I’m working on background buildings for the area on the other side of the tracks from my yard. I’ve been using photos that I took of local structures as well as some from a cd of like images. In the image below those photos have been mounted on Gatorboard and are temporarily leaning on the backdrop. They may or may not be mounted permanently in this position.
I’m printing them on my home inkjet printer and I know that, in time, these will fade. It seems like I’ve heard somewhere that they can be sealed to prevent, or at least, delay this. Anyone know what spray product is used for this purpose?
They look really good, and you can’t get much more realism for your buck with that method. How are you deciphering the sizing in order to get it looking so good when printing off of your home printer?
Thanks for the compliment! Getting prints the right size is a bit of trial and error for me. Someone with more experience could probably nail it the first time. I usually measure a doorway or a window, using an HO scale figure, and if it looks right it’s good 'nuff… [:D]
For buildings that are more in the background, ie. further from the viewer, I simply scale it down and print it so that those doorways are smaller. Since those buildings will be somewhat hidden, or at least a portion of them, by the building in front of them, I tend to use much taller structures for those areas. I’m on the lookout now for buildings in my neighborhood that are one story. I need those up front.
Try a photography forum for info about making ink jet prints last longer. What printer (ink) and paper are you using? The Consumer Reports web site says this about Kodak paper:
Kodak ColorLast printer paper
The claim: Kodak Ultima Picture paper with ColorLast (“ColorLast” distinguishes it from the old paper) makes for “brilliant color photos that last over 100 years.”
The check: No, we didn’t use a time machine. We bought several brands of inkjet photo papers and several makes of printers. Fade resistance depends on the paper and ink, so we printed the same photos on each brand of paper with each printer. We let one printed photo “age” by exposing it continually to special daylight-balanced lighting. We kept the other photos in the dark. We waited six weeks.
The bottom line: ColorLast? Not forever. The new paper performed better than Kodak’s earlier version, but no better than some other premium papers. After our six-week trial, the Lexmark inks on Kodak paper with ColorLast faded moderately. Brother, Canon, and Dell inks faded very slightly. No fading was evident with Epson or HP inks–but those inks didn’t fade on their own brand of paper, either. We found the Kodak photo p
I spray some of my scenery elements (containers, bill boards, etc) with Testor’s inkjet decal sealer. It protects them from moisture and so far they haven’t faded any.
I mount mine with 3M Spray 77 to foam-core board and seal them with Dullcote or Krylon’s Clear Flat. I use plain printer paper. So far (3 years for some) no fading.
John the two images I used from a commercially available cd were, in my opinion, quite inferior to what anyone with a half decent digital camera could shoot themselves. The cd, loaned to me by a friend, has since been given back to him. If you’re interested in doing this sort of thing, take my advice and shoot your own.
I’m using an Epson printer that doesn’t use archival inks and printing on Epson heavy weight matte paper.
Jarrell
[quote user=“rustyrails”]
Try a photography forum for info about making ink jet prints last longer. What printer (ink) and paper are you using? The Consumer Reports web site says this about Kodak paper:
Kodak ColorLast printer paper
The claim: Kodak Ultima Picture paper with ColorLast (“ColorLast” distinguishes it from the old paper) makes for “brilliant color photos that last over 100 years.”
The check: No, we didn’t use a time machine. We bought several brands of inkjet photo papers and several makes of printers. Fade resistance depends on the paper and ink, so we printed the same photos on each brand of paper with each printer. We let one printed photo “age” by exposing it contin
Appreciate the tip! Since I already have a bunch of photos printed, glued and cut out… I’m not thrilled with the idea of redoing it all on another type paper so a UV spray is right up my alley. Gator board is some kinda tough stuff to cut. I go through at least 3 #11 blades per photo.
I invested in a little tool available from Micro-Mark. It’s a hobby knife blade sharpener. It took a little while to get used to (I have all the dexterity of a 1000 pound gorilla), but it does work. If not, there are the razor knives available at Wal-Mart, with the snap-off blades. I found them for 99 cents apiece at my local one.
Marlon, I did use one of the ‘snap off’ knives to do some of the straight cuts and it worked pretty good… well, it worked just as good as the hobby knife though I only had one of the larger ones. I’ll pick up a couple of the smaller variety and try them.
As I use plain ol’ printer paper, the Dullcote actually soaks through which seems to have the benefit of preventing the spray glue from coming through from the other side. So, seal first, then glue. I just make sure I cover the whole image/paper before I cut it to size or glue it. If you get too much Dullcote (or Krylon Matte) the surface can become white-ish. BTW do this outdoors or in a very well ventilated area!
I can’t speak much to UV protection as there are no windows in my train room and the layout is lit with incandescents.
I use 110 lb. cardstock when I print out building textures with my inkjet printer. Then I coat both sides of the cardstock with water based flat polyurethane varnish that is brushed on. By coating both sides it keeps the cardstock from curling and makes the cardstock more waterproof on both sides. I wouldn’t worry about fading, the inks used nowdays seems to be quite stable.
