What A Difference A Backdrop Makes

[traindaddy1]

Jim: on your work. I like the blend of the "scenic" and "toy-like" features. 

My :  I would hesitate to paint the "fastrack" for two reasons.  First, unpainted, it looks great on your layout. It compliments the structures (farm) already in place.  Second, should unforseen circumstances require you to sell the "fastrack" in the future, paint may decrease the value.

Thanks for sharing. 

[dwiemer]

Dennis,
     One thing that they will tell you regarding painting a sky backdrop, go from lighter towards the lower portion and darker blue the higher you go.  You can get a can of a darker "Sky" blue and another can of white.  Start with a mixture with a lot of white included.  Paint the lower portion, then, mix more and more blue as you go up.  You can also use the white alone for clouds.  If you have any ground details painted on the backdrop, just remember that the farther from the viewer they are supposed to be, the less detail.  Good luck,

Dennis

[n2mopac]

Looks great. I recently installed and am painting my own backdrop. Seems to set the stage for the whole layout doesn't it.

Ron

[Jumijo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Buckeye Riveter

Jim, the backdrop really looks great, but something else caught my eye and that was the stone wall around the farm. I think it is interesting that you as a New England-er used the stone wall similar to what you have in your area, but when I did my fence around my farm scene, I used a wood fence. Very seldom do we see a stone wall fence in Ohio. [:)]

I also like the little sign on the road for the farm. Very New England and East Coast.

Did you repaint the barn?

Thank you all for the kind words. I am leaning towards painting the ballast molded into the FasTrack. I think it will add to the look and if I ever need the money that bad from resale, I guess I'll have bigger problems, huh?

Buckeye,

I have a small list of scenery items that I absolutely wanted to incorporate onto our layout. One was an old stone wall. They are as common as rocks themselves in this area. I've always enjoyed coming upon one, and even though most of the old ones aren't in great condition, I love them. Our O gauge stone wall was made from 1" styrofoam board. I did make one small section appear to be crumbling, just to add some character.

Another thing that I plan to include is a wooden fence. A real old one that's all but falling down. My kids watch a lot of Thomas, and the people who do the scenery for that show really know what they're doing. Almost every episode shows a wooden fence right near the tracks. I almost glued one to our backdrop panel, but I think I've found a better spot. That backdrop panel is only 1.25" from the tracks. It's real purpose is to keep trains from going off the table.

The barn is painted red, but to be honest, I think it's a little bright. A little too red. Last weekend, I bought some "Barn Red" at Michael's. It's more of a brownish red. I'll repaint it eventually.

Thanks again for all the kind words, and for looking at the photos.

Jim

[Buckeye Riveter]

Jim, the backdrop really looks great, but something else caught my eye and that was the stone wall around the farm. I think it is interesting that you as a New England-er used the stone wall similar to what you have in your area, but when I did my fence around my farm scene, I used a wood fence. Very seldom do we see a stone wall fence in Ohio. [:)]

I also like the little sign on the road for the farm. Very New England and East Coast.

Did you repaint the barn?

[Anonymous]

Jim, Looks great . Keep posting pics. I had help with my backdrop.. Mrs PE, guided me through it. She also helps with trees and scenery. ...............Tim

[mitchelr]

Wow is that background ever gorgeous. You have done such a great job with the scenery. The background makes the scenery just pop out at you.

Nice photos too!

[bow][bow][bow][bow][bow]

Great Work!

Mitch

[Anonymous]

Jim, that is really a nice backdrop as is the rest of it. You need not make any apologies for the tree, I just wish I could make one look that real. Your gifted!

Neil MacDonald

[Roger Bielen]

Jim, another thought just came to mind. If you find the color latex you like you could mix in some sand to get the texture.

[Roger Bielen]

Great work Jim.

On some other threads there's been metion of the textured paints. If you can find the right color for ballast that might be an option for the Fastrack.

[csxt30]

Very nice , Jim !! Just what I need to try to do !
Thanks !!

[wrmcclellan]

Jim - nice job!

[1688torpedo]

Jim- You did a real nice job on your backdrop! Looks very professional. I bet the kids love it.Take Care.

