Painted backdrops
Hi again, Our club layout under construction has now reached the stage where we must do the backdrops before proceeding with the scenery. I had a look at the various options available for backdrops and have come to the conclusion that for our specific needs we will have to go for a painted backdrop, the reason being that the layout room is quite big and oddly shaped. We are looking at the possibility of employing the services of a backdrop artist. Has anyone had experience with quality painted backdrops and what is your opinion on it? Looking forward to your comments. Thanks and regards and enjoy the hobby! Johan

Hi Johan, If you have some pictures of the scenes that you want on the back drop use a data projector to put them in the wall, draw them in and have a go at painting them yourselves. For me the hard bit is the sky. When you look at a blue sky the close to the ground it is the lighter it is. Its a subtle thing and I probably have not explained it to well but if you look outside you will see what I mean. If you do get someone to paint it for you, make sure you tell them what scenic features are going where, hills building, tress etc so that they can see what your foreground scenery will be so that the backdrop follows it. Cheers John

Examples of Painted backdrops
Hello Johan It's not easy to get fine painted backdrops but here are two examples of our club layout HAFEN. The buildings in the back are cut apart in the length. So we get an good look between front and rear. Our first tests we made on a wallpaper, to get practice and to test the appearance. So you have the chance to make changes.

Hello Franz, Do I detect some MZZ backscene buildings? Grusse, David

Hello Frans, nice to see you here, I most probably will come to Leverkusen in Juli / August to see everybody again. Jacq David, the background painting is done by one of the members of the fdE Burscheid club. Jacq