Most layouts are either on a sunny day or in the winter. What about one that’s on a rainy day?
For me, my layout is about lifting me up when I’m down, or to just plain relax. Rainy=dreary, and not like we don’t see enough of those in Missouri.
I think that it would be quite a modeling challenge. I suppose you’d have to make everything look wet with lots of puddles. Then any backdrops would have to be darkened and have storm clouds. The general lighting would also need to be muted in a way to reflect a cloudy/rainy day. Not sure how convincing it would be without mist/fog. I’ve never seen it done outside of something being staged for a photograph.
erhaps it would be easier to create a scene just after it rained?
I personally like the atmosphere of a rainy day and think that if it could be modeled would be a very interesting scene.
Hi
My oo scale UK layout is meant to replicate conditions just after - and maybe just before more - rain. I’m adding plenty of puddles and I have sprayed the entire layout with diluted acrylic varnish for wetness. I like wet roads and reflections, and it looks particularly effective at night.
It’s hard to maintain a wet look because of the accumulation of dust, but I won’t mind repeating the dose. It’ll have to wait til I get more buildings, though.
Also, I don’t think the lighting would necessarily be subdued, but I will have a threatening sky when I get around to it. Not for everyone, maybe, but heck I am modelling England, after all [:)]
Mike
A few years ago, Rand Hood did an article in MR about modeling a rainy landscape, the photos of his work were very impressive. You might want to look that one up on the index and see if you can get that issue.
–Randy
On the K-10 layout, Ken used a rainstorm to solve a problem on a backdrop. A shadow was always being cast in one location and no matter how they lit it, they could not come up with a decent solution. The rain storm solved the problem.
Click on this link to see it.
Here’s how things looked about a week after I sprayed on the rain. Dust has dulled it a fair bit since then.
Not a great photo, I know.
Also I’ve painted up a couple of different skies and they can look sunny or cloudy, depending on where I aim the spotlights. Pretty handy for photos. I’ll be doing quite a few skies I think, because they set the overall mood.
Mike
Mikelhh,
Wow! I really like the “wet look”, but the other elements in your scene are terrific. A lot of attention to detail really pays off – I can see you’ve done that. My compliments to your website pictures too.
That was ‘Modeling a Rainscape’; MR Sept 1993
This pic was on the front page of the Lawton Constition a while back and I am going to try to incorperate it into a section of my background. It is sort of hard to see but it is a pic of a big rain cloud with some rain in it. Mike
Great ideas everyone. Weather can really set the tone for a layout.
Nassaufireman, If you intend to model a rainy day look at the picture below. It is mostly grey. Grey sky, cobblestones, umbrellas, etc. So in modeling a rainy day the primary color would be grey. And all the other colors very washed out and subdued.
From the Chicago Art Institute. When viewing this painting it is like you are on the street corner yourself. Very moody. You feel the sensations of a rainy day.
Paris Street, Rainy Day - Gustave Cailebotte - 1877
I’m not sure how well this would work on a train layout, but I also build model cars, and one of the most convincing diarama’s I ever saw was of a Formula 1 car in the rain. The whole thing was done in a shadow box style and everything inside was given the “wet look”, then clear plastic was cut to form the rooster tails off of the tires and then scored to look like splashing water, and lastly, the front of the shadow box was covered with clear plastic that was scored or scuffed to look like falling rain. The effect was VERY convincing.
I wonder if this could be transated to a model RR. All you’d need is the “cover” sheet, scored to look like rain falling.
These are all very good ideas, I really like the sprayed on diluted acrylic and the race car in the box. I think you could make a convincing scene in a box. I saw one on a structure fire that was in a box with a black background, you could incorporate the sides of the box into the rest of the layout like a hill or a wall. And if you had glass around the layout a scratched part for rain would not be out of place. Again all good ideas I will use.