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Adding a Tunnel in the Background
Aaron J asks:
“I don’t have enough space on my HO layout for mountains or hills but would still like the mystery of a tunnel. Would it make sense to have half a tunnel disappearing into my background wall? I have about 6 inches at the back and thought about building up the scenery to form the shape of a mountain against the background with a tunnel portal as a key element. I know I can’t run trains into the tunnel as they will hit a solid wall. Ouch! Has anyone done this?”
13 Responses to Adding a Tunnel in the Background
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I just cut a small hole in the wall and backed it with a black plastic dish about 2″ deep. This is for my mine carts to disappear into. It’s all for effect. If you can achieve the kind of effect you want, I say go for it!
this is what I did, it’s N scale.
http://www.northernpacificrr.ca/
Absolutely, it will add a wonderful mystery to your layout, just paint the rear wall black where the tunnel is and the inside of the wall black as well. I have one on my layout as well.
I have a road that goes to a wall. I painted a tunnel opening with a railroad crossing and it works well. Best way to know is do it. If you don’t like it you can take it away.
Do you have a Wylie coyote near said tunnel?
if you can make it go to a lower level of staging it serves two purposes
It is certainly a good idea to do that. Just make sure that you have easy access to the track behind the backdrop in case you have a derailment in the “tunnel”
Your tunnel could be approached by lifted rail earthworks and the tunnel could show signs of “collapse”, You could dress the scene with bulldozers and workers in hivis cleaning up th site or “redirecting the line or “lifting” a set of points.
I have made a tunnel for a road to travel. I made a 2 inch frame at the entrance and put a mirror in behind. It makes the tunnel look like it continues on.
Yers it is great for a mine scene. Also you can send a spur into your portal giving the illusion that the train is going to the rest of the world out there.You might want to set the opening at an angle that the viewer can not see clearly into , like he can see the side walls as they disappear into the black void.
This could also be a road, or a stream or river. Track is probably the easiest from a scenery viewpoint.
We had a tunnel on our track , it’s not there now as we changed the track but we did have one with a view point on top for vehicles , the tunnel was open on one side so we could access the track in the event of derailments , we made the tunnel by using several different size blocks of wood with card board laid accross then sheets of paper painyed on with a flour and water paste , which was left to dry before painting with matt paints
The idea of a dummy tunnel is very workable and will add interest to your layout.
If you have a powered track close by, drop in an old turnout that feeds into. But, and this is important, solder the switch so it can’t be set against the main. Otherwise, you may inadvertently smash an opening into the adjacent room.
Paint the tunnel walls and ceiling flat black and put a mirror, as previously suggested by Robert, on the wall to create the illusion of depth. But angle the track into the mountain so the mirror doesn’t reflect across the room.
Now the cool part. Have an old engine and boxcar emerging from the tunnel and appearing to be waiting for the main to clear.
Even cooler, paint the entire mountain flat black, then use a piece of sponge to dab (not brush) small areas with washes of diluted light and dark greys, dirty white and dirty yellow (yes, white and yellow), and even small dabs of dirty red. Then lightly dry-brush the edges of the rock w/dirty white to suggest sunlight. When dabbing, a little dab will do ‘ya.
Good luck
Locate a real tunnel; take a picture of the entrance; print it out to scale; attach it to your tunnel and it will look just like the real thing.