New Custom Backdrop For My Layout Freight Yard

WOW John!

Looks. GREAT!

Enjoy!

Stan

Thanks Stan, just have to get the sucker mounted without screwing it up now!

that looks good!

That really does look good. Many of the structures appear to have a 3D look to them even though it’s a flat surface.

Yep, can't wait to get it up on the wall.  The big problem is, then the rest of the undecorated layout will look really lame!

Looks great John.

Doug

Looks great.

Using a thin, flat backing and applying on the floor first is a good idea.

FWIW, I used masonite and spray adhesive with some set-up time, but the Formica may work, as well. 

Rather than fastening the Formica directly to the wall, you may want to consider applying a piece of thin, flat stock across the top, back of the Formica and then "hooking" that to another piece of stock already fastened to the wall - similar to putting up a floating shelf with no visible supports. 

That does look great John! 👍

John, that is very cool. Love the collaboration.

Paul

Magnificent!

Peter

Wow.  That looks great!

Hi John, When I put my last back drop up it was about 25 feet in length.  I was able to install it by myself.  I used 3M double stick strips to hold it in place during the install. The double stick strips allowed me to adjust it where needed and remove any potential wrinkles. I finished it off with a piece of trim along the top. The trim along the top gives the room and layout a nice finished look  and I highly recommend it.

Rich R

Consider it the start of scenery John. It looks great. P-lam (aka formica) is a good idea. Rigid vertically but flexibile horizontally.

Can't wait to see it installed.

Bob

Looks great John. A nice industrial scene with the freight yard in front.

Once the foreground scenery is in and blended with the backdrop, it is going to be a top notch scene.

Great work by your backdrop guys!

Tom

Norm supplied me with over 20 photos, for the most part with him facing directly across each section. I guess moving along from left to right, take a shot, then shuffle along. He did a good job trying to stay perpendicular, as he moved along. Thankfully he’s a good photographer! Even though, not one photo could butt together without major adjustments for distortion, perspective & foreshortening, horizontally & vertically. I’m greatfull that his lighting was fairly consistent, so there wasn’t much color shift. I spent hundreds of hours over a six month period, meticulously piecing together each photo.

To keep the backdrop from looking one dimensional, I worked hard at trying to keep some dimensional effect within each section. To retain the depth & interest, I maintained some of the perspective, rather than just butting the facades, side by side.

The backdrop master is a high resolution image, created in O scale, measuring 20’ wide by 4’ high.

This unique, one of a kind, copyrighted backdrop, is available, on request, in all the popular scales, including O scale. The whole image can be ordered or any section that’s meets the needs of the customer. Inquiries are encouraged for pricing and further details. Quality & satisfaction are guaranteed! I can be contacted through my bio information on the OGR Forum.

Thank you,

Joe Kunka

Awesome work indeed.👍👍

John it's going to look fantastic.  I'm sure you'll get it mounted.  I believe some pictures of the backdrop master were posted in another thread but the preview Joe gave you is incredible.  Joe is a really talented man.

Norm's layout & photos + Joe's design = amazing piece of work.

Great job by 2 expert craftsmen.

This thread is getting saved for future reference.  I would love to purchase a copy of this once my layout dimensions get finalized.

I rolled a few feet of it out to look at the real thing, pretty impressive.  I'm going to wait until I have the Formica to totally unpack it. Homedepot has the Formica, but they don't have it in the stores, so I have to order it on-line.

It is a BIG piece of plastic!

John,

It looks awesome. Joe and Norm came up with a great idea.

I really like how it goes up to the ceiling, that's awesome.

Wow, that looks great! The color of the sky really makes those buildings pop.

Hi John,  I think using Formica is a great idea.  I used foam core boards for my backdrop,  I had to use multiple boards and needed to reinforce them when I placed them side by side.  It was ok, but wished i would have thought of another backing, like formica.  I used velcro tape to attach them to the wall, however, I used my chop saw to cut 2x2 boards about 3/4 of a inch and screwed them into the wall and attached the velcro tape to them, so, I just needed to press the backdrop against the wall and it all just connected.  It makes removing the back drop relatively easy.  I did not need that many "wall connectors" and if  I ever need to remove the layout, it would be easy to repair the walls,  since the screw holes are rather small. Good luck!

