Affordable Quality Backdrops

[oldmuley]

I'm contemplating adding a backdrop to my layout, and as in the thread title, I'm looking for some affordable quality options. I have roughly 50 linear feet of wall to cover and my height is about 24". Some of the sites I've visited include:

railroadbackdrops.com

backdropwarehouse.com

www.trainjunkies.com

tracksidesceneryshop.com

These all have their pros and cons, with some being more easily navigated than others. Has anyone had experience with any of these, or other, vendors? There is also the possibility of taking my own photos and having them run at a large format printers since these seem to have a lower cost per square foot.

[csxt8400]

Your idea about using photographs and having them printed out is what I am planning to do down the road. I would like to know how feasible that process is, and what type of printing is possible with commercialized equipment.

[edwardsutorik]

I suggest a visit over to the Model Railroader forums. There's a guy there who made his own photo backdrops, and has talked a bit about it.

This should link to his topic:


cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/278638.aspx


It's about building the whole layout, so you might want to fast-forward, or something. But he made some good points.

In short, you need the right kind of photo(s). You probably will have to stitch them together. The actual printing is no big thing. My last printer could print 17" wide and many feet long. Next size up is 24".

Very doable, and you can pick the scenes that you like.


Ed

[mpi]

Check out LARC backdrops www.larcproducts.com You can get them custom printed, or print them out on your computer, and do it yourself. I have done them both ways, and people always have favorable comments when they see my layout

[oldmuley]

Backdropwarehouse.com seems to have the best pricing per square foot, but man is that 1998 Geocities styled site hard to navigate!

[Deleted]

Thanks for the info. I need to order a backdrop. You made my search much easier!

[elfan]

I have dealt with Trackside Scenery in the recent past and was very pleased with the product I received.

Tom

[csx3305]

Trackside Scenery seems to have far-and-away the best looking options for off-the-shelf backdrop stock, but folks who prefer low horizon lines need not apply.

[elfan]

Dec 31, 2021 11:37:05 GMT -8 csx3305 said:

Trackside Scenery seems to have far-and-away the best looking options for off-the-shelf backdrop stock, but folks who prefer low horizon lines need not apply.

   From what I’ve been told, and I don’t have personal experience in this, is that they can and will work with you on customizing to suit your needs and desires. 

     Tom

[wmrdgfan]

Do the trackside scenery backdrops have any kind of protective coating?

[oldmuley]

I ordered a couple of sample prints to help make my decision. If I decide a backdrop is gonna work, I need to hold off on any more scenery until I get it installed.

[riogrande]

Backdrop Warehouse is very busy and not easy to navigate. I spent some time trying to just find desert back drops and gave up. Trackside Scenery has a backdrop that look similar to what I'd like on part of the layout.

[kentuckysouthernrwy]

Chris Lyons from Canada has a series of U-tub videos on doing your own backgrounds with acrylic paints and his technique allows you to customize your backgrounds as you like.

His first video is at:

Here is some on Andy Keeney's Nashville Road using Lyon's techniques to accomplish.



Here is some Eastern Kentucky on my Kentucky Southern

[el3672]

Nice acrylic backdrop work from Andy K, I like it. Painting back drops takes a lot of time
to successfully accomplish. I'd recommend if space allows, foreground detailed scenic express
super trees up against the painted back drop to blend it all together.

[lvrr325]

I wonder if a photo backdrop is suspect to fading in time. Of course there's a lot of variables, quality of the print, lighting type and exposure, etc.

[champagnetrail]

My main problem right now is finding something suitable for a late autumn/early winter scene with barren trees. Or even something depicting winter in the northeastern U.S. Not a lot available! I'm also not really keen on making a huge time or money commitment on it, either, this being only my practice layout.

-pat

[el3672]

Check in with Mike Confalone and reach out with him on some of his Allagash Railway segments on Train Masters TV.
Love all the late autumn trees and back drops that he's been using. Maybe that will
tickle your late autumn/early winter scene interests.

[champagnetrail]

Dec 29, 2021 15:56:35 GMT -8 mpi said:

Check out LARC backdrops www.larcproducts.com You can get them custom printed, or print them out on your computer, and do it yourself. I have done them both ways, and people always have favorable comments when they see my layout

Thanks for the tip, mpi.

