Unique Situation with Backdrop Installation

Here is a recent thread that discusses many different approaches to hanging backdrops:

https://ogrforum.com/t...19#64499421611175419 

It would be helpful if you could post a few photos of what you're dealing with.

Here you go!

I am back again with the same issue I had before. I am really at a stand still with this. Bench work already up and track already laid. I don't want to start the serious scenery and ground cover until this has been completed.

I know I can't be the only one in the forum who has this issue. HELP HELP HELP!

Hi, I have a similar issue with an attic room 13' x 13' that will be my train room.  The angled walls really become 

ceiling(s) and therefore I treat them like sky and am trying my hand at painting clouds on them.  Any "normal" vertical walls could, of course, be improved with a commercial backdrop or whatever you budget allows.  If pure blue sky walls don't do it for you, you could try to ease the transition at the horizon & make the lower parts lighter & hazier, ie: take some of that leftover blue paint, throw some white in it & roll-it or sponge-it on the horizons.

  I am not thrilled with my clouds so far (took a picture of a cloudy sky and tried to copy it) so I am touching them up this weekend. 

Hope this is helpful.

Rich

What type of background scene are you wanting to install? Mountains? Plains? Desert? City?

I think if you keep the height of the landscape below the angled ceiling it will look fine. The angled ceiling becomes sky.

If you're wanting to have a mountain backdrop, you will need to keep the mountains far in the distance, so the mountains are "low" and most of the picture is sky.  

 I think it could work that way. 

JD

Dave,

I've attached a series of pictures of the backdrop my daughter and I created.  I did the blue sky and clouds and she free handed the terrain.  I will likely add some building flats to the mix.  Good luck!

Bruce

Dave and Rich, 

       I think your best bet is stenciled clouds, though I fear that you have already boxed yourself in to get to the walls. I have built two layouts. One I used a roll of darkening window shade material that I bought at a 50% off sale at JoAnn's. I then hung it over wood-like paneling. I had a very talented Mother-In-Law who painted the waterfall scene in he middle, but I painted the sky and the clouds. I have had to rebuild. In my new location (the old home that I grew up in) I just painted the block walls azure blue in the basement and then stenciled clouds all around. The stencils I bought back then are made by New London Industries. You can do all kinds of clouds with them and then you can add your own wisps. I also would go over some of the white clouds with a bit of gray to give a more realistic appearance to them. If you search for New London Industries, you can find several suppliers. Here is one: http://www.blueridgehobbies.co...stries-Main-1-10.asp.

Here are a coup;e of pictures of the cloud formations that you can create (and be mindful, I do not have an artistic gene in my cells!!!!)

Rick

Ranger Rick posted:

Dave and Rich, 

       I think your best bet is stenciled clouds, though I fear that you have already boxed yourself in to get to the walls. I have built two layouts. One I used a roll of darkening window shade material that I bought at a 50% off sale at JoAnn's. I then hung it over wood-like paneling. I had a very talented Mother-In-Law who painted the waterfall scene in he middle, but I painted the sky and the clouds. I have had to rebuild. In my new location (the old home that I grew up in) I just painted the block walls azure blue in the basement and then stenciled clouds all around. The stencils I bought back then are made by New London Industries. You can do all kinds of clouds with them and then you can add your own wisps. I also would go over some of the white clouds with a bit of gray to give a more realistic appearance to them. If you search for New London Industries, you can find several suppliers. Here is one: http://www.blueridgehobbies.co...stries-Main-1-10.asp.

Here are a coup;e of pictures of the cloud formations that you can create (and be mindful, I do not have an artistic gene in my cells!!!!)

Rick

Gorgeous!

BruceT47 posted:

Dave,

I've attached a series of pictures of the backdrop my daughter and I created.  I did the blue sky and clouds and she free handed the terrain.  I will likely add some building flats to the mix.  Good luck!

Bruce

 

 

Bruce, I Like! Thanks for the visual.

trestleking posted:

Hi, I have a similar issue with an attic room 13' x 13' that will be my train room.  The angled walls really become 

ceiling(s) and therefore I treat them like sky and am trying my hand at painting clouds on them.  Any "normal" vertical walls could, of course, be improved with a commercial backdrop or whatever you budget allows.  If pure blue sky walls don't do it for you, you could try to ease the transition at the horizon & make the lower parts lighter & hazier, ie: take some of that leftover blue paint, throw some white in it & roll-it or sponge-it on the horizons.

  I am not thrilled with my clouds so far (took a picture of a cloudy sky and tried to copy it) so I am touching them up this weekend. 

Hope this is helpful.

Rich

Rich,

I am leaning more towards the approach you mentioned, trying to use a commercial back drop on the areas of the room which have flat walls. This will probably be one the most creative tasks for the layout. Gotta love those ceilings.

JD2035RR posted:

What type of background scene are you wanting to install? Mountains? Plains? Desert? City?

I think if you keep the height of the landscape below the angled ceiling it will look fine. The angled ceiling becomes sky.

If you're wanting to have a mountain backdrop, you will need to keep the mountains far in the distance, so the mountains are "low" and most of the picture is sky.  

 I think it could work that way. 

 

JD

 JD that's an idea. My plan was to put a back drop on the areas of the room where the walls are flat and trim it when it meets the angled section of the ceiling. I would like a mountain scene on the section of the room where the window is (not pictured) and an industrial scene on pic #3. I did plan to put clouds in other areas.

I once made a model in a plexiglass glass box and glued a mural of the sky to the back of the box. The box had sharp corners and the right angle turn of the mural was very obvious. If I ever do it again, I will have a box made with a radiused back to it. I would try to do the same thing at all angled and 90 degree corners on your layout using Sheetrock and wood. I think as long as you get some kind of radius and eliminate sharp corners, everything can blend in better.

alan graziano

think MDF is a good choice its flexible enough to curve and easy to cut and light weight

Hey guys and gals! This is an update on where I am with installing the first backdrop. I have put masonite on the one section of the wall and cut to form. I will do the same on the other side, to the left, that is not pictured. I still don't really know what I am doing but I will take you on the journey and let you know when I get there. I think I'm getting closer though!

Hey Guys and Gals,

Here is what I have been doing this weekend. I actually installed masonite on the left side of the wall (first pic) and on the section on the wall to the right of the layout (pic #2) which will eventually have a steel mill backdrop. I carefully put up my first backdrop marked it then cut it. How nerve racking was that!?  This will give you an idea of what the other backdrops will look like as far as the tapers on the ends. Anywho, I taped it up to see how it looked and I think I may be ready for installing it with either two-sided tape or wallpaper paste. Haven't decided yet. 

I apologize for the fuzziness in the pics, I took them with my phone.

Dave

Bruce, nice work by you and your daughter.

Rick you may not have any artistic genes but you wield a mean cloud stencil, and that waterfall your very artistic mother-in-law painted for you is superb.

Dave you're conquering those angle nicely.

Thanks Coach Joe!

Bruce

Thanks Coach Joe! I wasn't quite sure what the turn out would be. I sometimes get something in my mind and it works there but nowhere else, lol.