Why you should add and paint a backdrop first.

[rogertra]

Here's why.  This amply demonstrates why you should install and paint a backdrop first.

I was impatient so this serves me right.

Job about half done here on the portion of the railway that's been built so far.





Cheers

Roger T.

[rogertra]

Almost half done, at least this section, just need to go around the corner another eight feet and then I can paint.





Cheers

Roger T.

[rogertra]

Wayne.

It's a 24" x 50ft roll of vinyl made by a company called "Duraflash".  Although I purchased this about six months ago it looks as though they may be out of business as their website has been down for a while now and Googling the product name shows it "Out of stock" at various suppliers.

On my old GER, see website in sig., I did the same as you and used 1/8" tempered Masonite, which I now wish I'd done again.


Cheers


Roger T.

[electrical whiz kid]

Roger and Wayne;
Thank you both for the great insight on this oft-overlooked part of a layout.  Like most of us, I have seen many ways of approaching this aspect, and to me, I would be inclined to put up my media temporarily to sketch what will be where.  Take it down to complete the process.  This gets around a lot of issues; but especially the detail work.  The only drawback would be a tendency to excessively handle the media.  Like you guys, I would tend toward old habits-like Masonite; however, I saw a product once that is very thin and yet, like Masonite, offers some rigidity.  It is something like Strathmore or Bristol Board.  If I could guess, I would say that Strathmore in Westfield, Mass; makes it.

Rich C.

[Woody Elmore]

I have used thin Masonite in the past. Being a frustrated artist I put the Masonite rough side out. Paint adheres better to the rough side - at least that's my opinion  Then I painted it with cheap blue house paint mixed with white - how blue is a personal matter. Any cheap paint will do.

Once that is  dried I'd sketch in hills, mountains and the like with charcoal. For painting I used artist's acrylics. The advantage of using the housepaint first is that it is way cheaper than tubes of acrylics and it gives a nice clean light palette.

The beauty is that if you mess up or improve your painting skills, all you have to do is repaint.

Do what I frequently do - look at the clouds, note the colors. I've have seen clouds that have a tannish color and shades of purple are often prevalent.

[electrical whiz kid]

Woody;
Your approach makes quite a bit of sense, especially since glare would be cut down considerably, if it occurred at all.

Rich C.

[rogertra]

Woody;
Your approach makes quite a bit of sense, especially since glare would be cut down considerably, if it occurred at all.

Rich C.

I use flat, cheap, household latex paint.  

I like a sky that is medium to darkish blue at the top and almost white at the horizon.  I apply the paint using three three inch latex brushes.

A white brush, a blue brush and a water brush.

I paint a three foot section of the sky at a time.

I start at the top, or the bottom, it doesn't matter.

I brush the blue down to just over half way, then I brush the white all the way to the top and then blue down to the bottom, then I go top to bottom, or bottom to top with the clean water brush.

I do not try and get an even mix, the sky I'm aiming for is one with hazy, streaky clouds.

This is achieved by working fast and not trying to get a nice even blend from blue at the top to almost white at the bottom.  Don't over think it.

It's important the paint be wet all through the process.

Do three feet, move along and do the next three feet overlapping the previous three feet.  Don't even try to make them identical, close enough is good enough.

I took over a week to do my last backdrop and that was around 80 plus feet long.


Once I'd done the sky, I then added the distant hills and trees using the 'distant hills and trees' colour.  When they were dry, I the added the middle distant hills and trees using the 'middle distant hills and trees' colour, overlapping some of the distant hills.  finally adding the foreground hills and trees using the 'foreground hills and trees' colour sometimes over lapping the middle distant hills and trees and some both the middle and distant hills and tress.  All as it suited my mood at the time.  I paid no heed as to what was going to be 3D models in the foreground except at the Fox River bridges where I later painted a middle distant lake so it looked as though it was the source of the foreground Fox River.


Later, I went back and using a three inch fan brush I added some more detailed clouds.  I don't like stencil clouds as that's what they look like, stencel clouds.  I call them "Simpsons' Clouds" as they look as phony as the clouds in the cartoon series "The Simpsons".  


You can see how effective, or not, I was by looking at the links in my sig or the example below: -





Cheers

Roger T.

[HoModeler]

Layout looks awesome .... Thank god I painted my back round before I did the other stuff... That's going to be a pain to lean over your Track & scenery to paint the back round

[rogertra]

Layout looks awesome .... Thank god I painted my back round before I did the other stuff... That's going to be a pain to lean over your Track & scenery to paint the back round

Thanks for the complement.  As for when to paint? I could not have put it better myself. 

Cheers


Roger T.

[on30gn15]

I have used thin Masonite in the past. Being a frustrated artist I put the Masonite rough side out. Paint adheres better to the rough side - at least that's my opinion  Then I painted it with cheap blue house paint mixed with white - how blue is a personal matter. Any cheap paint will do.

Our little model RR club here in a mid-Missouri county seat farm burg of population 8,300 began with some second hand modules from a defunct club in Jefferson City. They had used the smooth side out, and we have no idea what they did to prep the panels.

Now, on the rough side back side - which are visible since our now expanded with new modules HO layout is an open square where one can look across and see the reverse side of the backdrops - I went through and primed them all with a couple coats of shellac based BIN primer thinking that would slow down the absorbency of the fuzzy Masonite. Then over that two coats it took two coats of latex house paint, I used the same pale blue as the room walls. On new backdrops we built, I did the BIN primer thing on both sides.

But I tell ya what, it sure gave the place a more finished and professional appearance - important since as our agreement with the city to use the space requires monthly open houses and being open when there are events in our little 4 block downtown.

Back to the backdrop fronts, from the paint textures, three different techniques had been used, roller, brush, spray. Eventually I took a few days to refresh the backdrops with a new coat of blue as some were pretty dinged up. There was some nice scenery on some of them, did my best to preserve that.

Not exactly a Pulitzer Prize winner, but it gives the idea. Middle two of the 4 modules on this side have omitted the backdrops because people liked to look inside the square to see the 2 yards.
1_0617 by Forrest Wood, on Flickr

[Woody Elmore]

There is some super modelling shown in the pictures in this thread. Kudos to the builders!

I found painting backdrops very relaxing. The advantage is that you can't really mess up.

I used to apply my blue basecoat with a brush. Using a roller never crossed my mind - it sure would move things along. 

[electrical whiz kid]

If I may, I would like to add my compliments to Wayne, Woody, Roger, et al, for their excellent contributions here.  This stuff, once you get the hang of it, really falls into place nicely.  Some of the pictures here are  totally worthy of being in any book!

RIch C.