Not many places have a selection of "off season" backdrops, but Larc Products does.  I'm doing a late autumn/early winter scene with no snow, and they have a bunch to pick from.  Many of their scenes are in Upstate NY, which is perfect for me because my layout will be representing the EL and Bath & Hammondsport.  I just ordered one and I'll let you know how it works out.

-pat

[oldmuley]

I finally pulled the trigger and ordered a backdrop from www.trainjunkies.com and I must say I'm very happy. The print was done on a sticky-back vinyl so it went up mess free. The benchwork will go in next along with a moulding along the ceiling to give it a finished loo.

[wagnersteve]

5/19/2024, shortly after 8:03 p.m., EDT

Another interesting thread; thanks to all who've posted.

oldmuley, your backdrop looks very good indeed.

I recommend Jason Shron's discussion of the backdrop on his HO pike in his column in the February 2024 Railroad Model Craftsman and letters in the March RMC's "Safety Valve" by another modeler and by me reacting to it. The other man's letter is illustrated by a photo of what he painted himself. Mine has no illustration but relates the pros and cons of using old Details Associates printed backdrops, which I've done along parts of the walls around my very small layout, including a funny coincidence in my hiding part of one behind a building as a late friend of mine, a very well known expert HO modeler, also did on his much larger layout. A cowboy on a horse herding beef cattle wouldn't be appropriate on my layout, supposedly representing upstate New York north of Albany or on his, representing the New Haven between its namesake city and Boston!

[champagnetrail]

So did you just stick the backdrop material to the wall?

-pat

[wagnersteve]

5/20/2024, starting 6:44 p.m.

Pat, one of the first things I did, back in the 1970s, was to paint the walls of my small "railroad room" a light sky blue. Details Associates backdrops are printed on a white background; you need to careful cut that out. I simply used a bit of Walthers Goo or contact cement to attach the backdrop. Some come with extra elements that can be added, such as trees, signs and buildings. I used some of those, such as a wooden "elevator" for a small feed dealer. Added "TECH TOOL COMPANY" using a dry transfer alphabet to one fairly tall reinforced concrete factory buildings -- a teasing tribute to MIT, where my wife worked for years and I did some modeling at the Tech Model Railroad Club -- its main HO railroad was called the Tech Nickel Plate -- though I couldn't be an actual member of the group since I had no formal affiliatiion with the school myself. I have several building flats and partial buildings between segments of the backdrops, most kitbashed (one being a depot/interlocking tower inspired by one on the C&O done as a full structure on a club layout down South I saw in Model Railroader), one of the simplest scratchbuilt from wood (White Eagle Polish Pickle Works) using a herald cut from the US postage stamp honoring Poland's millenium. I have bought a different sort of a more photographic commercial backdrop, showing mountains with deciduous forest, which I plan to use parts of. One 90-degree corner in the most urbanized part of my layout is partly hidden by one-half of an old Walthers polystyrene kit for a tall brick chimney that had two 180-degree pieces; unfortunately the firm replaced it with a one piece casting years ago. Two other corners will be largely hidden by a mountain with a tunnel inside it. Structures make or will make others less conspicuous.

[riogrande]

I'll be in the market for some backdrops this year - I'm looking for scenes consistent with west of Grand Junction CO. Most of the desert-like scenes seem to concentrate on routes used by the UP naturally. Trackside scenery has one that works so far.

[oldmuley]

May 19, 2024 18:33:33 GMT -8 champagnetrail said:

So did you just stick the backdrop material to the wall?

-pat

Yup. The product I ordered was a peel-n-stick vinyl that went up like a self-adhesive wallpaper. The whole thing was one big continuous roll, so my wife and I worked out a level line to make sure and get it dead straight. The wall had been painted with a semi-gloss paint about a month ago, so the paper stuck really well. The only real issue I had is that there are a few bubbles that crept in that i can't quite get rid of.

[riogrande]

I think I would prefer getting one without self stick. It's tricky to line up a backdrop with a sticky back and avoid wrinkles while applying it.

[oldmuley]

May 22, 2024 5:04:06 GMT -8 riogrande said:

I think I would prefer getting one without self stick. It's tricky to line up a backdrop with a sticky back and avoid wrinkles while applying it.

After we put it up, I thought I probably could have attached double-sided tape to the plastic backing. That little bit of extra rigidity might have helped things stay flat, without wrinkles.

[richardthomasatal]

I used backdrop junction. I also did videos on background buildings a long time ago if you look up mauitrainguy on youtube