Well, every time I come up with a cool idea, my toy train friend does me one better.
Recall his harbor layout I posted a few weeks ago?
Well, he’s moving the entire layout into a much larger room (fortunately, it’s modularized). And, he just installed a new backdrop in that room of the NYC harbor.
He writes:
“Here’s a look at the waterfront backdrop I’ve installed for the Port of New York & New Jersey Railroad, courtesy of “Backdrop Warehouse,” a relatively new company. The scene comports beautifully with my layout’s industrial-port theme.
Each of my three high-resolution photo panels measure 3 ft by 13 ft, and I have a total run of 34 feet–the scene continues to the right from where I took this photo to curve around the other corner of the room. The scenes (made of a heavy-duty, nylon-reinforced material) are mounted with rubber cement on masonite panels framed with 1 by 3s, so it’s sturdy. Yet, by running a razor knife down the seam for each masonite panel I could dismantle the backdrop in less than an hour should I wi***o do so. This design comports with my goal of a modular layout design that can be dismantled and moved relatively easily with no damage.
Each panel is mounted to the wall with one-inch corner angles screwed into wall fasteners–three on top and three on the bottom. I curved the backdrop around each corner using flexible acrylic light panels cut to size, covered with poster paper to absorb rubber cement better, and mounted to curved supports fabricated from 3/4-inch plywood. The backdrop scene transitions beautifully to make the turn. The eye is deceived, unlike a transition with a square corner. Hanging the support panels level was the most challenging aspect of construction, but expert assistance from my son in law, Ian, and use of both laser and bubble levels as well as frequent doublechecking of all measurements did the trick.
Using “daylight” bulbs, the fluorescent lighting is actually much bri