The backscenes are, of course, from the Townscenes range. I have long been an admirer of these and this is not the first time I have used them. We dithered for a long time on a decision for backscenes but I am not aware of a better product for the urban scene we have here.
I wanted to do something special. Users of Townscenes will be aware of the recommendation to mount buildings on card to give a 3D effect. I mounted my buildings on foam core using brick paper to wrap the sides. Here's a useful site for brickpaper:
http://paperbrick.co.uk/index.php?action=selectbrick
I also used 2mm card in some cases to give the roof a pitch.
I fabricated chimneys by wrapping paper around 1/4" balsa or birchwood. Chimney top is a bit of card and chimney pots are from various sources including Wills, Dart Castings and Plastic tube.
Shortly after the show opened, there was a run on Townscenes at British Connection - the proprietors were very happy with us.
You may note the fine looking signals. These were built by one of our members and painted by another - still a bit more work to do. These incorporate solenoids for actuation and plug into the board for transport. In the next while a control panel will be wired up so that the next time we exhibit (GBTS in Brampton ON in April 2012), the signals will operate. We had a demo the other week and I was pleased to see that the arms do bounce.
Cheers
John
