Foreign Correspondent

Am_Fet Reports from the wilds:

The Fettler Family Roadshow has now rolled into Taupo after stella performances at Napier (hence the State of Emergency being declared). And Tuesday afternoons outing took us to the Taupo Museum...

Now, usually provincial museums I can take or leave....there's only so many displays of 19th century butter churns you can look at and still retain consciousness. So I was pleasantly surprised to find it....interesting. And even more surprising was the fact that Bob Stotts tramway layout has found a home within:



The photo (taken from my 0.3 megapixel blackberry) shows the sympathetic setting, namely an old logger hut with implements on the wall and a monitor playing Memory Lines "Rails in the Wilderness" DVD. Zac was definitely smitten, and it was a pity nothing was moving....but the modelling is still top top notch and stands up well against more recent layouts. And as a teaching tool it was superb.



Now, the really awesome thing about this layout was...the backdrop! The layout was mounted just above waist height, but the backdrop ended about (my) eye level and was nothing but pictures of trees. The backdrop itself did not connect in any way to what was in immediately in front of it, it was just generic forest....but what a difference! The layout looked so much brighter and greener, and it was until you took the time to look really closely at the models did you notice the faded colours and dust. When you look carefully, you can pick where the scenery ends and the backdrop begins:



So thats the take home nugget from todays lesson....simple backdrops can make a difference, even to old and tired layouts.