How can I do a 'good' backdrop?

[AyJay]

So I have finally started to think about producing a backdrop for part of my layout, but it is proving to be not a straightforward process.

I have bought some sheets from Freestone models and have cut out a terrace of houses that I want to use because it matches the style of buildings.  The constraints are: (1) That this is a corner. (2) To the left is a window that I want to leave unobstructed. (3) To the right is the end of the fiddle yard and hence not landscaped. (4) The walls are light brown, softwood cladding.

 

In the first picture, I have positioned my cut-out where I want it, the right end partly hidden by a building at the end of the street.

It looks hopeful, but lacks a skyline.

 

In my second picture, I have added a sheet of scrap card that I painted with light blue with some streaks of white.  Ouite frankly, I think it looks sick and I hate that it contrasts with the wall and that the two ends are in view.

 

Then someone took a look at it and suggested, 'try a mirror'.  So I did!  I think it would be the right solution somewhere else, but not here. Besides, glass is heavy and I don't want 'accidents'.

 

Lastly, I remembered that I had a roll of wall backing paper.  Of the four, I think that this shows the most 'promise'. The colour is a matt off-white.  I have seen layouts use  a light grey backscene and thought that it always looks 'passable'.  So I want to see if I can find a plain wallpaper in dove-grey.

 

I have also been pondering about what to do at the end of the road going off to the right.  On the Freestone sheet, I found a building that looked like it could be at the end of a cul-du-sac, you can just see it's roof sticking up behind the right end of the terrace at the front.  I could add a wall and gate in front of it going across the road.  Although in the 5th picture, its image looks most odd, fortunately this is not a normal viewing position. On the other side of the room, I have several feet of wall that I can cover with something a bit more industrial.

 

So what do people think? Am I going in the right direction with a neutral colour backing paper?  I have also been looking at a large sky scene that Gaugemaster produce, but I am still left with the problem of a discontinuity where it stops at the window?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RexAshton]

Could you consider a removable one that can be put in place when you're operating and remove to clear the window when you're not?

[ISW]

I'd have thought that a skyline of 'typical' British overcast 'grey' sky, but with a few discernible clouds would look quite good. Plus, a grey wouldn't clash too much with the window pane.

 

[Siberian Snooper]

You could try ID backscenes, they do plain sky as well as other backscenes.

 

https://www.modelscenerysupplies.co.uk/backscenes

 

No connection, but excellent service.

 

I would suggest making it removable so that it can be used during operating sessions and removed for other times.

 

 

[jonny777]

Yes, I have had that problem. 

 

It is a question of perspective. Normally a scale person looking at the distant view would be standing 6ft off the ground (i.e. 24-25mm above the baseboard), but from a modelling point of view observers are akin to a helicopter hovering some 200ft in the air or more, but we want the backscene to look realistic from a range of heights. 

 

My only conclusion was that the best idea was to give the impression of the ground rising immediately behind the layout, and try to find/create a backscene with rows of houses on a hillside.... not easy.  I think the only solution is to find a printed backscene which fits with your street, and experiment by raising and lowering it to various heights behind the buildings until you find the angle which looks best. 

Edited July 18, 2020 by jonny777

[doilum]

13 hours ago, ISW said:

I'd have thought that a skyline of 'typical' British overcast 'grey' sky, but with a few discernible clouds would look quite good. Plus, a grey wouldn't clash too much with the window pane.

 

Agreed. Try white emulsion paint and work in very small amounts of black and light blue keeping the tint lines horizontal unless you want a Turneresque sky.

[AyJay]

I have been experimenting with applying various shades of grey onto backing paper with a small roller brush. The effect gives a suitably moody and overcast day.

I'll see what the effect is like when I have fixed it to the wall and put some cut-outs in front. Then I'll consider a few sparingly added blue highlights.

10m of backing paper, four tester pots and a roll of double sided tape from Wilco's, about £12.

