Here is my 1st attempt to design a more realistic scenery in the background (approximated dimensions on the sketch)...
...and here is the result (sorry for the low resolution video)...
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
It is a good idea. Six inches of depth is all you need - maybe more than you need. It looks okay in the video - does its job.
This is an interesting idea. One could make the backdrops modular in the sense that one could switch them out: have a country set, a city set, an industrial area set, a spring, a fall set (colored leaves), etc., and change the whole feel of a layout in a few minutes just by switching them out.
Interesting idea, and worth think about.
Thanks!
The concept works. Easy to handle and durable for transportation. Are you layering foam insulation board?
I have thought about a similar idea but never created anything. I don't have much room so the all isblank white.
Thanks for your encouraging comments.
Reply to Jim Pastorius: if you don't have sufficient space, instead of foam you can attach shaped sheets of pre-painted card board to the sky-blue wall. In this way you can achieve a false perspective effect and to some degree a fake 3D depth.
Reply to Moonman: it is no Dow insulation foam, just thin flat styropur foam from packaging protection material. Always when my neighbors buy a new plasmaTV or a new refrigerator, they give to me all the styrofoam before disposing the empty packaging boxes.
Reply to Lee Willis: Yes, I was thinking of different theme sets as backdrop. The same shaped foam pieces can be duplicated and decorated in prairie beige for a SouthWest landscape or in forest green for NorthWest landscape or in winter white for a Canadian landscape. Of course, I am preparing also industrial area backdrops (silhouette of oil refinery complex, steel mill, etc.) and container storage of an intermodal terminal, and, and, and...
I like the concept of layers making a 3D effect and have experimented with photo back drops and using ceiling tiles that I painted. The movie industry uses various techniques for a visual effect. I like the idea of using the layered method to create an urban setting, a steel mill, a rail yard, lumbering operation plus others without all the space and clutter. Doesn't seem to be much use of this type of scenery in the RR modeling world. A lot of plaster, buildings and trees.
Like the concept and execution. The modular design lends itself to changing the background for seasonal or location variations. Good job.
There is also another aspect to take in account, which is the logistics, while attending one exposition after the other, again and again, year after year. Usually I pack all the stuff (modules, legs, wiring cables, Transformers, digital control devices, Rolling Stock, motive power, instruction manuals, club leaflets, decorative accessories, toolbox, smoke fluid, spare parts and backdrops) in my stationvagon, but I have to squeeze everything inside my car. Because the backdrop is extremely fragile during transportation, I have to think in which order to load and to unload the stuff. On the other hand decorating the club layout or the basement layout by attaching the backdrop directly to the wall is a much simpler straight forward procedure.
