Background corner curves

[Anonymous]

Anyone have any experience creating a curved scenery backdrop in corners of a room? What material seems to be best? Masonite? Some other type wallcovering? I have four corners on new layout and no idea what would give long lasting results. Help!
Thanks...Jeff

[Anonymous]

Jeff;
Check out sheet styrene (1/8 inch) at your local pastic distributor. You can buy large sheets which are lightweight, easily cut, readily curved, and are easily joined. I think MR just had an article on this topic. The sheets also take glue and paint very well. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

How about using heavy poster board?

[Anonymous]

Hi Jeff,
I've used masonite in the past, & it works well, but it can be cumbersome to handle in large pieces, & requires some pretty hefty wood framing to support it.
My latest discovery is vinyl floor remnants. You may be able to find a damaged piece for a bargain price. It won't matter what the flooring looks like, because you're going to flip it over, & use the underside for your backdrop. You can glue this stuff in place using vinyl adhesive, you can cut it with a utility knife, & straight edge, it's light weight, & you can have very long lengths of seamless backdrop. You can also paint it, &/or glue prints, or building flats to it.
I am very pleased with it, & will use it from now on.

[Anonymous]

A lot depends on how your room is at present, and how you are doing your straight sections of backdrop.If the walls are open studs, there are many possibilities, including a combination of drywall on straight sections, and masonite in the corners, but keep in mind that 1/4" masonite will only curve to about a 36" radius, and you may not wi***o lose this much space in the corners. If the room already has finished walls, whether drywall or wallboard of some kind,and you are going to paint or glue backdrop detail right on the wall, then masonite is a problem.The sheet styrene suggestion you got is the easiest to 'blend in' to the existing wall. If you are going to install a backdrop on top of your
straight walls, made by putting strapping over the walls you have, and covering with some other material, then the flooring material suggestion you got is good, too.Whatever curved corners you choose, you will need at least three 'formers' made of plywood or particle board to support the curvature.This is a lot of work.
Another and much easier way to achieve a similar effect to what you seek, is to use 45 degree 'straight corners' in the corners,( about 16 to 18" wide, of masonite, smooth plywood, or drywall ),and blend in the two corner joints with drywall tape and filler, or with sheet styrene.This will let you run a 24" radius into your corners easily.Hope this isn't too confusing.Good luck.

[gerryleone]

>but keep in mind that 1/4" masonite will only
>curve to about a 36" radius, and you may not
>wi***o lose this much space in the corners

I either got some pretty lousy Masonite, or I lucked out, or I pushed the material to its limit... but I managed to curve two different 24-inch high, 8-foot long pieces of tempered Masonite a full 180-degrees around a 15" diameter (not radius) concrete form without them cracking or splitting. I did it without wetting or kerfing the backside. I just made the bend over a period of 3 or 4 hours -- bent it about 30-degrees, and let it sit that way for an hour, bent it another 30-degrees, let it sit, etc.

I also bent the Masonite into two 24"-radius corners in one shot.

There are photos of the backdrop on my website at http://home.earthlink.net/~gerryleone/trains.htm -- look for the "Benchwork construction" page.

-Gerry

[Anonymous]

Thanks Mark! I never gave styrene a thought. Maybe like an 0.30 thickness...easy to fill the joint...hey, I think ya got something there.
Thanks for the help..Jeff

[Anonymous]

Hi Gerald, thanks for the post. Using poster board was my my firsst thought also, but I am a little concerned that the latex paint may tend to warp it. Maybe I'll give a test sheet a try. Thanks..Jeff

[Anonymous]

Hi drew, thanks for the post. I think one of the Kalmbach books suggested that material also. I like the idea of having a continuous run. Sounds like one would need an extra set of hands to get this stuff up on the wall...just so I don't glue the kids to the wall also...Thanks for the post pal...Jeff

[Anonymous]

Hi Mike, Thanks for the post! You explained it very well. I'm currently doing a complete rebuild of work shop, so sheetrock, ceiling and lighting are orders of the day. I've never given any thought to the "straight corner" idea, but it seems to be the fastest, simplest way to get it done. Have you ever seen what happens to drywall when you leave a sheet standing in a humid place for 6 months or so? It becomes this 4x8 sheet of curved stuff that isn't worth trying to salvage. However, if a guy WANTED to curve drywall, under controlled conditions....hmmm?!
It does sound rather tedious to make all those corner formers for the other materials, but then again, we model railroaders have been known to do most anything for an effect.
Well, it seems I have a lot of ideas to ponder. I really appreciate all these folks taking time to respond to my query. Thanks again Mike..Jeff

[Anonymous]

What you did sounds very good, but are you sure that's not 1/8" masonite you used ? I was cautioning about the bend limits of 1/4" masonite.
Regards.

[gerryleone]

Mike -- you're exactly right. I used 1/8" Masonite.

[Anonymous]

Gerry...I'm glad you did cover the use of 1/8"ms Masonite, and you were right on, in it's possibilities. I was remiss in not mentioning this size in my response to Jeff.
I blame my fingers for the omission...even though they are 58 years old, only two of the fingers know how to type.Theoretically, I probably left out several other corner-curving methods also.
I really enjoy this kind of forum topic.
Regards.

[donhalshanks]

Reference ELKATAWA response. Realize this is an old topic, but am in process of planning backdrop to the drywall and very interested in using vinyl floorcovering. How did you do the "seams" in the vinyl? Any problem in not taping and filling the drywall seams underneath before applying drywall? Or filling drywall screw indents? I've heard some use an underlayment paper first (like rosin paper). This necessary? Are you still happy with your results?
Hal

[Anonymous]

I use blue mounting artboard from hobby lobby. It's 3X thicker than posterboard, is already in colors (#972 is blue), takes paint and glue well, is curvable to less than 12 radius, and is $5 a sheet. I use it for all my backboards. Looks great. I glue it with hotmelt to slats for support and do curves with cut foamcore for support.

[Anonymous]

Hello i just used 1/8 inch hard board 9the brown stuff) it comes in 2x4 sheets, bent it and used dry wall compound to feather the seams, it is just the right height at 2 ft looks like a continous background