Model Railroading > Backdrop basics and progress

Layout projects are moving ahead nicely for us. The Pinedale Mill area of our Sugar Pine Lumber Company layout now has a backdrop. The mill is on a narrow lower-level shelf about 15 inches wide and the backdrop, made from tempered Masonite, measures about 13 feet long by 9-3/4 inches wide, and wraps around the end of the upper deck framing. This is the first such backdrop painting I've tried so future efforts will likely be somewhat more polished. It represents the view West from the mill area, across the valley near Fresno, California, towards the distant foothills. The sky blue and basic earth brown are our generic layout colors, and here, they've been augmented with white washes to add the hazy distance effect, plus various acrylic tube colors were used to tint and shade the clouds, earth shapes and the like. Kind of exciting to finally reach this stage.

Jeff Johnston
trainvideosandparts.com

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Nice clouds. They look realistic as does the sky. What is the material that you track is layed on?

Looks good, it will make a big difference in the look and feel of that area.

There's also a technique for making ambiguous, non-descript brush along the horizon or joint between the vertical backdrop and horizontal shelf. some guys paint it in with dark colors, other guys use a steel wool kind of scenery material to diffuse the line. It makes the backdrop appear further away.

Good progress, t4p.