I vote for a somewhat dark shade of brown/tan simply to represent dirt/rock supporting the landscape above (in mountain or other areas with,say granite underlayment, use dark grey - make sure to feather in colors between areas) - no root details or underground creeks or whatever (unless you're really into that), just plain brown/grey/tan etc.

(and if you have a curtain/skirt that reaches the floor, dye the bottom a neon red/orage to represent hot molten magma - OK, so that's the ultimate vertical selective compression, but it's still a fun idea)

Interesting topic, 

My choice is a flat, darker green, not quite OD, but close and I am using black plastic sheeting as the curtain.  I've read and thought about this quite abit and rather like the shadow box effect that darker colors create. My original thinking did not include a valence, as I use track lights, but I'm certainly going to put up a temporary valence probably the same color as the facia to see if I get the shadow box effect others talk about.

Joe 

I like the museum look too but I don't care for the stark black so I go with a nuetral color ,dark beige.

I personally favor unpainted Masonite(r) for my fascia panels, for several reasons:

• My fascia is made up of small panels which will be removed frequently for construction, maintenance and troubleshooting.  I would expect any painted finish to start looking pretty sad in fairly short order.
• I am terminally lazy.
• Solid color painted surfaces will show grubby paw prints a lot more than will unfinished Masonite.

Valence panels, which will only be installed once and then left alone, will look best if flat black.

My , other opinions may differ.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in Septembeer, 1964)

My club decided to use a green. Of the 60 members, there were various reasons for the choice with blending with our NE scenery and the look with the layout in such a well lighted large space. I imagine that if we modeled Southwestern or desert a tan to brown would have been the pick.

I really like that shadow box / museum look. Nice work.

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Modeling B&O- Chessie

Bob K.

Hmmm, I wonder where I got the idea I wanted shadow box?  Mr. Fugate, your DVDs are wonderful!

another Joe,

 Joe Daddy

jfugate wrote:

Likewise on my HO Siskiyou Line. (Click image to enlarge) I use a dark hunter green for the fascia, black for the valance and skirting. I leave the ceiling white, but the aisles don't have any lighting -- only the layout, so the emphasis is on the layout, and you can see in the above photo. I like the museum-shadowbox look. I think it's very attractive and it focuses attention on the layout, as it should.

Definitely a dark color. I was given a few sheets of 1/4 thick plastic sign board that I used for part of my fascia. As an experiment I painted this twelve foot section GLOSS black. It actually looks good, helps repel crud and childrens' fingerprints a bit better than the flat, and cleans up more easily. Of course now that I like the look, I need another 48 feet of the stuff to finish the experiment. No rush yet though, there are still years to go in building the rest of the layout.

Karl 

I agree with most all comments thus far...

For the true "museum-shadowbox" look, most definitely go with the flat black!

On the other hand, I prefer an "almost" to that contrast and went with a darker olive drab "Cambridge Green" from the Dutch Boy chips, for both my fascia and the valance.

But in all honesty, the big thing with what ever color chosen, at least in my mind, is that it is a FLAT finish. A flat finish will not pull attention away from your pike with its WOW of sight!

I also strongly believe that this should be the case with a backdrop. Yes, I have seen some REALLY nicely painted backdrops with both landscape and detailed scenes.....But I still feel that a flat, less detailed backdrop does not distract from the diorama. As should a flat, neutral color on fascia and valance.

What also would be interesting is the cost per foot for the various methods & materials, especially skirting materials. (I have a hundred feet of skirting to do)

My layout is all foam, the terrain shapes are mostly finished, track laying, painting, ballasting and testing has been done. At layout's edge, I added a vertical layer of  2" foam around the layout, (covering the benchwork), so I would have a more finshed "facia" (temporarilly) while final scenery was waiting to be done.

The foam has been blended, smoothed and painted, to look like an applied facia and ALL unfinished foam everywhere is painted in appropriate colors for the area, (A layout is a long term project and I got tired of looking all that pink and blue and it really gives a quick & cheap immediate improvement).

I've tried both hunter green and flat black for the facia surface. I"m also trying a couple of areas of facia with the terrain color(s). I am still undecided.

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Jay