Waterfront background for maritime pictures of models in 1;250

[Front Light]

Hi to all,

this is not a diorama but a background to make fotographs of smaller ships and boats in front of it. It has not so much details and no concrete scene is shown although there is a real original I tried to make a model of. Scale is 1;250 as all of my models are until now.

The original is the exit of the Kaiser lock in Bremerhaven, Germany. The lock was built to get the fast steamers of the North-German-Lloyd like KAISER WILHELM DER GROSSE into the harbour. Its opening was in 1897. I am sorry that I cannot show you a model of the lock which would be to complex for me, but I am still dreaming of

What I will show you is a self "constructed" model of the south side of its exit with a small light house, called "Pingelturm" by the local people which means bell tower because of its function as a mist signal.

The original scene has changed completely since 2007 when the lock was enlarged for the next generations of car carriers. So here is, what it looked like for about 110 years.

[Front Light]

I have finished the main parts of it until february 2017 but there are still some things to do and I am planning an extension because there are to much land and to little water areas.

I am sorry that sometimes I will not be able to give you the correct descriptions for the kinds of used material, but I hope you will see what I mean.

I have to mention that I made no plan before building and some things where more or less a shot in the dark.

The basic is a foam filled plate (?) with an surface of coloured construction paper. It is painted with glue to simulate the water. Another foam filled plate is covered with green construction paper. The frame for the dyke is made of thick cardboard with about 1.5 mm. The construction is covered by transparent green paper. I have taken a texture from the internet to make the walls of the waterfront.

As you can see in the fourth picture the dyke is making a turn to far to the right although it has to go parallel to the wtaerfront. This is one of the problems my unplanned acting caused but I could correct it before it was to late.

[Front Light]

The dyke area is covered with grass taken from model railroad supply.

I tried to build the lighthouse by a rescaled model of the german naval museum changed from 1;100 to 1;250 (as you can see in the first picture) but the built was not so satisfying. So I changed to a model created from the outset in 1;250. It is published by the Kartonwerft, an german short run publisher and is an absolutely accurate construction.

The fifth picture shows the bell to the left which gives the lighthouse its common name.

There is still a lot to do: The slope to the water has to be covered with an authentic surface, there is reed along the bow and the sidewalks on the dyke and at its base have no adequate coating.

So this report will go on when I find some time to continue...

[creosotewind]

This is a really clever backdrop. Very nice work indeed.

[Don Boose]

This little scene reminds me of the area near the Cape May, New Jersey, USA, ferry terminal, which always has lots of work and pilot boats, and the occasional Coast Guard launch, in the vicinity.

Don

[SCEtoAUX]

Very nice looking scene.

I believe the foam filled plate you are referring to is called foam core board in some places. You get it in large sheets. It has paper surfaces with some foam sandwiched between them.

[Tom Lapinski]

Nice diorama!

[Front Light]

Thank you Doug and Tom!

Foam core board sounds well One of the advantages is its self-adhesive surface. I am going to use the same plates for the extension.

[Kevin WS]

Very nice!

And a well thought out model for an effective display base.....

[C9B]

This is very nice and shows off your model to good effect. I wonder if others have built backgrounds like this. I would like to see more.