I have been using my digital camera and inkjet printer to make backdrops for my layout. One idea I haven’t seen before is adding freight cars on sidings to the front of the backdrop. Instead of photographing real cars, I photographed my own Lionel cars and added the rows of cars to the front of the backdrop, between the layout and the background buildings. I layed out 2 rows of cars on parallel sidings and photographed them. I then cropped the photo into several separate sections and sized each section so that the cars would be approxiamtely full size and printed each section on cardstock. Then I cut around each car and taped them to the backdrop. As for backdrop buildings, I have either taken pictures of building I like or ones that I have found on the internet and printed them out in a similar manner. I also found the airliner on the internet and added it in the background.
I believe Mr Smith gave a 1 star (or even less) rating to some other posts. I know he did on a thread I had generated, and also on a previous Photo Sunday thread. The low rating on my thread was fine, it was just a poor attempt at some humor anyway, I didn’t think anyone would have taken it seriously. However, I think when someone is publicly critical of another’s work, then they probably won’t receive very high aclaims for work they submit. Humility and kindness goes along way especially when abstract concepts and ideals are involved. Its unfortunate when we leave our manners and compassion behind when we sit behind a keyboard looking at a screen.
Very cool idea. Is the “ford parts” boxcar printed out or real? I can’t tell. I’m definetly going to have to use this when I create a permanent layout. Are you using standard printer paper or photo paper? Also, what size paper are you using?
I think it looks fantastic! Good idea. Did you attempt to achieve any certain perspective in the photos you took of the rolling stock? Did you take seperate photos of each car? Too bad everything is limited to an 8.5 X 11 page when printing; your results definitely indicate some patience hard work were utilized.
Great Idea!!! I just wanted to add something to it…maybe or maybe not I dont know, But I was thinking instead of using all freight cars, you can also include a picture of your favorite engines that are just way to expensive to buy…to add to the back ground…for the cost of some card stock and some printer ink. Just a thought…
Yes, Mr. Smith has a reputation of giving postings a one star including Sunday Photo Fun. As far as I remember he might be the only one that has ever rated SPF a one star. Over the years, many have considered SPF the best posting on the forum.
I guess you reap what you sow. The hens have come home to roost. If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
Lionel2986 - The “Ford Parts” boxcar is part of a special Ford trainset that came out a few years ago.
USNRol - I took one photo and cropped it into 5 even pieces without regard to where each car was in the photo and with a slight overlap of each piece. The viewpoint is slightly elevated so you can see the tops of each car just slightly. Each piece was then printed on 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock. Then using an exacto knife and a metal edge ruler, I matched the edges of adjoining pieces and taped the pieces together on the back. If it’s done right, the seam between each photo is almost invisible. There is no need to print on mat photo paper, the plain cardstock comes out great on an inkjet printer.
Black Diamond - You have a great idea about printing out a backdrop photo of an engine that you always wanted (but could never afford) on your layout. I think I’ll give that a try if I can find a good photo of a New Haven 209 Alco.
I don’t know the history, but is it possible he’s confused as to which is better, 5 or 1 stars? I’ve seen some books rated on amazon as 1 star by people that have honestly gushed over it and proclaimed it the best book ever! They had the rating system backwards. Again, I don’t know the history but it’s just a thought …
Is that a new section of your layout? I havent been checking the forum a lot lately. If so, it looks great and I like the back drop. Fits the scene very well.
Perhaps I’m just a moron, (I didn’t even know where the stars came from on this forum) but I think this is the neatest backdrop idea since using mirrors. Thanks for the great idea!
Thanks everyone for the compliments about the photo backdrop. I learned about using digital photos as backdrops on this forum. Thanks to all who share there model train knowledge here!
PostwarMan07 - Yes, The photo is a new addition to my layout. About 9 months ago I moved a cabinet out of the corner near my layout and realized that there was room for a 2’ x 5’ addition. I had wanted a transfer table to hold the 9 engines that I have so I designed a simple but very functional idea for an operating table. The table area can hold 9 engines and there is also a single freight siding in the foreground. Here is a photo of the whole layout, it’s 5’ x 9’ with the 2’ x 5’ addition. Recently I finally added a backdrop to the whole layout with a ledge at the top to display train items. The ledge is 3" wide MDF and is nailed and glued to the 1/8" masonite backdrop. The whole thing is then screwed to the wall in a couple of places. The backdrop is painted with flat light blue regular house interior wall paint. The clouds were painted on with flat white spray paint. I cut out a cloud shape from cardboard (like a stencil) and then held the cardboard against the backdrop and sprayed the very top of the cloud. Then move the stecil out about a inch from the backdrop and spray the bottom of the cloud. What you get is a typical cloud with a white top that is very defined and has a soft fuzzy bottom that is less white than the top. The photos I have for the backdrop are then taped in position. The cardstock by itself works fine but sometimes I have glued the photos to foamcore to make it stiffer and more 3 dimentional looking. The edges of the foamcore are painted to match the particular photo.
I just had the time to closely examine the photo of your magnificent train room and layout.
I’m planning an elevated section, and was wondering if your trestles were scratch built or purchased. The ones I can see don’t look to be of the Lionel 110/111 variety.
Seen videos with mirrors as back drops. Really enlarges the layout. See two trains coming at each other and suddenly turning in the same direction and not colliding. Then they run beside each other.
Photo murals have been used in Model Railroading since the sixties anyway. I first ran across it in a Kalmbach Book called “Scenery For Model Railroads” by Bill McClanahan. It was the first Model Railroad book I ever bought back in 1970. I guess I’m dating myself aren’t I.
Greorge, I agree many of the ideas promoted on the forum can be found in the old books I bought back in 1978 when I was working in HO. Recently a forum member built a rock wall using a technique that was in one of the old books by using a baking pan and crumpled aluminum foil. It was great looking rock wall, but like photo murals, the idea has been around a long time. With the advent of the roll plotters that print on photo paper, you can make a one piece photo mural right at your home computer and then print it out at a print shop, such as Kinkos. You can also “stitch” electronic photos together to form a huge photo. There are so many tricks and too little time.
I stumbled on this website the other day that has many free downloads of photographs of the front of classic looking building fronts that are already scaled to O and S size. Just download the PDF file and print. It looks like a great inexpensive way to add background buildings to a layout.