[AyJay]

Well that experiment was an interesting exercise in what not to do. The result was terrible and showed me that I do not know how to paint.

So I have been looking at videos on youtube and experimenting with the various techniques that I have seen, with dubious success.

 

Then it occurred to me that in all these videos, it's about making a painting. What I am trying to do should not be the subject of my attention and it's considerably larger than a painting canvas.  So by changing my search criteria from 'painting sky' to 'painting model railway backdrop', I am presented with completely different approaches.  For a start, the roller brush did not get a look-in on the first set of videos, but was widespread in the second set.

 

If anyone has any advice, I would be most interested to hear.  Not least of all, do I stick with household emulsion, or should I work in acrylic?

Thank you.

 

[doilum]

This should be almost zero cost. The dregs from a tin of white emulsion plus a couple of match pots and a scruffy 2" brush. Keep the strokes horizontal. It should be lightest close to the horizon.

[zarniwhoop]

7 hours ago, AyJay said:

If anyone has any advice, I would be most interested to hear.  Not least of all, do I stick with household emulsion, or should I work in acrylic?

Would you believe "it depends" ?

 

If all you need is a bit of sky, then emulsion paints (for small areas, just the testers) are fine. But if you want to paint a bit of landscape at the bottom (hills, hedges, distant trees) then a selection of Artist's acrylics, and a few decent artist's brushes might be the way to go (but with some experimentation to find out how the colours change between freshly-mixed and dried, and indeed some experimentation about how to mix the available colours to get the sort of colours you want.

 

 

Obviously, the tree at the left is a planted tree. Behind the far track the hedges (behind loco as far as the X, gap to far hedge on "other side of road", hedge behind a couple of real trees and shed) are painted in acrylics on the emulsion sky. The two "distant" trees (first and third from right) are also painted in acrylics. That was my HOe test track in 2009, the loco is the Roco 0-6-0T.

 

From memory, the nearer greens used darker paints, the further greens mixed in more yellow.

[Gilbert]

I failed miserably with clever backscenes and so only a few days ago have opted for simple sky using cheap pale blue emulsion applied with a mini roller.Its not very sophisticated but it does not offend me every time I look at it..in this photo the camera is probably a little higher than normal viewing so exaggerates the "blandness"....

Edited July 22, 2020 by Gilbert

[meil]

I would suggest: http://www.crecy.co.uk/creating-a-backscene

[ianLMS]

I am not a painter of any sorts. My backscene is basically plasterboard painted with white poster paints with a few bits of grey brushed over to represent a murky North West sky. Not convincing at all so now looking at ID Backscenes who have a range of landscapes to choose from. The difficulty now will be a. choosing the right one to match the scenery; and b. cutting it to fit the landscape. I should have got the backscene sorted first, then made the scenery to fit it instead!!!

[ISW]

I think you do yourself an injustice. It's not as bad as you make out. The right-hand panel looks quite good to my eyes.

 

[Siberian Snooper]

2 hours ago, ianLMS said:

I am not a painter of any sorts. My backscene is basically plasterboard painted with white poster paints with a few bits of grey brushed over to represent a murky North West sky. Not convincing at all so now looking at ID Backscenes who have a range of landscapes to choose from. The difficulty now will be a. choosing the right one to match the scenery; and b. cutting it to fit the landscape. I should have got the backscene sorted first, then made the scenery to fit it instead!!!

 

ID Backscenes will do custom backscenes from your photos, for the same money as an off the shelf one,  unless they need to do a lot of photoshopping. You need to take a series of photos with at least 20% overlap.  I  picked a suitably gloomy day and took my camera and tripod to my favoured location and  took the photos in fairly quick succession, before the clouds moved to much,  I think my photos were about 50% overlap and I took around 30 odd to get what I wanted. They Email the composition to check it's what you want,  they needed to tweak mine a couple of times before I was happy and it was printed. It took about 3 weeks from my first enquiry to fulfilment.

 

John have been inundated with requests since the lockdown.