The Empire

[deemery]

You'll need an extra set of hands (preferably attached to long arms...) to hang those backdrops.  I'm using the Deluxe Materials backdrop glue, it works pretty well, but you have to get good coverage, particularly along the edges.  Then I use a rubber roller to seat the backdrop.

dave

[jbvb]

At the moment, my backdrops are all painted: A pale blue at horizon level (up to 5-6" above landforms or buildings). I have another can open with a darker blue; I paint a band of it above 20" over track level, then blend the two blues up/down in the intermediate area.  You could adapt this to paper backdrops by starting with the backdrop's sky color at the top edge, then blending the darker blue from above it.  I don't think you'd even need clouds; people's eyes are drawn to interesting things, and they'll all be below the transition.



This shows my most advanced painted backdrop, done about 10 years ago. I graded the blue base coat as above, then added a few off-white clouds. The actual painted backdrop involves a couple of shades of green to differentiate tree shapes; conifers have different shapes than deciduous trees where I'm modeling, and are darker green, closer is darker than distant.

[Zephyrus52246]

Dave, the Trackside people use the spray 3M adhesive in their video to attach the backdrop.  I'll certainly look into the Deluxe Materials adhesive as well.

The buildings (except the FSM kit on the left side) are still all removable, the streets/sidewalks are glued down, but I can still get up on this area if need be.  

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

Very nice backdrops, James.  I don't have your artistic talent.  The series of backdrops I'll use in this area don't have any clouds, so if I need to paint over the top of the bluff (versus cutting up a backdrop), I won't need to add clouds. 

Jeff

[Rick]

Jeff, thanks for the additional pictures.