Backdrop Height

[Anonymous]

 I am not sure, how high a backdrop should be. Layout height is 54" above floor, the tallest building abou 8" high. I was figuring on something like 18 - 20" - is that enough?

Layout is to be viewed and operated by people ranging  from app. 5´ 4" to 6´4".

[jrbernier]

Ulrich,

  That can vary depending on the layout height!  My 'benchwork is 45" at the top of the joists, and the backdrop rises 24" above that.  The actual track is anywhere from 48" to 54"...  I made the backdrop from 24" wide strips of 1/8" Masonite and it wraps 51' around the layout room.

Jim Bernier

[Anonymous]

 Jim,

the track is on a uniform 54" height, maximum depth of the layout is 30" . It is planned to have some sort of a valance above the layout which "houses" the lighting. 24" seems a lot...

[MudHen_462]

My benchwork is 51" in height, and my back drop is 30" above the top of the bench work, I used brown board (masonite type material) and it works quite well. I am building an around-the-room layout and have "panoramic back ground panels completely around all four walls of my train room. Bob {IMG] http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/IronGoat/IMG_5372.jpg [/IMG]

[mobilman44]

Hi!

I have recent experience with the topic, so for what its worth, here it is...........

I'm  building a "replacement" layout for an 11x15 room filling HO pike that lasted 14 years.  The original layout had a 24 inch painted backdrop which extended about 22 inches or so above the main level benchwork.  The walls/ceiling above the backdrop were painted white.  The overall effect looked great, and got a lot of positive comments.  However (there is always a "however"), there were times I wished it were higher, especially when taking pictures. 

Soooo, on the new layout, I opted for a 30 inch backdrop (with about 29 inches above main level benchwork), and that seems to work out pretty well so far.

ENJOY,

Mobilman44

[selector]

I agree, for imaging you will want about as much height in your backdrop as you can get, and the minimum ought to be about 24".  For example, if you want to image your yard from one end so that several parallel tracks show the impressive distance down them, you are likely to show the top of the backdrop if it is less than 24".  You would have to crop your image to make the top of the backdrop "disappear".  

Ulrich, if you have the room, go high.  Anything higher than about 18-22" is likely to be just a plain sky blue anyway, so a roller would have it done in seconds.

-Crandell

[ham99]

I used Masonite panels cut in three 16" strips for my background.  I needed the wall space above the layout for a number of railroad paintings.  I have been satisfied with the 16" height.

[nbrodar]

 I used 36 inch light blue craft paper for my backdrop.  So allowing for a 3 to 6 inch drop below the layout top, my backdrop is 30ish inches tall.

Nick

[markpierce]

The top should be at least several inches above eye level unless access over the backdrop is needed.  It should be high enough so when viewing the layout (particularly during operations) a person isn't distracted by an absence of sufficient backdrop.  I'd suggest trying some mockups before making a final decision on the exact height.

Mark

[Beach Bill]

I used an acrylic sheet called Optix by Plaskolite, Inc.  This comes in 4' x 8' sheets, and is available through a plastics distributor (I looked in the yellow pages under "plastic").  I think its 3/32" thick.  This bends very nicely around the corners and is very smooth - no need for sealer paint as on masonite.  I had the distributor rip the sheets for me...   3 eight-foot lengths of 16" high backdrop out of one sheet that way for economy.     For me, with the track height at "breastbone height", this 16" works fine.

Bill

[CascadeBob]

My track height is 56" and I used a backdrop board that is 24" above track height.  It was cut from 4' x 8' sheets of 1/8" hardboard.  The hardboard was mounted on a 1" x 2" frame attached to the wall as described in Jeff Wilson's book on benchwork construction (Kalmbach).  The wall above the backdrop board, up to the ceiling, was painted the same color of blue that the upper portion of the backdrop board will be painted.  The backdrop board that runs down the center of a peninsula in the center of the room is 30" high to block the operator's view of the layout lights on the other side of the peninsula, but still leave enough space between the top of the backdrop board and the drop ceiling for air circulation.  The balance of the hardboard sheets remaining after the 30" boards were cut from it will be used for the fascia.  I primed both sides of the backdrop boards to seal out moisture.  One coat on the back side and two coats on the front to cover the brown color of the hardboard.

Bob 

[Jackh]

Nick

Where did you get this craft paper from? Is it continous or in sheets? And how did you put it up?

thanks, Jack

[CTValleyRR]

I use foam core, which comes in 30"x40" sheets.  I glue them to dowels, which fit in brackets on the benchwork (so that I can remove them to fix derailments or scenery problems at the back of the layout.

Because these rest on the edge of the benchwork, some scenery extends up over the backdrop, it gives me roughly 24 - 28" above the scenery in most places. 

