BACKDROPS

I am looking to print some Backdrops and am inquiring if anyone knows of any good sites to get some good pictures from…

Not that I’m recommending plagurism, but http://backdropwarehouse.com/ has many pictures that are copyable, all types of scenery. At least you can ideas there.

[#ditto][#ditto]

Thanks for the response, did not mean Plagurism by any means, just inquiring if people were using any sites that had great views… turned out I had some pictues that I blew up from a trip to the Rockies…Worked perfect.

Google is your friend. If you’re looking for graphics, press the Images button and it will just look for pictures. I use this to find old advertising shots. I use them to make decals, which I add to the sides of buildings. Did you know that George Burns and Gracie Allen did ads for Hormel’s well-known canned meat product?

I use the Huge Pictures program and found that most downloaded pics did not blow uo well. I use pics I took with my little digital and they work much better.

Arthill-What is this Huge Pictures program of which you speak?

I dont know what everyone else uses, but I have had great results from Adobe Photoshop , blowing up pics I have taken with my 2.5 mp digital. I blow them up and blend them in my PC, then print them out on cardstock. A little trimming, then 3M spray adhesive and presto, instant backdrop!!

See!!! (You like?)

I have also used the backdrop CD from LARC products. For $19.95, there is a lot there! Check out www.geocities.com/larcproducts

…I get nice buildings for my backdrops by copying & paste from postcards on ebay. I paste them on a Publisher desktop and scale them to HO. Then you can print them on card stock, trim and mount them to your backdrop. You can also do this for signs. Also I use my digital camera for other views making sure there are no modern signs or vehicles that are newer than the year I model.

Scenic Express is probably one of the largest sources of model railroading scenery materials. The backdrops link is on the left side…

http://www.scenicexpress.com/

for my grain elevator I’m building!! No one makes a commercially available decal like I want.I’ve looked at Micro scale,etc.Id settle for anything like Purina,Ralston Purina,Purnia Feeds,etc with a red and white checkerboard of coarse.

Thanks for the responses; still working on it, trying to do myself what Geocities has with my pics on a trip to the Rockies…did print out OK…but not clear enough for what I want, probably would have to use better paper on very high quality…price will start to climb doing all this…might just be better off buying the Backdrops in the end…the pictures I had were from a 50mm Minolta with Wide Angle and was set to Panoramic…not Digital which I am not sure if this would make a diference in printing if anyone would know??

Yes, better paper means better prints, to a point. I use cardstock that I bought in a ream at Walmart.

I’ve been using a 2.5 mega pixel Olympus camera. Lil thing, fits in my shirt pocket, but yields 16x22 inch prints, Before I start monkeying with them in Photoshop! The biggest expense here has been the printer ink. Still I figure its costing me about a 2 bucks a foot for the backdrops.

Not too bad, especially when you consider the I can determine the placement of backdrop elements, giving me total freedom with the forground elements!