I’m building a 4x8 layout and want to put a backdrop down the middle of it. The base is 2" foam on top of plywood. What material is best for this purpose and how should I go about attaching it to the layout? I was thinking of carving a groove in the foam and caulking the backdrop in place, and maybe adding few support blocks in places they can be hidden. What’s the recommended practice?
Thanks
Dave,
This was done in the magazine in 2010 by Dick C. If you are a subscriber, here is a video link to the project. I remember showing you how to do a divider down the middle but can’t remember if it was in one of the videos or in the magazine articles. It is interesting because one side is rock faces and the other is a photo backdrop.
Here is a link to the overview video with Dick and Cody, there is a series of videos taking you through the build process.
When I did mine, I cut a groove in a piece of 2"x4" , which can be put on the frame of the layout and put the foam around it or you can attach it to the top of the foam… I also used a couple of small angle brackets, back to back every couple of feet, screwed to the 2"x4" to give me a deeper channel to make the backdrop removeable. My layout is suppose to be portable, so I did not put screws into the backdrop. Since yours is a larger layout, you could put a small bolt through.
Once the backdrop was in place I stacked and glued pieces of foam in front of it to be the hills. I rounded the edge of the piece in front of the backdrop, so it looked like the back of the mountain kept going down…
EDIT: I did not put my backdrop parallel to the sides and I have heard many others here recommend the same. You can place it at an slight angle, not quite centered and it makes quite a difference. You can also use two shorter pieces and have an angle in the middle. If you use the right material, you can even have a curved backdrop.
Good luck,
Richard
Like Cowman’s, mine wasn’t central either, but it wasn’t diagonal, just off to one side to suit the track plan of each side, and it curved slightly.
I too used small brackets slotted under the foam base and glued and screwed to the MDF backscene. It was easy to hide the brackets with hills and buildings. Obvioiusly you can place the brackets on either side, depending on how the terrain suits.
Mike
Gidday Dave, Here’s links to similar threads, Hope they help…
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/p/207410/2269837.aspx#2269837
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/205324.aspx
Cheers, the Bear.