I have a module corner with masonite backdrops. I have prepared a sheet of .3 styrene to place in the corner, but am wondering how to best afix it, glue, hardware, or something else.
Does anyone have any advice to offer?
Jvb
I have to question why you didn’t simply use the Masonite for the entire backdrop. It can be formed to a very tight radius (8" on the layout fascia in the photo below) and you would have been able to avoid the seams and the problems associated with joining dissimilar materials.
My guess is that it would have been easier to curve than your .3" styrene, which is more than twice as thick as 1/8" Masonite, and the dissimilar thicknesses of the materials introduces another difficulty in joining the two. If you’re determined to proceed, I’d suggest contact cement, and, if you can hide them well enough, mechanical fasteners - screws from the back into the framework of the module should help hold the curve, but you’ll need to shim the rear face of the joints in order to add an overlapping splice plate.
My best advice would be to redo the entire backdrop with a single piece of 1/8" Masonite: inexpensive, no joints, no seams to hide, and, because of the curve, self-supporting.
Wayne
Thanks Wayne, actually that is a typo, it is 0.03 styrene.
Yes originally I was going to do masonite for the corner, and the corner was going to be on the order of 8 inches, but I split a few panels of masonite, before deciding on another option.
The idea of the anchors is a good on, or even better the contact cement. Do you have a brand that you recommend?
Jeff
I normally use LePage’s gelled contact cement, as it’s a lot less stringy than the regular kind. However, I couldn’t find that brand the last time I needed some, so got Weldwood Gel Formula: it seems to work just as well. Both, by the way, are solvent-based, not water-based. To get a better bond on the styrene, I usually “prep” it by first brushing on a coat of lacquer thinner - this seems to prevent the solvent in the contact cement from being used-up prematurely by reaction with the styrene. Brush the thinner onto the styrene, apply the contact cement to the Masonite, then apply contact cement to the styrene - by this time, most of the lacquer thinner will have evaporated or reacted with the styrene, leaving its surface somewhat softened. Be sure to allow the full recommended drying time before assembling the components.
Wayne
That is a bit tight but in my experience Masonite should be able to bend that much – now, obviously it is easier to bend masonite in the middle of a very long piece than towards the ends. Also sometimes lightly scoring the back of the masonite makes it a bit more flexible. My hunch is that it easier to bend the masonite and let the material “tell you” what the right radius curve should be rather than pre-decide that it absolutely has to be 8 or whatever inches. And some guys have luck “pre-bending” the masonite by spraying it with some water and bending it around something like the steel columns in a basement that hold up the floor joists.
BTW A friend of mine made wonderful coved corners using sheet metal to join up with his masonite.
Dave Nelson
The real problem with using dissimilar materials is their expansion and contraction rates. Whatever you use to smooth the joint will most likely develop a crack over time as the two different materials expand and contract at slightly different rates.
Mark.
I am not sure sure about joining masonite and styrene. I am using thin styrene for all my backdrops. I bought 4 x 8 sheets, I think 1/16" thickness, sliced them in thirds to make 8 foot lengths 18 inches high.
Three corners of the train room are situated so that I cannot “round” them. Two have windows “dead” against the corner which must be at least minimally openable. I put rejmovable sections in front of them and make square corners I wish I didn’t have to. Have to disguise as best I can. The ship to the right is on a removable piece of BG 3 feet wide.
But I have one (count them , one!) semi-rounded corner at the mainland end of my “two mile causeway.” Here is a mockup I did at an early stage, using a 39 cent sheet of posterboard to stand in fron the background painted on styene.
And here is the mockup from the back. I used thin lath strips to fasten the curving background to the section back. (Most of the layout is against the wall, with wall-mounted BG.) I used tape and clothespins and clamps for the mockup. The actual background used the same lath strips but they are contact glued to the styrene and screwede to the back of the layout sections. Not only on the curved corner but all the way.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions and help. I ended up trying velcro on .03 sheets of styrene, and it worked very well. There is the issue of the painted styrene being slightly darker than the masonite, but the curve created is what I needed.