Not being an artist or even close enough to paint a backdrop in one color, I am going to mount a photo drop of a cityscape behind my urban section of my layout (okay, I did do the sky with clouds and some small mountains, all of which look fairly good). Back to the photos, I tried using spray adhesive but doing more than one photo (I’m looking at a six foot section made up of eight sections of pictures) and was unsuccesful. Spray adhesive gives you one shot and it is virtually impossible to align everything and then stick the photo accurately.
I am now cutting the photo sheets, taping them together with masking tape in the back and now HERE’S THE QUESTION. I was told at a show to use double back tape for wall adherence. Has anyone tried this and how much of the backdrop needs to be covered (the whole thing or just the perimeter)? Is there a better way? What about those small details such as high smokestacks,etc?
Are you talking about putting double sided tape on the back of the backdrop and sticking it right to a wall??(I wouldn’t do that…) Most people glue them to a sheet of masonite of plastic and THEN attach that to the wall. 3M spray adhesive does work. It’s not something you should try and do by yourself though. (2 man job)
I have used the Walthers backdrops and cut the “sky” off of them. I think they are about 30 to 40 inches long. I mount them with spray glue, but do it differently than what the can recommends.
First I draw a horizontal line on the sky backdrop (wall) and then a vertical line where I want the end to start for the first one. I spray the back of the photo / background heavily with one coat. I then start by putting one lower corner in the corner of where the lines are. I don’t wait to let the glue start to set up, but put it on right away. When I pick it up, I hold it by each edge (right and left), one-third up from the bottom. Then I make sure that the bottom lines up with the bottom line on the wall and stick the bottom first. I then use a clean paper towel to rub over it going in one direction only, from the bottom up and out to each end.
By applying the spray glue to only the background, and on the heavy side, and applying it to the wall right away, the glue is still wet enough that if I have to reposition it when getting it lined up with the lines on the wall, I can do it without tearing it. Once I have started pressing it in place, it can’t be repositioned, so everything depends on getting it lined up with the lines drawn on the wall.
It does take some learning to get right, but it can be done. It also takes a bit of patients to get it lined up right.