St Donats 1963 has very few structures, and only a single track to carry trains from one side of the diorama to the other. Consequently, the scenery and particularly the trees form an important part of the illusion of recession. Trees salvaged from Kyle of Sutherland are used here to help create a mock-up view of the diorama with an out-of-region goods passing through in the direction of Llantwit Major.
The choice of the horizon height, 5 inches above the baseline of
the 13 inch deep viewing window, will be key for the success of the finished
diorama. This will hopefully also be the natural viewing height, and is the
height at which the photograph was taken, just slightly above the height of the
mock-up mini-view pinned to the backscene. This is above the model height of
the bridge and so I've artificially compressed the bridge perspective and “pointed
up” the parapet towards the horizon.
At this stage the trees, scenery, bridge and track bed can all be removed in order to work on individual items away from the diorama.
