MARK HOLLAND looks at how to add winter scenes to your layout or diorama.
It is the time of year when things turn Christmassy in the real world and thoughts turn to making our layouts a little bit more festive, or just plain wintery! This can be as simple as adding a Christmas tree to a high street or house garden, to more complex ideas such as giving the landscape a dusting of ‘snow’.
Noch is a scenic and figure manufacturer and they have a good range of Christmas add-ons, from families buying a tree (N15927) to trees with built-in lights, and Christmas markets.
There is also the option to re-purpose some lights in the Faller range as Christmas illuminations. Light festoons made for funfairs or interior lighting can be used as street or house exterior Christmas lighting.
To make things look a little chillier on you layout, figures wrapped up in winter clothes can be used to replace the usually more temperately dressed figures. Theses can be from the Preiser or Noch figure ranges.
If you want to go a little bit more to town on the wintery theme the skiers and snowborders are available to add a bit of interest to the whitened landscape.
That leads me nicely on to the option I mentioned at the start - snow. This can be made permanent, or you can just temporarily dust your landscape with the white stuff until things warm up again outside.
Deluxe Materials makes a nice range of snow that can be used to permanently give you a snowy layout or diorama. These are easy to sprinkle over the completed landscape and really do add a most impressive effect. The starter kit is a good way to experiment and if necessary larger pots can be purchased to really go to town with the effect. You can find a video showing the finished effect on the product page.
If you wish to make the effect temporary care needs to be taken with whatever loose unfixed ‘white stuff’ you use to make sure it can not make its way onto the track itself and into your locomotive,s as this will really bring them to a halt, just as in real life... Also, don’t be tempted to plough the track with one of the various locomotive snowploughs available, as they are not designed to be used in an operational capacity. Even though it might seem like fun! Remember also that it will need to be thoroughly vacuumed up when you no longer need it.
Now, this is by no means a comprehensive list of how to make your layout wintery or festive. The same as any other time of year, the look and design of your layout is what looks right to you and what makes it fun because it is your layout after all and if any time of year is an excuse to have a bit of fun this is it.
Merry Christmas and Happy Modelling.
You can read more about wintery landscape modelling in the following articles: