Backdrops for the Main Level: Getting Started

So much of a layout's effect as a convincing model is achieved through the care given to its setting.  Not simply a good operating environment for trains, what separates layout art from ordinary layouts is the care that is expended in creating an experience of railroading.  George Sellios described the art of Model Railroading as the unrelenting drive 'to create a miniature world.'  Howard Zane echoed Sellios's statement with his insistence that model railroading is an art form on par with any other accepted form.  The Overland Terminal Railway seeks to be art - to provide an experience of railroading that enables its visitors and operators to enter 'a miniature world.'

Backdrops are essential to producing the effect of realism, along with the scenery and activity that occupies the scene. An art form in their own right, backdrops are paintings that define the atmosphere of the layout - the background scenery, the light, weather and mood one wishes to convey.  The Overland Terminal Railway's backdrops are essential for creating the layout's atmosphere and also its size.  Varying the weather, light and feeling throughout the layout gives it the illusion of greater size.  Some of the layout will be clear sunny skies, while others will be mixed clouds, still others complete overcast to show the movement from inland city to coastal mainline.

Creating the backdrops for my layout has proven to be quite an undertaking.  There are several stages of backdrop creation, which I will chronicle in a series of blogs.  This first entry starts from the beginning with their construction.

Getting Started

Start with Research:  As I am inclined to do, I began the process of building backdrops with extensive research and study.  I read books, watched videos, and visited layouts.  Kalmbach Books has published a number of books on building layouts.  Of these the most on-point for me is Painting Backdrops for Your Model Railroad, by Mike Danneman (2008).  Also, Model Railroad Academy has published numerous videos from great model railroaders, such as Gary Leone, Howard Zane, George Sellios, to name a few, that illustrate different techniques for producing compelling backdrops.  

For a year leading to the actual construction of the backdrops, I studied many layouts.  Fortunately, there are a number of fine layouts on the Wasatch Front that I was able to visit and see some amazing backdrops.  Here's a couple:

Bill Hughes' layout, which shows here his fantastic model of the Union Pacific route through dramatic canyon landscape between Brigham City and Logan, Utah.  Note the care taken to the realistic scale and effect of the rock.

Bill Hughes' layout from another angle, showing the artistic value of blending sculpted scenes into the backdrop in creating a truly spectacular scene.

The layout of the late Allen McKallum illustrates the spectacular effect backdrops can produce on this freelanced layout set around Utah and Wyoming in the 1940s.  Here great care spent on producing scenery continues into the backdrop, creating both the convincing illusion of depth and ambiance.  These are techniques that I hope to work into my backdrops. 

Another look at this layout shows how a panorama is made more dramatic with the use of artistic backdrops.  

A visit to Rob Spangler's layout shows a truly spectacular instance of backdrops as art.  Here the transition between built scenery and backdrop is difficult to spot, an effect created by a good eye for composition, color and blending between built and painted scenery.  Here the freelanced place near the Utah-Nevada border comes to life where one feels the dry heat and smells the desert sage. 

Shot from different angles, these views show how effective blending can be in expanding a scene and creating a realistic experience of a miniature world.  This scene is little more than a foot in depth, yet the backdrop extends it to a quarter of a mile or more.  Moreover, the scene has a continuity and ability to draw one into it that helps one forget the difference between real and modeled worlds.

These visits have given both a standard to reach and many ideas on the techniques used to achieve it.  There are many other examples, but these are representative of the effects great backdrops can achieve in a great model railroad.

Work Begins on my Backdrops

Virtually every source I consulted, whether publication, video or live modeler, agrees that Masonite makes the best material for backdrops.  Masonite is pliable, strong, smooth and easily treated to produce a perfect 'canvas' for backdrop art.  Knowing the height of the scenes I wanted to produce, and collecting the material on my own (having a truck helps!), I went to my local Home Center store and bought sheets of Masonite.  An invaluable service these stores provide is in-store cutting.  In my case, knowing the exact dimensions I needed, the store could rip my sheets of Masonite to the desired heights, which also made them easier to load and transport home.

My backdrops were affixed to the layout walls using an air-powered staple gun.  This technique can be effective only if staples (I used 1 1/4" staples) are driven into studs and other structural framing - especially in spots near a curve where the board needs to be firmly anchored.  The Masonite covered the walls and a window, as shown here.

I first laid cut sheets of Masonite in place to study their general effect.  This approach allowed me to figure out what the most effective way of using the Masonite to take advantage of the contours of the room.  In this case a knockout of the wall behind the passenger terminal allowed for bonus space that is useless for track operations but a rare opportunity to build out depth of scene in an area that otherwise could look two-dimensional.  

After studying the Masonite sections, it was time to attach them to the wall.  Having an extra set of hands (and eyes) makes all the difference.  I picked a corner of the layout, and we started stapling the Masonite directly to the wall, as shown here:

Picking a corner as a starting point makes the task so much easier.  Splicing pieces into a curving section is simply not practical because the seams would be impossible to hide (yeah, a basic concept), so all of the corners were set in place while the other pieces filled it in.  Because the backdrops cover one window completely and partially cover another, I built a 'C' framed cage inside the window wells that held the backdrops in place but in no way hindered the windows' ability to function.  This consideration is essential in keeping the room accessible.

At the opposite end of the room, the backdrop partially covered a window, but it was framed and set in such a way that the window can be accessed and opened for egress, as shown here.

The structure in the middle of the window (right) is not attached to the wall; instead, the Masonite holds it firmly in place. 

