mountains of layouts long ago (and still many today) tend to say "get back" - a low horizon tends to say "take a better look, come inside this scene, lose yourself". The choice is yours - it is after all, your layout.

General Approach
Kipapa, Oahu - While a model of this airfield could not fit into this confined space it was suggested/modeled by using these six features: a roughly HO scale fence, HO commercial vehicles, palm trees, road, road signs (speed limit and railroad crossing) and backdrop.

HO airfield fence is scratch built of styrene. Military vehicles are HO scale (1:87). 0-4-0 locomotive is Fn3 (1.20.3 scale) with custom rub-on lettering applied. Fascia is 1/4" Neatform Bendy MDF (Rockler Item # 27827) painted to match color of finished basement walls; Bendy MDF comes in 24" x 48" bendable sheets manufactured in the United Kingdom. Brown vinyl rub on lettering has been applied to facia to explain to viewers just what they are seeing and may be reticent to ask about. Palm trees (Photo 1) are a commercial product that has been brush painted by layout owner to remove the plastic appearance of same. A pre-painted model US Army soldier is standing near one of the palm trees. My asphalt road is scratch built from sheet styrene and then painted gray (never paint roads black, roads only appear black on the day they are laid; after they age to gray). The road narrows as it reaches the backdrop so to render a forced perspective; visitors seem impressed by this "trick". Some cracks have been drawn using a fine tip black marker.

Research

Katherine Sophia Kalis used this black and white photograph (Photo 3) to paint my styrene backdrop and inspire this scene.

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Project - Sophisticated Backdrop Technique - Kipapa Army Airfield Example

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