My second ttrak module needed to have a transition down from the raised ground of my first module. I also wanted to use a recently purchased Tomytec temple, so I decided to model a small slope and then some flat ground for the temple. Finally, to add further interest I thought would try to add a mountain backdrop.

I began by mocking-up the module using a sheet of paper, a few pieces of painted foam insulation, and some random trees I had laying around. This helped develop shapes for the hill and backdrop, but my initial reaction was that the green color was not sufficiently interesting. I replaced the paper with form core on the second attempt, and tried autumn colors - which I decided that I liked much better.

By now I had discovered than much of the fun of building a ttrak module was photographing it from various sides and angles. However, using my desk as a platform led to much unwanted clutter in the background. To overcome this I built a simple ttrak "photo studio" with a sky background. This allows me to surround the module with extra trees, hills or buildings to provide added depth to a scene. The background hill was cut from a paper grocery bag and clump foliage was then attached.

Best of all, you can now turn the module completely around and take photos from the other side.