A few things to note at this point.  First, there is an intentional gap between the top of the Masonite and the ceiling.  This gap creates a boundary between room and layout that is visually pleasing.  Second, the most comfortable curve for the corners is about 18" Radius, which is a comfortable bend for the Masonite to handle without buckling, and, more importantly, is the minimum angle for absorbing light and avoiding the shadows that can kill a good scene later on.

From the corners we attached Masonite working to a center point.  The center on my layout fell into the least optimal place - right near the center of the Passenger Terminal space that I wanted to showcase. In the famous words of Charlie Brown - 'UGHHH!'

These remaining pieces created nasty seams that would take great skill to hide.  This skill is way beyond mine, so I brought in professional help for patching, priming and painting.  It was worth the effort (more on that later).  Now most of the main wall was in place:

And finally the last corner goes into the control center, where an unexpected vista will open up to the visitor:

Building a Freestanding Center Backdrop

The Downtown Peninsula posed a particular challenge, since it was built perpendicular to the main part of the layout and required a freestanding structure for its backdrop.  This required framing the structure, then attaching the Masonite to it. I used 2x3s for studs, and 1x2s for the sill and header.  The entire structure was put together using 1 1/4" drywall screws (no glue was used). The frame was constructed as a tilt-up, cut and assembled entirely on the floor of the room, then placed, tilted up and attached to the benchwork.  

The frame for the peninsula backdrop is sitting in place prior to its actual attachment to the benchwork.  One notices here that the backdrop crosses the peninsula at an angle, which required attaching cross members on the benchwork for anchoring it.  The angled attachment of the backdrop adds visual interest to the scenes that will be built here, allowing them to open up to the visitor - again, taking advantage of every opportunity to make the layout look bigger than it actually is.  

Once the frame was in place, which included a little cage structure at one end for getting access to the hard-to-reach north end of the Passenger Terminal that also added great strength to the overall structure, it was time to attach the Masonite sections.

These two views show the stages of attaching the Masonite.  It is critically important to put a stud behind every seam in order to provide a stable anchor point, making seams easier to patch and blend.  The Masonite created a noticeable tilt in the structure, shown at left, which necessitated a brace at the end.  Fortunately, scenery will hide the brace.  

The Masonite covered the entire structure, and an end brace was put in place to provide strength to this freestanding structure.

The backdrop here angles back to open up the scene and create a large 'room' in the layout.  This area eventually will contain a large urban hillside.  The layout's theme being urban, hills can add visual interest in different ways - especially with streets and buildings climbing the hill, as I wish to build into this city.  Also, the hill will hide access to the section of track bisecting this view.  

Priming, Patching and Painting

The sources I consulted recommend treating the Masonite walls in the same way as a normal wall.  Seams and staple holes all have to be patched and sealed to provide a near-perfect painting surface.  One of my modeling crew (it does take a community to build a great layout) is a professional painter.  He took charge of this process.  It was recommended that the surface receive a proper prime coat prior to painting.  We chose an alcohol-based primer/sealer by Zinsser (any primer could work, but I have had great experience with this one.  The fumes are pungent, even if quickly dissipated, giving me a bit of a buzz).  

These views show the process of priming the surface first by cutting in the edges, then painting on a smooth coat with a good roller.  Once primed, then joints were taped and mudded, and nail holes were filled with putty and sanded.  Once complete, the walls were ready to paint.  

Once completely primed, patched and sanded, we applied a coat of a hazy sky blue (I used a Dunn-Edwards interior flat - flat being essential for absorbing light and creating depth).  This blue is the base coat for the immediate background, and we will experiment with different hues to deepen the sky as it moves up the backdrop.  Now fully patched, sealed and painted, now look at now that nasty set of seams disappeared!

At last we have painted backdrops ready for the next steps of deepening the blue of the sky, applying background mountains and clouds.

As both of these pictures show, even the base blue on the backdrops blurs the horizon, which is essential to their ability to create a realistic depth of scene.  Individual scenes will be painted later as the model gets built out.  

Here we see the backdrop through the main, or Downtown, peninsula completed. A completely free-standing structure, this backdrop will add a new dimension to the Downtown switching district.  Curved around an access point and angled to open up scenes on either side, this backdrop transforms the Downtown peninsula into two rooms with distinct identities.  This effect both disguises the balloon track and, in creating two distinct spaces, greatly expands the perceived size of the layout and its operation.  

In these two shots the 'scenic window,'  which was created to add a surprise depth of scene in the Keys-Victor District on the south end of the layout, has been given a more finished appearance.  Originally, accommodating wide radius turns necessitated cutting into the wall, so I opened it up to create a mini-scene expansion in this future warehouse and industry switching operation at the busiest junction of the layout.  The backdrops add perspective and vanishing points for scene expansion that have tremendous visual and operational potential.

As scenes are built out, this blog will show the modeling techniques used to create them. Here I attempted to document the process for building backdrops for the Overland Terminal Railway, my fictional terminal railway operation set somewhere in California in the middle 1950s.

It Takes a Community

A good layout takes multiple skill sets, second opinions, not to mention muscle to build.  So much of this acumen is beyond my abilities, so I would like to thank some friends in the modeling community for bringing these backdrops together.  Blaine Holbrook provided valuable tips for constructing the structure and working with Masonite.  Bob Hendrickson and Jim Hoeppner provided both springboards for ideas and physical assistance with their assembly.  Brad Strong gave insight on how these operations can be built.  Bill Johnson, a professional painter, taught me through his hard work how to finesse a painting surface and create a spectacular foundation for incredible scenes.  All of these invaluable contributions take the layout's potential from good to Wow!