Looking for some good backdrops

[HONewbie]

Greetings all,

I needed a new hobby so I thought I’d build a model railroad.  My dad built a very simple one 45 years ago but I didn’t take much interest in it at the time.  I guess this must be an old guy’s hobby to really appreciate the craft and craftsmanship that can go into it.

I’m building it in the corner of my basement and would like to put a backdrop or two behind it.  Does anyone know of a good source or such things, maybe photos of cities and mountains?  I’ve looked around the net and haven’t found exactly what I’m looking for.  Please let me know where a good place to look is.

Thanks for your help!

[RideOnRoad]

Here's one for you, but be forewarned, they ain't cheap.

http://www.backdropjunction.com/

The really cheap alternative is to get some hardbaord and a gallon of sky blue paint.  If you want to get a little more ambitious, you can airbrush in a couple of clouds.  (We are about to try this ourselves.)

[Anonymous]

Backdrops can make or break the appearance of a layout. Photo-realistic backgrounds have the tendency to dominate a scene, causing the eye to focus on the backgrund instead the foreground. Painting your own background requires a lot of artistry, which not everyone has. Even a simple backdrop with some clouds is a lot more difficult to create than one would think. Before you invest a lot of time and money into something you may not like later on, start with a simple backdrop - just a very light blue or very light gray. You can add clouds later, if you like.

One of the very few really fantastic examples of a backdrop is on Troels Kirk´s On30 layout - have a look:

See how many different shades of blue the sky has and how many different colors the clouds have! Btw, Troels is a professional Swedish artist.

[gandydancer19]

I use the ones from Walthers http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?manu=949&split=30

and Scenic Express http://www.sceneryexpress.com/products.asp?dept=1100

I usually cut the sky away from them and then glue them on the wall with 3M 77 spray adhesive.  The wall is painted a sky blue before mounting them of course.  You could use masonite as a mounting backdrop, paint it blue, and then glue on the scenes that you want.  I usually put background buildings in front of the seams to hide them.

[DSchmitt]

Make your own photo backdrops. Find locations where you can take panorama photos that fit your needs. 

Many inexpensive digital cameras have a panorama setting.  I have a Sony Cybershot that cost less than $100.00. 

A digital camera that doesn't make panoramas can also be used.  Multiple shots can be stitched together to make a panorams using a computer.  There are free programs available to do this.  (one iof them is Microsoft ICE).  Be sure there is about 1/8 frame overlap between the shots.  Works best if the camera is mounted on a tripod, but  hand held will work.

A friend made a very nice backdrop on his HO layout from stitched mutiple shots.   He printed it out on mutiple sheets (13"x19")uaing a large format printer .  From normal viewing distance the joins between the sheets are not visable. He wrote an article for the NMRA-PCR Sierra Division newsletter:

http://www.pcrnmra.org/sierra/Feb-2014-digital.pdf

[peahrens]

Here are some relatively recent related threads that may help round out the info:

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/221045.aspx

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/217998.aspx

I used a masonite backboard, painted with varying blue shades top to bottom, and Scenic Express city and industry background scenes cut out (to use the consistent painted sky on the masonite) plus foreground "background" buildings of two types: Cornerstones roughly 2" deep items plus some "flats" (photos) from Kingmill Enterprises mounted on foamboard.

[dominic c]

backdropwarehouse.com 

Joe C

[zstripe]

A Link to Joe C's suggestion:

http://www.backdropwarehouse.com/indexbdwh.htm

Frank