Backdrop-Using Commercial Backdrops

Using Commercial Backdrops

A definite “must have” for my layout was a quality backdrop. Since I’m no artist and have no plans to become one, I used commercially printed backdrops. They were expensive but they are fast and look darn good.

Size and Subject

Using 3rd PlanIt, I knew the length of each backdrop. My chosen vendor can print murals up to 36″ high but he was able to print mine at 42″. There is a maximum length for each offered scene. With that info, I could determine how many actual sheets I would need for each part of the layout.

The design brief dictated the layout’s locale. I just needed to decide which type of background was best for each portion of the layout.

Ordering

I could find no other company that offered better variety, quality and custom service than RailroadBackdrops.com. They offer tons of scenery options, sizes and material choices. As I needed very long backdrops, James, the owner, was able to blend together separate backdrops into long continuous scenes.

Order Details

I ordered 5 backdrops, each being 42″ high by 96″ long and 1 being 42″ high by 48″ long. They “stretched” the 36″ high versions to 42″ and all was good. 4 were blended to form a 28′ long backdrop and the other 2 were blended to form another 16′ long backdrop. I had the backdrops printed on “Premium Polypropylene” stock, which offers the best surface protection from the other things you’ll use to scenic the railroad, like paints, water and plaster.

Mounting

Although RailroadBackdrops.com provides good information on how to mount their backdrops which have an adhesive backing, there were few details for mounting panels that have the non-adhesive backing. I chose panels with the non-adhesive backing because they looked like they would be a bit more forgiving to install. The information below summarizes the steps we used to hang the panels. I say “we” because you will need a partner to help mount the backdrops.

Pros and Cons of Using this Particular Product

While I was very satisfied with the backdrops from RailroadBackdrops.com, they were not perfect. Here’s my assessment of their non-adhesive backdrop panels.

Pros

The heavy, non-adhesive stock never stretched, the surface never got scuffed up, was forgiving in our slight tugging and was able to conceal all but the most serious imperfections in the backer board. Overall, a superior base material to work with.
The base material is not easily creased. We accidentally turned the panels in ways that would normally introduce a crease but none ever developed.
Identifying info is printed on the side margin of each panel to help ensure that we put the panels up in the right order.
The image quality was very high, as expected, but seeing it in real life was gratifying.
The panels easily rolled out, they laid flat and we didn’t have to fight to keep them from rolling back up.
The custom blending between the panels of different scenes was as good as I could hope for.
Even though the widest published option was 36″, they printed some at 42″. The company will bend over backwards to get you what you want.
Our longest backdrop was almost 28 feet, made of 4 panels and had 3 seams. I was impressed that it took us only 5 hours to complete that full run. That’s actually pretty fast for all the work we did.

Cons

The panels are expensive. Each 8′ panel cost over $200 in 2019. You must be highly motivated to use this option.
The printed image might have blemishes in a few places or some areas may be out of focus. While minor, some people can be disappointed with less than perfection. From more than a few feet away, the overall effect overshadows these small errors.
If you are using “stitched together” panels, the seam matching on the panels is practically impossible to get perfect. These panels are not printed to the same tolerance you see in good quality wallpaper. Even with the “double-cut” method we employed, there was some small image mismatch. Again, the small errors are hard to spot and do not affect the overall impact.