Roo,
Yes, pictures can be cruel, but they can also be very enlightening. It appears, from your last photo, that the light source for this picture is off to the left and not back near the back-edge of this layout section. I reached that conclusion by noticing the small shadow lines created near the top of your now 3-D (after adding foamcore) Walther's backdrop building pictures. Those shadows caught my eye because they are very dark on your blue painted sky.
I know you probably can't safely remove the backdrop pictures from the foamcore, but can you move the lighting to be more directly over the back edge of this table? That might minimize the "shadow" look.
And, of course, if my analysis is completely wrong because my old eyes have deceived me, please accept my apologies up front.
Chuck
