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What different types of hand drills are there?
Posted in: Assembling and gluing
3rd June 2021
There are three main types of hand drills used in modelling, all with quite amusing or non-descriptive names...
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What is a wash?
Posted in: Painting
15th May 2019
Washes are highly diluted paints used to bring out the detail in your model and enhance the appearance of the base...
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How to remove excess glue and putty from a model ?
Posted in: Assembling and gluing
8th December 2022
The use of glue and putty is an inevitable part of modelmaking but they don't necessarily always behave as we would...
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Where would I use a retaining wall on a layout?
Posted in: Model Railway
4th May 2023
Retaining walls are used to stop the soil from a slope falling under gravity where they could block railway tracks,...
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Should I use Sundeala board for my baseboards?
Posted in: Design and Planning, Best practices
29th May 2019
Bear in mind that Sundeala is designed to be used as a pinboard or notice board. As Sundeala is not actually a wood...
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What is forced perspective?

Perspective is something we see every day out there in the real world. A tree in the far distance, for example, will appear very small, despite it being as large as a tree close by. Our brains know this, but, our brains can also be easily tricked with the use of forced perspective.

The most common application of forced perspective in modelling is the use of back scenes. Apart from their primary purpose of providing a backdrop to layouts, they also often provide a forced perspective. It's not uncommon for a back scene to feature hills and scenery some miles away, even though the back scene itself is placed just centimetres from the main features on the baseboard.

Forced perspective can also be achieved using models. A modest approach to this would be the use of progressively smaller trees and buildings the further back you go. A more extreme example would be the use of N gauge track in the background and OO gauge in the foreground. Most modellers using forced perspective favour techniques somewhere between the two.

The trick to using forced perspective is to have some sort of scene break between steps in gauge or scale. Placing models of different scales too closely without a visual distraction will result in the brain not being tricked. However, locating your building either elevated on a hill or slightly obscured by a hedge can have compelling effects.

The exception to the rule is when using low-relief buildings layered to create a tiered town effect. In this scenario, only a very small gap is left between models with little or no distractive features. Some very convincing dioramas have been produced by modellers in this way, however, the method only really works when the scene is viewed head-on. Any other perspective leaves the scene looking a little bit like a pop-up book.

Posted in: Scenery

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