Painting a night backdrop

I'm probably the least-qualified person on this Forum to answer your question.  But I've been in exhibits, amusements, even dance clubs where some elements of the background are painted with UV-reflective elements.  When the main lights go off, they are highlighted by near-UV "black light."

I guess you could hide "stars" in clouds on your backdrop, or specks of "light" in building windows.  Then when you turn out the lights and shine a blacklight on your backdrop, they will glow in a way that wasn't obvious when the lights were on.

That's my idea, perhaps others will confirm whether it's feasible and advise you on implementation.  Good luck!

Embrace your inner van Gogh and go with Starry Night

@Ted S posted:

I'm probably the least-qualified person on this Forum to answer your question.  But I've been in exhibits, amusements, even dance clubs where some elements of the background are painted with UV-reflective elements.  When the main lights go off, they are highlighted by near-UV "black light."

I guess you could hide "stars" in clouds on your backdrop, or specks of "light" in building windows.  Then when you turn out the lights and shine a blacklight on your backdrop, they will glow in a way that wasn't obvious when the lights were on.

That's my idea, perhaps others will confirm whether it's feasible and advise you on implementation.  Good luck!

Good idea. A coworker who's an artist uses glow paints. With some of her artwork you only know that she used special paint when she turns out the room lights and hits it with black light. I've planned to try the paint on building windows on the layout but didn't get around to it yet.

Note that there are different types of paint. See Wikipedia:

"Phosphorescent" paints have a glow that lasts for hours after exposure to light and fade over time.

"Fluorescent" paints glow when exposed to UV radiation. It requires a special black light to view.

John

@Bob W / cprail posted:

Does anybody have any experience trying to paint a night sky backdrop?  I'm interested in doing one on several walls for a winter night, and as the background for a year-round Christmas layout.  I've searched the Forum but have not seen anything on the topic.  Some Forum members have just used white walls with blue LED strings at bottom of the wall, but before going that route, I'd love to see what the rest of you have done to model night settings.

All ideas are appreciated, especially on the color of night sky and how best to apply it to the walls (brush, roller, sponge, etc).  The online tutorials I've seen are all for small format paintings, and I'm not sure they translate into entire walls.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Another idea you could consider is a painted and backlit translucent background, in which you can vary the light as needed. While I certainly didn't invent this, I discovered it for myself by happy accident.  See https://ogrforum.com/topic/hap...anslucent-background

John

Ted - Using UV-reflective fluorescent paint is a very interesting idea I'd never thought of.  Your idea of hiding the stars in clouds until the black light is shined on them is very inventive.  This is an avenue I will try out in a small-scale experiment.  Thanks for the suggestion.

John - your Happy Accident backdrop effect is great, thanks for the link.  I really like your trees & mountains painted on the translucent plastic cardboard, and the effect with the back lighting makes it look even better -- it gives the layout a very warm and fuzzy feeling that is very appealing.

Up to now, I've been trying to figure out how to paint the wall black/very dark blue so that it looks like a dark winter night (moonless).  Your and Ted's ideas for putting in some stars and for a back-lit translucent backdrop have given me a new direction to ponder.  Again, thanks to both of you for the ideas.

Has anyone used blacklight bulbs or blacklight fixtures without having any fluorescent painted objects within your layout? What does it look like? With Halloween coming up, I've been trying to complete some more buildings with monster figures and ghostly weathering paints and powders. Thus far, over the past few years I've done about a dozen Railking and Lionel buildings in this fashion and have just completed an under-the-layout scene (about 7 feet wide by 18" deep), with the idea being a city that was swallowed by a 1918 earthquake and the new city built on top of it, leaving behind a forgotten world now inhabited by vampire zombies. The Seattle underground city gave me this idea - that was caused by a terrible fire in late 19th century started from a carpenter's melting pot. I've been thinking about how to light this "underground city" scene with ghostly effects, and before reading this thread I only thought of using a rope light, maybe one in orange colors.

I had a blacklight fixture as a teenager and would buy posters at Spencers (remember that franchise?) that glowed under blacklight - very neat effects.

This is an intriguing concept that I want to explore. Like Bob, we’re building a permanent Christmas layout. Any insights as we explore I hope will be shared.

Jay

Jay - Would you please let me know what you decide to do about background.  My Christmas layout is focused on NYC in the 1950's, which I visited as a child, and on a dark winter night -- hence the question about how to get the walls in the background to look realistic.  My original thinking was that the walls would have to be painted a very dark blue/black, but a number of Forum members seem to get a good night sky just by darkening a room with white walls, lit with blue LED strings.   At this point, I'm just feeling my way forward and keeping an open mind.