The Edge of your layout

Masonite doesn't have to be painted brown or green, you could use company colors or something that matches the room.  Maybe paint the layout edge and the baseboards to match, in a color contrasting the walls?

Better yet, ask your wife. (if you don't have one borrow someone else's) 

I've collected a few old signs made of coro-plast.  It is like corrigated cardboard but instead of using paper it is thin plastic.  Bends, takes paint well, and if you can get old signs (think of the Vote for Me times) then it is free.   I'd like to know if anyone has done this as it is still something on my drawing board. 

 

I want my layout to look like it's on display and that will help a lot to do this. Thanks.

All these ideas look good; I prefer however to do what comes the cheapest; agreement there is already posted. Anything that hides the obvious, and doesn't add to the 'non-train' expenditure is worth trying!

Dennis

Mr. Mahoney,
 
The fasteners give it a kind-of industrial rivety look.  You do neat work.
 
Charles

I use recycled 1/4 inch stryo sheet painted black. They come in packing  boxes two ft by four foot. They bend to the contour of my layout and are easy to shape. Some areas I use plaster cloth to cover the foam and paint it.   Free is always good.

Ted

This post has a plethora of useful ideas, but just keep in mind this important rule:  whatever you do to create your fascia, avoid making it "eye-catching", whether that is eye-catchingly gorgeous (for married men who benefit from a woman's touch) or at the other end of the spectrum, eye-catchingly butt-ugly (for single guys whose main objective for a curtain is to hide that stack of greasy Domino's boxes and their odd mixed collection of Model Railroader and Playboy).  Because anything that draws attention away from our true labor of love (the railroad itself) is a negative.

Right now my fascia is built of foamcore. While not the most durable of materials, it's light and that's what counts.

I was considering painting the outside red, like in cutaway drawings, but that may be a bad idea.