The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[Steveruger45]

^^^^^This.  Photo backdrop would be my choice.  Bridge look great Dave.

[davefoxx]

The only well executed mirror scene I’ve encountered was at the end of some stub yard tracks with the top of the mirror hidden by a pipe rack bridge over the tracks. The viewing angle was controlled by buildings on each side.

Roads going off layout are very difficult to pull off. The road needs an excuse to go down grade to disappear at the intersection of the background, with the road reappearing on the photo off in the distance.

I agree that the best solution would be for the road to go downgrade and disappear before the backdrop, but I don't have a lot of room on the other side of the bridge.  It's also really difficult to get back in there, due to reach from the layout edge, not to mention I'm trying to avoid obliterating a bunch of trees.  That reminds me, I need to get a can of cheap hairspray, because my trees are shedding like it's fall!  Anyhow, most importantly, I believe that I've hidden the intersection with the backdrop under normal viewing angles with trees, and another tree or two will be placed as this scene nears completion, if necessary.  For example:





The only real angle that can see into the backdrop is from more than ten feet away from the other end of the layout.  That's where a photo backdrop will suffice just to fill in the obvious void and the sky blue color back there.

DFF

[Chris333]

You just need to find the right photo:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/PhN3vwSjZaquS_NKrCvn2ywCINVHIzhGgTe2ydBomMdwDIWLbi0fMI3yoTOKnRhevRlaZuzk5E6hKnLsJh463eeWae451PZTJ_8ja2jFb6sksn35SYjFrtc3ySWDp_k1

You can also flip the photos or someone with photoshop could edit out the poles.

[davefoxx]

Chris,

After today, I've got a couple of vacation days to burn, so I'm off the next several days.  I'll spend some time on the internet and test run some photos in place.  Conveniently, I just replaced the toner cartridges in our laser printer (to the cost of $100.00 ), so I'll post some pics to see what y'all think.

DFF

[CRL]

If the view angle is from 10’ away, you probably have enough distance to lower the road beyond the bridge so to obscure the intersection of the road with the backdrop. This would allow good forced perspective by letting the photo backdrop provide the disappearing act by positioning the photo withe road lower than the overpass bridge.

The result could be really excellent.

[davefoxx]

If I remember correctly, I only have 4-3/16" from the bridge to the backdrop, so any attempt to curve the road down will likely affect the transition from the road surface to the bridge surface, which, to me, is more important, because that's much more visible.  That said, I may try to bend that piece of road I put in last night as an experiment.  If I can put enough vertical curve into it, I might be able to keep the transition off of the bridge and have the road slightly curve down.  My layout is high, and I'm guessing that the road is approximately 55-56" above the basement floor, but again, I only have about 4" to work with (phrasing!) between the bridge and the backdrop.

DFF

[CRL]

One inch more, he’d be a king...

One inch less, she’d be a queen.

 

[packers#1]

You really ought to be measuring from the bottom from the top, then it’d be 5.15 inches instead of 4.15...oh Mrs McMurray, you poor woman

Anyways, Letterkenny references aside, I don’t know if you really need to bend the road down; like you said, the only view where you really watch the road disappear straight into it is at the end of the layout. I’d just have the trees overhang the road so you have foliage over the backdrop and it’s kinda like a tree tunnel and call it a day. But hey, 4 inches is enough to get rolling so bending it might work well.

[nkalanaga]

Run a telephone wire across the road, and cover it with kudzu.

[davefoxx]

Road stripes.



DFF

[davefoxx]

DKS gave me a minute and proposed a solution for the transition between the bridge and the backdrop.  He agreed with others about curving the road downhill and also suggested narrowing it for a forced perspective.  An N scale house will help with the optical illusion.  In a stroke of genius, he recommended using a picture of my model trees as the photo backdrop for a perfect match between the modeled trees and the photo trees.  Eureka!  Pardon the T-pins in the photos; they're marking the spots where I removed trees for better access.



So, I made up a new piece of styrene for the road in the tapered shape and bent it vertically:



Although the road curves horizontally and vertically, it still meets the bridge acceptably.  It's already got a coat of Rustoleum light gray primer that is my usual highway color of choice for old asphalt:



Thanks again, DKS, Chris333, CRL, and others!
DFF

[Chris333]

In the last photo with the truck, is that at eye level?

[davefoxx]

In the last photo with the truck, is that at eye level?

The camera is roughly at eye level, but closer to the scene than from standing in the aisle.  The truck is probably 55-56” off the deck.

DFF

[CRL]

Yep, that’ll work.

[davefoxx]

Here’s some crappy attempts at cab rides on my layout:

I used an Osmo Pocket 2, and there’s an accessory that is unfortunately unavailable at present but will supposedly offer manual gimbal control and better battery life.  Hopefully, I can address the poor auto focus, so please pardon that issue.

Hope you enjoy these videos.  I like seeing the new perspective from my layout, especially riding under the bridges that I scratchbuilt.  Good thing that I finished under there.

DFF