Dave

John, the backdrop looks fantastic!!  Norm and Joe did a great job! 

hi as usual John great picture really adds to your layout, hope your running your trains a lot and really enjoying them!

Alan

Nice work John, per usual.  I created a couple of dioramas between shelves on a steel storage rack, there I used 2 inch foam, applied the scenery backdrop, then stood it up where I wanted it on the shelf.

Thanks guys, really looking forward to getting it into place!  As I said for mounting, due to the narrow spacing from the wall to the first track, I think the only option is firmly attached to the wall, having it hanging on a frame of any type isn't going to work here.

Since it was going to be a custom print, I figured it might as well go to the ceiling, that really makes a big visual difference.

Congratulations John, that is going to greatly enhance the overall appearance. Plus, it will provide depth to a tight area.

Finally, some scenery! Hahaha I’m just kidding! That’s going to look great John. I really like the angle of the building in the corner, great detail. Looking forward to seeing the progress! Very nice work Joe and Norm!

Really adds depth to the yard scene. 3D glasses not needed. Very nice, GRJ!

I love the comments, especially 3D glasses not required! I wanted this to be a showcase for quality & capability. Only the best for John.

Joe

It certainly is an impressive piece, no doubt about it!

You probably already know this, so pardon me for stating the obvious, but if there is a curved section, the Formica should be curved first, before attaching the back drop to it. Otherwise, there will be terrible wrinkles in the finished product.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Trying to work over the yard with the bare vinyl backdrop and no backing seems like a recipe for disaster.

I agree! I can picture you on top of the layout trying to put it up directly on the wall - it's not pretty! lol

That is an amazing backdrop! Congrats!

-Greg

Roy Boy,

No curves. Main wall, flat. Back wall, 90 degrees (perpendicular), to the main wall. PIECE OF CAKE!😊

Good point though. Thanks for mentioning.

Joe

@RoyBoy posted:

You probably already know this, so pardon me for stating the obvious, but if there is a curved section, the Formica should be curved first, before attaching the back drop to it. Otherwise, there will be terrible wrinkles in the finished product.

Yep, it's a straight wall, it breaks at the corner and the end will be a separate piece.

@Greg Houser posted:

I agree! I can picture you on top of the layout trying to put it up directly on the wall - it's not pretty! lol

That is an amazing backdrop! Congrats!

I could picture that being a disaster in more ways than one!

It really will add a lot of POP to the wall, that's for sure!

For those interested, I’ve attached the original file, showing the utilized images Norm sent me. The top view shows the completed final master, with the before images I started with below. Norm’s images were all the same physical size, but some were more zoomed in, creating one of the challenges piecing them together. I didn’t include here, about half a dozen images that were used for details, or different angles. I didn’t remember how much the color varied between images, which also needed adjusting. John had a 46” height requirement so I created most of the sky, also. Please don’t get me wrong & I mentioned this earlier, Norm’s images were great! Above & beyond what I’ve been forced to use in the past for other projects.

You can’t tell from this image, that Norm’s original photos were much sharper. Since some images were a little sharper than others, I softened the clarity on some, so they blended better. Once completed, I softened the master a bit more to give the illusion of distance and so as not to compete with the trains. The resolution has also been dramatically reduced for posting purposes.

Joe

Good luck John. Scenery is a bit by bit thing. IMO, main line trackwork (not sidings and yards) needs to be done all at once.

Gerry

Smart move, John, to have a backdrop(s). IMO, having an around the walls layout using the walls with backdrops as part of the scenery greatly enhances the layout and photos/videos of it.

You are also very wise, John, in carefully planning how you will mount the backdrops, something I didn't do. Arnold