2 questions: 1st, should I install a backdrop behind staging for later scenicking as well as the back side of my 4x8 where my isle is? 2nd, what should I use? I am planning on painting it, and I want something very cheap, thin, and strong. I have scrap wood, but I think 3/4 of and inch is too thick…
Masonite sheets are ideal for backdrop (INMO). They are surprisingly durable and flexible. The flexiblity is really pronounced when you wet the wood and have it curve. Masonite is also great for painting. I found that first putting a thin layer of primer works to really give the paint a nice layer or coverage. Also, the primer is quite thick, so you only need one coat.
I used masonite and it has been okay, but I have been very careful around it as like I said in the other thread it doesn’t take much to damage it. I just attached it to my 1" x 4" grid benchwork with 10/32 machine screws and “T-nuts” and it has been free standing for a good ten years now.
Is masonite the same thing as tempered hardboard?
Masonite is a brand name for a particular hardboard. Tempered hardboard has a harder surface than regular hardboard or Masonite (both are available in “tempered” versions), but is no more flexible than the regular stuff.
My backdrop is the drywalled surface of the layout room’s walls, but I used 1/8" Masonite (the regular kind) to “cove” the room’s corners…
Wayne
Don’t bother asking for Masonite at your local Home Depot if they are anything like the ones around me. They don’t know what that is. Hardboard, yes, they’ve got a lot of that.
Is there any way to get this stuff for cheap?
To me Masonite and Hardboard work pretty much the same. Whatever the heck the name of the stuff I bought at Home Depot worked good for me.
Here it is installed but not painted:
Here is a thin facia going in on the double decked portion - you can see it curves quite well:
I used 1/8" tempered hardboard from Home Despot for my backdrops and 3/16" for the fascias. So far no problems with it.
I don’t know how anyone could complain about the price, it’s already dirt cheap IMO.
Really? It’s about $6 to $8 a sheet ! Other ways to get it “cheap”,
Have a friend buy it and don’t pay him back.
Find someone else that needs some, to split the cost, and then not pay them back,
Dumpster dive on construction and demolishion sites, see what you can find,
Walk around lumber yards, building and home centers, with a sign “Looking for free or really cheap masonite/hardboard”,
Set up a “Go Fund Me” site,
There must be other ways.
Mike.
Sry. It is a lower priorty item on my layout and I have a really tight budget. I am also a bargian hunter. If it can be found cheaper than the retial or usual, I want to know about it. Is that so bad?
Never said looking for the best price is bad. You can also buy 2’x4’ pieces at the home centers, depending on how much you need. A 4’x8’ sheet is hard to transport, unless you, or a friend, has a truck. The sheet is big and flimsey, and handling it wrong, it will break.
Get all your “bargin hunter” skills working, and see what you can find.
Mike.
Many stores will cut it for you. Most say there is a fee but I have never had them actually charge me for cutting into strips. Lot easier to handle or haul.
Not reliably, but there seems to be a fairly high mortality rate for hardboard in shipment and thus some lumber yards and big box home stores sell off the damaged or otherwise unsalable wood etc. reasonably cheaply. But you could go there a dozen times and they’d have nothing.
Dave Nelson
They are a bit of a bear to handle, I think they were $6.00 a sheet and I had Home Depot rip them lengthways. This allowed 2’x 8’ pieces for the backdrop, so I just brought them home and installed them, easy peasy.
Even when I did all my splines at home on my saw I had them rip them in two just for ease of handling and I have a truck to boot. The little bit lost because I had them ripped was well worth it and saved damaging them in the long run.