After spending so much time and effort and money on my backdrop, trying to get the seams covered and the corner curved…
I’m still not satisfied with the simple blue background…
After a little over a year in the hobby, looking at what other people have done, I’m convinced that the backdrop makes all the difference in the world. It’ll either make the layout or it’ll break it. Being the novice that I am I’m continually searching for a technique that doesn’t require me to take art classes or be a natural born Michelangelo. Some remedies are very expensive, some not so. Some are hard to do and others require little more than dabbing a few white clouds on the backdrop and you’re done.
On one search of the internet I came across this website, and while at $49 for the kit it looks like it hold some promise, especially since it includes a how-to video. I don’t think I’d be adding the rabbits and rocket ships to my model railroad backdrop though.
But then I think… Forty Nine Bucks!! and I kinda cool to the idea. Wait a minute… I’m the same guy that’ll drop X big dollars for just one more locomotive, with dcc, with sound. The same person that won’t blink an eye at a couple of plastic Walther’s kits that equal this amount. Yet, I blink when it comes to doing the backdrop in a way that’ll benefit the entire layout. Forever!
I think what gets me is that the materials in the kit look like common, easy to make things that would cost less than 10 to 15 dollars… sans the video.
Ok, my rambling is about over for now, so if you have something to
For something simple, make a couple of cloud-shaped cutouts in pieces of cardboard. Get a can of spray paint - off you go. Simple and pretty effective. For more realism you’d want to go back and drybrush highlights with a darker color since usually you can see that the undersides of clouds are slightly darker than the tops - but now we’re getting into the realm of “I am not artistic enough to do this”
Randy, Is there a website that you know of with pictures of this tecnique? I guess you could cut them out of LARGE pieces of cardboard so that the overspray didn’t go where you don’t want it to.
Mine isnt the greatest but all i used was a few can’s of white (flat) spray paint on mine. I didnt use any templetes or anything just used the cans in short spurts in circular motions.On a few i used flat grey on the bottoms for a little contrast to the whole thing. Easy to do and since i used blue for the sky from a can if it didnt match to good in places i just used the blue over the white to tone the clouds down.I really like you backdrop so far looks great to me.As a matter of fact I painted mountains on the walls Last weekend just to see how it would turn out( used acylics for this)
keep up the great works ;Cant wait to see how it turns out
JaRRel, I have been happy with my experience using masks. Use them the same way you dodge in photography when developing prints. Cut out a “cloud shape”, irregular as stated above, and hold that cardboard mask about four inches from the surface. Keeping it steady, use a flat white spray bomb and do one quick swipe about six inches from the mask, but aim for the inch or so nearest the cut edges of the “cloud” hole at all times. The centre of your cloud will get filled by overspray, but you don’t want to be spraying too wildly at the edges of the cloud or the effect won’t take place. You would do that by spraying at the centre of the hole all the time, and you won’t get the dispersion that the edges of the hole is meant to impart to the image.
Make sense? One sort of circular spritz, quite quick and controlled, but the centre of the spray should almost be hitting within one inch of the hole edges all the time. Practice on some cardboard first and see if’n I’m not right.
Hey Chris, thanks! Yours did very good I think and I want to try painting some hills and maybe mountains too. They’ll probably look like something out of a cartoon, but I want to try it.
Jarrell, you made a few good points in the original post, I believe, like you suggest that you do that the backdrop is very important, it adds realism, depth and the illusion of something beyound that 30"wide bench. With this said it should not be so spectacular as to detract from the layout and the real focal object.
Second good point, finances… funny how we rationalise spending isnt it, when I was younger I would think nothing about spending 60-70(pounds sterling) on a friday night in a club with friends and then ponder over several pennies difference in the price of loaves of bread at the grocery store the next day… I digress… $49 is probably a small price to pay for the infinately re-usable knowledge you will gain, and as you have stated yourself, its a fraction of a new loco cost, or a few good kits.
My suggestion, try the template method of Crandells, hopefully you’ll amaze yourself and love the results, if not paint it blue again and try again. Then spend the $49 if you are getting nowhere. Even if the product is not ideal for you it will give you some basic knowledge to improve on.
Sidenote: your backdrop looks to be one colour blue all the way down, before adding clouds I would sugest that you paint the bottom third white and blend it up into the blue, this will creat a greater depth to the sky, and give the illussion of a more distant horizon, you’re a photographer, you know this [;)]
MR had a segment on one of the Dream-Plan-Build DVDs about painting clouds on backdrops using a stipling method. The way the guy did it seemed pretty straightforward and fairly simple to do. I’m sorry I can’t remember which volume it was. (Maybe Vol. 2 or 4?) Cost: $10. Perhaps someone else who has it will chime in.
