What I have done here is take the piece below I wrote from another thread. In it I am talking to some one who has asked a question about how to approach backdrops. In my opinion, backdrops are fraught with problems because so much skill can be demanded depending on your “given and druthers.” There is also a lot of very bad backdrops out there.
In this thread you will find a link to backdrop warehouse’s stuff, their layout demo’s that customers have sent in. You will see before and after pictures of the layout, pre and post commercial backdrop added. Some of the backdrops work very well. Others are jarring because the owner didn’t incorporate colours from the backdrop into his fore ground and it looks disjointed.
I am not recommending commercial backdrop, nor am I recommending you don’t get it. What I am saying in the piece below is that when I assessed MY skills, I made a decision to go with a commercial back drop for obvious reasons.
What I am suggesting to you, the layout owner who is struggling with what to do, is take my categories of backdrops, assess your skills - or those of your friends who would help out, or some one paid commercially - then decide which is the best way to go - painted, photo’s, or commercial.
A backdrop is one of the most important items on a layout. Although it should not dominate, it should not detract either. There are three levels of backdrops - 1) the Wow! category where the backdrop knocks your socks off 2) the good category where the backdrop does a good job of setting the tone, atmosphere and location of the layout, but it doesn’t dominate; and lastly - 3) the invisible category - backdrop which is there but people don’t become aware of it right away; more importantly it doesn’t detract from the layout either. For example, a good sky scene can be an invisible category.
The second step for me was to choose which category I wanted. Of course my first choice was the "Wow! category, but as you will see latter, this
re pix of Faller backgrounds in Walthers catalogues. I haven’t bought the printed catalogue the last couple years. But Walthers website has photos of the 7 Faller backgrounds available. I notice there are 14 item catalogue numbers, 7 with photos and lower prices, and all “not in stock”. Then there are 7 more items without photos but the last few digits of the catalogue number are the same, there is the same description and proportionately higher prices. This is apparently a new release of the old items, but the old photos should be applicable.
What I have done here is take the piece below I wrote from another thread. In it I am talking to some one who has asked a question about how to approach backdrops. In my opinion, backdrops are fraught with problems because so much skill can be demanded depending on your “given and druthers.” There is also a lot of very bad backdrops out there.
In this thread you will find a link to backdrop warehouse’s stuff, their layout demo’s that customers have sent in. You will see before and after pictures of the layout, pre and post commercial backdrop added. Some of the backdrops work very well. Others are jarring because the owner didn’t incorporate colours from the backdrop into his fore ground and it looks disjointed.
I am not recommending commercial backdrop, nor am I recommending you don’t get it. What I am saying in the piece below is that when I assessed MY skills, I made a decision to go with a commercial back drop for obvious reasons.
What I am suggesting to you, the layout owner who is struggling with what to do, is take my categories of backdrops, assess your skills - or those of your friends who would help out, or some one paid commercially - then decide which is the best way to go - painted, photo’s, or commercial.
A backdrop is one of the most important items on a layout. Although it should not dominate, it should not detract either. There are three levels of backdrops - 1) the Wow! category where the backdrop knocks your socks off 2) the good category where the backdrop does a good job of setting the tone, atmosphere and location of the layout, but it doesn’t dominate; and lastly - 3) the invisible category - backdrop which is there but people don’t become aware of it right away; more importantly it doesn’t detract from the layout either. For example, a good sky scene can be an invisible category.
The second step for me was to choose which category I wanted. Of course my first choice was the "Wow! category, but as you will see latter, this
re pix of Faller backgrounds in Walthers catalogues. I haven’t bought the printed catalogue the last couple years. But Walthers website has photos of the 7 Faller backgrounds available. I notice there are 14 item catalogue numbers, 7 with photos and lower prices, and all “not in stock”. Then there are 7 more items without photos but the last few digits of the catalogue number are the same, there is the same description and proportionately higher prices. This is apparently a new release of the old items, but the old photos should be applicable.