[mickey4479]

Nice work jaabat. The backdrop and scenery are great. [tup][tup] I wish I had the same eye and skill to do the backdrop. I might experiment sometime.

[Birds]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jaabat

..If I like the looks of it, I'll do the whole layout. Resale schmeesale!

[:D][:D][:D]

[Jumijo]

Thanks, Gil. Your coal structure is coming out just incredible. Our layout is set in New Hampshire's White Mountains, but I didn't paint from any reference photos. Just slapped the paint on and hoped for the best. I tried to get cute by painting the birch tree in the foreground.

Jim

[Anonymous]

The back ground looks as good as the fore ground.
Are those the Berkshires painted on the wall there Jim?

You layout is truely incredable work, i am very impressed.

[Jumijo]

John,

Thanks! I just saw your backdrop over on the coffee pot thread. It looks great! Looks like a partly cloudy day on your layout. German countryside is fine by me. I love european scenery - especially Loren and Bardo! I wish I could help you with the glueing issues, but I don't have any experience there.

I'm going to buy a straight section of FasTrack and experiment with painting it. If I like the looks of it, I'll do the whole layout. Resale schmeesale!

Jim

[jefelectric]

Jim, Backdrop looks terrific, you must have some artistic talent. Wish I could paint like that.

I have to settle for preprinted backdrop. It is a pain to glue to masonite, like hanging wallpaper trying to match the edges. The stuff I got from Walthers is actually German countryside although no one but me knows it. I just posted my latest effort over on the coffee pot.

I think the Fastrack looks pretty good, compared to traditional, it looks very good.

[Jumijo]

Dave,

Thanks for the tip. I'm not afraid of it looking bad so much as I am of ruining the resale value of the track, should the need come to sell off. Kinda like how no one weathers their Lionel locos or freight cars. Who's going to buy painted FasTrack? On the other hand, it's not a fortune to be had either.

Jim

[FJ and G]

Jim,

Latex-based paint would work and you could clean up any mistakes. One way to do it would be to brush reddish-brown paint over the entire track and roadbed in a small section. Then, quickly wipe off the tops of the rails and ties and sprinkle a thin layer of fine ballast. The wet paint would act like glue, holding the ballast in place (you could always spray glue on).

Maybe just take a piece of fasttrack and try it. The advantage would be ballast and rusty rail sides.

Having said that, the fasttrack without the treatment looks good, in a sort of art-deco way, but since you already hi-railed the scenery, you might opt for the track treatment.

[Jumijo]

Thanks, boys. Thor, I am trying to get up the nerve to paint the FasTrack ballast. I know absolutely that it will look much better painted, but as of now, I'm not ready to deface it in the name of realism. Call me gutless.

Jim

[FJ and G]

I like the purple; gives a feeling of vast distances; horizon lines look correct as well. Great work.

[thor]

Very nice Jim! It looks realistic to my eyes. I like the way the Fast Track looks brand new as if it was a mainline that had just been redone.

[Jumijo]

Too late for Sunday Photo Fun (or too early for next week's), but here goes. Click on photos to enlarge.

Below are some quick photos of our first backdrop. I painted the rough side of 1/8" masonite with house paint and acryllic craft paint. All colors are mixed on a palette from a few primary colors. I was amazed at the depth it gives our layout. This one is 4.5 feet long. The next 2 will be 8 feet and 10.5 feet long. Yikes!


The first photo shows a styrofoam hill I made to keep speeding trains from leaving the table. It sits right up against the backdrop, as does another hill on the opposite side (see photo 3).



The next photo shows a view of the backdrop in relation to the farm. I was fortunate enough to match the painting's grass with the ground foam grass on our layout.

Someone had asked about making stone walls from lightweight materials in another thread. The wall around the farm is just 1" pink foam board, scribed with a pencil.




The last photo is a wider shot that shows the other styrofoam hill. The painted trees really blend in well with the ones "planted" on the hill. After seeing this photo, I've decided the farm needs more trees surrounding it to screen the trains better. We are trying to mix realism with a toy-ish look. Not sure what that approach is called, but as you can see, the farm does have a toy-like appearance.



That's all I got. Thanks for looking.

Jim