Baseboard curtain

[Whittle20]

HI All,

 

Many exhibition layouts have a curtain/blind to cover hide the undersides of the baseboards.

 

Could anyone point me in the direction of a supplier of the material?

Thanks Andy.

[brigo]

Try your local rag market or Google "curtain fabrics". Loads of suppliers online.

 

Brian

[TomE]

Hi Andy. 

 

I got the black fabric for my layout curtain from Ikea. They have a pretty decent range, although somewhere like Dunelm Mill would also be a good bet if you have one near you. 

 

Tom. 

[Caley Jim]

I think I got mine from Remnant Kings, but that was more than 20 years ago! It's plain blue cotton material. Most exhibition venues will require it to be fireproof, but you can get a spray to do that.

 

Jim

[Ian Smith]

I got the fire retardant material for Modbury from here https://www.fabricuk.com/47-fire-retardant-fabrics.  The piece I got cost around £27 but I over ordered because in addition to the curtain for Modbury we wanted enough to make the black canopy for St Ruth to block out most of the non-layout lighting when we run in night mode.  In actual fact I even had enough left over to make a dust sheet for Modbury too.

 

Ian

[Crosland]

The one and only time we went on the road, we used black cotton bedsheets.

[Ian Morgan]

I found some cheap, fitted, red bed sheets to use on our GMRC 'Santa' layout.

 

 

Fire retardant sprays are available, e.g. here.

 

.

[RedgateModels]

Fire retardency seems to be less important these days since the smoking ban. We certainly don't stipulate at Mansfield and I have never been asked about it at any show I have attended with Summat Colliery or Fourgig East (both use the same curtains)

[Nigelcliffe]

The other safety issue, other than fire-retardant, is curtains should be comfortably clear of the floor.     This is as much about trip hazard as anything else.  

[Dunsignalling]

The other safety issue, other than fire-retardant, is curtains should be comfortably clear of the floor.     This is as much about trip hazard as anything else.  

Saves the bottom edge getting filthy too.....

[bécasse]

Rather than a curtain, these days I use a board which has a second purpose of closing off the front of the layout during transportation. I did look at hinging it but found it easier to bolt it in either of the two positions. In its "hiding the under-pinnings of the layout role" the lower edge resides in mirror clips attached to the legs, which keeps it nicely rigid. It doesn't go right down to floor level, of course, but does go down far enough to ensure that viewing the layout isn't detracted by sight of the legs, etc.

 

One other thing that I now do regularly when I build a new layout is to incorporate a few stick-on metal hooks on the non public side of the layout board - very useful for hanging jackets, etc, during a show.

[JohnBS]

Hi folks,

Just a couple of points:

Firstly, some venues may require flame-retardant certification for drapes so it may be worthwhile buying flame-retardant material in the first place and keeping the documentation.

Secondly, you don’t have to use drapes. Both my layouts have a common support structure in the form of a box with additional fold-out doors. As well as supporting the layout and screening the inevitable mess that accumulates at exhibitions, it also provides a robust transport container for all the ancillary bits - cables, power supply and lighting - see below.

 

 

John

[CF MRC]

That’s a familiar concept John!

 

Tim

[johnb]

Have had the fire retardent requirement at a couple of the bigger shows, think it's the venue requirements or maybe insurance. I use certified material and have kept the documentation.

Edited December 14, 2018 by johnb