[Graffen]

Here you see how tall I made this backdrop. It is made of Linoleum carpet spiked to 1"x 2" framing.

It´s not easy to judge the height if you don´t have some references. I´m 6´8" and on this pic I´m standing on a beer-crate .

[nbrodar]

Jackh

Nick

Where did you get this craft paper from? Is it continous or in sheets? And how did you put it up?

thanks, Jack

 

Jack,

 I picked it up at Staples.   It's a continuous roll, but I forget how long it is.  I use thumb tacks at the top to hold it up.

[superbe]

Hey Sir Mad Dog,

What is the condition of the wall beyound the back drop?

Mine is a block basment wall that needed painting so I used foam board and covered the whole wall from the floor to the rafters. It really helped the room appearance as well as providing insulation.

Bob

[Anonymous]

 The layout will be a show layout, i.e. it needs to be easily dismantled for transportation. Think of it as a box with a viewing window - the backdrop height will determine the size of this viewing window, that´s why this question is so important for me.

Btw, my screenname is Sir Madog - a character out of the Welsh mythology -  - though I may act like a mad dog, now and then 

[topcopdoc]

Since I have an access walkway around the layout I painted the entire wall from floor to ceiling. I also painted the ceiling a sky blue, which makes the river and streams really standout.

 Doc

[CascadeBob]

 Doc,

How did you do the great blue to white transition on your backdrop as you come down to the horizon?  Did you use an airbrush or brush?  I looks very realistic.

Bob

[topcopdoc]

Bob,

 Thanks for the complement. The photo does not show up the sky the way it really looks, it is much better.

 I use a painting technique I developed for long walls in this case 18 feet. I used 3 paints, a dark sky blue, a light sky blue and white. The blue paints were mixed to my specifications at Home Depot. The transition lines between the paints are marked using a laser level. Then each section is blended together with combinations of each separate paint color.  

 

The forest green extends from the table level to the floor. This allows the observer to think he is looking into a valley but is really looking at the access walkway at the edge of the layout.  The forested mountains were made also by a technique I developed. In fact everything you see in the photo is foam board with the exception of the trains and track. I am in the process of making a tutorial on these techniques. 

 

Doc

 

[R. T. POTEET]

A quick answer to your query is that a backdrop need be tall enough to accomplish its so-called raison d'étre!

A backdrop serves two purposes: firstly it provides a surface for the incorporation of some sort of mural designed to increase our depth perception of our modeled platform. As mobilman said he is increasing the heighth of his backdrop because he found that the former heighth did not facilitate photography.

The second motive of a backdrop is to provide a viewblock keeping our perspective to the area immediately in front of us; if this reason is important to you then your viewblock should be high enough to sustain that purpose i.e. if you are only interested in blocking the view of the trackwork on the other side of a peninsula then it may only need to be a height to serve that purpose. The Yao Mings and Shaq O'Neils are rare in real life; I read somewhere recently where the average height of an American male is 1762mm, that's 69.37 inches. It varies somewhat but the distance from the top of our head to eye level is approximately 10% of that overall height. So if you are an average male with a top of the head height at 1762mm then a backdrop height of about 1586mm should serve your purpose. You're not going to see over that!

I have visited layouts where the backdrop serves as a defacto room divider reaching all the way to the ceiling. These "room divider" backdrops not only obstruct our view of trackwork on the opposite side of a peninsula but serve the additional purpose of keeping operators in the far aisle from being seen. A backdrop need not reach all the way to the ceiling to accomplish this purpose but is generally going to have to be tall enough to block other operators from our view.

With this in mind I once visited a rather large N-Scale layout that was being run as a club. On this particular day there must have been six or seven operators working and one of these operators was an individual who towered a good 6'9" above floor level and who had a mop of carrot top hair. The backdrop on this layout was not tall enough to conceal this guy from view from the adjacent aisleway and I thought it rather comical to be looking at the mural painted on the backdrop and see this shock of red hair protruding into the blue sky. In this case the backdrops needed to be about six inches taller than they actually were.

[dante]

R. T. POTEET

It varies somewhat but the distance from the top of our head to eye level is approximately 10% of that overall height.

 

That's an average of almost 7".  I would question that:  I am average height of 69.5" and the distance from the centerline of my eyes to top of head is about 4.5".  And-honest-I don't look weird!  (One might even say I look average! :-))

Dante 

[ham99]

Remember the coneheads that were on TV several years back.

[CascadeBob]

 Doc,

I look forward to seeing your tutorial on your technique for painting your backdrop sky.  I'm at a point where I need to be doing at least my sky background, but the idea of trying to get something that looks like yours scares me.  I'd appreciate any details on your technique that you could provide in this forum in advance of the completion of your tutorial on the subject.