Hmmm. Just a thought, Jarrelll. Does Joe Fugate have anything on his web site about backdrops? He might even have an online tutorial.
Those look great. That was kind of my plain once I get that far. Did your gray splatter out or did it stay where you wanted it? I was going to air brush my gray in but if I can save the clean up I will just use a spray bomb. Thanks Baker
JaRRel, I may not have made my mask description very clear, now that I re-read my post. The mask is a piece of cardboard, the thin kind such as would be at the back of a note pad, but larger. Also, the cloud shape is cut out of the surface leaving an outer “ring” of cardboard. The mask is not a cloud shaped piece of cardboard, but a rectangle out of which the cloud has been expunged…so to speak. [:D]
Is that a bit clearer? The spray can is aimed into the hole cut out in the cloud shape, but held some distance back.
Well Jarrell Thanks for the compliment! The Mountain(Hills) were a Pain in the butt, Took me all last saturday to finish, And I mean all day .I must have went over then at least 8 times with color trying to get them to look Half-way right finally I had some mixed up foam coating that i painted over them lightly then wiped it off to get the effect that is on then now and just left it alone.
And in Case your wondering what i mean by Foam coating I mean a Mix of Joint Compound and Trail Tan acrylic paint and water.i make it where it is a really light tan color .A good thing about trying that was it gave them a lighter color but not too light and if i didnt like it in areas i just took a wet sponge and wiped more off.
The Clouds are actually easier than you think , If you need anymore on them using spray can’s E-mail me and i’ll do all i can to help out; All you need is the paint and motivation along with good Ventalation (sp ?) oh ,and a paper mask[:)]
I agree that a bad backdrop can ruin the effect, but how far do you want to take it? Coz it’s probably true that an overdone backdrop will spoil things .I don’t know - I’ll find out one day [:)]
You’ve already rec’d some good advice about making the sky paler down low. You could also introduce some very weak and pale orange or pink too, because skies get warmer down low . Their colour is also influenced by the nature of the land below.
That’s a nice blue you already have. Is your layout set in a polluted industrial area…? If so its blue would normally be less pure.
For what it’s worth, when I get around to doing mine I’ll be using big brushes and probably rags or good quality kitchen type paper towel for painting my clouds. Whichever way you go try to keep the paint thin and only 2-dimensional. And practise on some scraps of board.
But there’s no real rules, just a few guidelines. If you’re not happy with it as it is maybe it just needs some structures in front of it to look just right!
The Dream-Plan-Build DVD is volume 1. He actually has 2 segments on the backdrop, one is on sky and clouds, the second is on background scenery (hills, trees, etc.). The guy is an artist, but he makes it look easy enough.
I haven’t done a backdrop yet so this may be a highly uninformed opinion, but I think from a visual aspect, any backdrop will have limited effect in a live “in the train room” setting. After all, you’re looking at a 30” high vista around a compressed railroad layout that is quite apparently not a real live railroad (highly observant on my part).
However, from a photographic aspect, the right backdrop can make all the difference between a photo of a model and a convincing prototype depiction. Based on this, I would maximize the backdrop for photographic effect, if that’s where your interest lies. I see nothing wrong with a cloudless sky, as long as the color is convincing in a photo.
Jacon 12, I have seen your photos. You are a professional. You can make great backgrounds using real photos, enlarged, cropped and digitally enhanced. either take your own or use others to customize your backdrops. I remember reading here about this but can’t recall how long ago or a link. But I do know if you have your pictures on digital media that a place like KINKOS or other printing house can make the right size. Oh, I remember now, it was in past issue of MR about photo backdrops for MR employee’s layout, M,R and Troy. This was the best backdrop I have ever seen and it also gives you real distance perspective. Ray – Great Northern fan.
Ray’s right: don’t bother with painting on a backdrop, especially since you’ve got two things going for you: 1) you’re a photographer, 2) you have a fairly short backdrop.
Walgreens (and probably others) offers poster-sized prints for something like $20 apiece. That SOUNDS pricey, until you realize that with some basic Photoshoppery, you can add up to three lines of horizon images to each poster, drastically cutting their costs. More importantly, with Photoshop you can add EXACTLY whatever you want to each section of horizon. Using smaller 4x6 prints will give you “fore-background” images, like barns, houses, and extra tree lines. Just use spray mount to add these images over the initial poster backdrop.
As for clouds, you can either use the poster idea and take photos of beautiful sky days to create a panorama for your backdrop, or you can paint clouds onto your backdrop, or you can ignore them completely. Each is a cost/final result compromise. Using posters will give you exactly what you took photos of, but they might not be “perfect”. Painting clouds is actually harder than most people think. Clouds aren’t just poofy cottonballs hanging in the sky. They have lots of texture and color variations, and their shadows need to match the shadows cast on the layo