Thanks for your help,

Bob

[topcopdoc]

Bob, 

 

Decide how high you want your sky and where your horizon line is. Divide the sky into 3 equal sections. The top section is your darkest blue, the middle section is your lighter blue and the bottom section is white. Paint each color evenly on the backdrop. Make sure these painted sections are level to your floor.  

 

At the transition points between each color you have choices of blending each color. This would depend mostly on how big the total sky is going to be. You can mix small amounts of 2 different colors for example starting with white keep adding light blue and apply each in a strip to the backdrop. Add more light blue and apply another strip working toward the solid light blue on the backdrop. When that is complete start with the light blue paint and dark blue paint and work your way up to the top of the sky which would be solid dark blue. 

 

Make sure you measure each proportion in case you run out of paint so you can duplicate that color again. Finally blend all the colors with an airbrush, paint roller, paintbrush or any combination of each. This is where experimentation and technique is up to you.  

 

Stand at a distance and look at your work. Touch up those sections that don’t blend smoothly. This is where remembering the exact paint proportions you used become important. Finally apply your horizon line (buildings, trees, mountains, etc.) over the lowest section (white) and you are finished. 

 

Hope this helps, good luck and let me know how it works out.

 

Doc

 

[jbinkley60]

mobilman44

Hi!

I have recent experience with the topic, so for what its worth, here it is...........

I'm  building a "replacement" layout for an 11x15 room filling HO pike that lasted 14 years.  The original layout had a 24 inch painted backdrop which extended about 22 inches or so above the main level benchwork.  The walls/ceiling above the backdrop were painted white.  The overall effect looked great, and got a lot of positive comments.  However (there is always a "however"), there were times I wished it were higher, especially when taking pictures. 

Soooo, on the new layout, I opted for a 30 inch backdrop (with about 29 inches above main level benchwork), and that seems to work out pretty well so far.

ENJOY,

Mobilman44

 

My layout is slightly smaller (11'x12') and I opted for 24" backdrops.  If I were to do it again, I would do as you did and go a litle taller 30"-36".  It helps more with hilly terrain and pictures.  My tallest hill is just 6"-7" below the top of the backdrop.

 

[R. T. POTEET]

dante

R. T. POTEET

It varies somewhat but the distance from the top of our head to eye level is approximately 10% of that overall height.

 

That's an average of almost 7".  I would question that:  I am average height of 69.5" and the distance from the centerline of my eyes to top of head is about 4.5".  And-honest-I don't look weird!  (One might even say I look average! :-))

Dante 

You got me!

I had been  reading about Paleontology and the reference was being made to the physical differences between modern man--Homo sapiens sapiens--and Homo neanderthalis. A recent tabulation has concluded that males of the genus Homo sapiens sapiens--that's we'uns as they say in West "By God" Virginia--average 1722mm in height worldwide; European males--that's the majority of we'uns I do believe--average 1752mm in height. Our physical proportions breaks our height down to 5.4% peak-of-skull to eye-level, 10.1% peak-of-skull to mouth-level, and 13.9% peak-of-skull to chin level.

We can conclude from these figures that the eye level of an average European male is going to be about 1657mm off the floor which tells us how high a view blocking backdrop would have to be to restrict our vision into an adjacent operating area.

I didn't mean to be confusing but I'm glad you caught me. Confusion such as this is one of the hazards or being in one's 70th year. Had I looked at things a little closer before hitting the "POST" button I would have realized that--I'm 68" tall--my eye level sure as the dickens ain't 61" off of the floor.

[superbe]

R. T. POTEET

We can conclude from these figures that the eye level of an average European male is going to be about 1657mm off the floor

 

Have you allowed for shoe sole and heel height ?

Bob

[CascadeBob]

 Doc,

Thanks for the detailed description of your painting technique.  I assume you use acrylic latex paint.  After you apply the bands of color, how do you keep the paint wet so you can blend the bands together?  For your own backdrop, did you use a brush to blend the bands together?  I have some scrap pieces of hardboard that I'll use to try out your technique.

Thanks,

Bob

[topcopdoc]

Bob, 

 

Correct on the latex paint I used Behr from Home Depot. In my opinion you can’t find a better paint than Behr I use it on my home.  

 

I used all 3 tools to blend paint. First came the roller but then as the transition line became smaller I touched it up with a brush and finally the airbrush for trouble spots. This is where your artistic ability comes into play. If you make a mistake paint that area over until you get it right. 

 

I did not worry about keeping the paint wet since the wall was so long. Latex takes hours to completely dry. I just painted over the areas that needed a touchup. 

 

Visitors will concentrate on your layout details not your sky. I have not decided to add any clouds yet but I might in the future. 

 

Doc