Backgrounds

Railwriter

As part of my planned layout will run along walls of the room, I am looking at available commercial scenic backgrounds.  On wall will be quite long.

Obviously what I am looking for is Austrian mountain scenery.

 

The alternative would be to just paint that wall sky blue before construction begins, which may be a lot cheaper than several large scenic panels.

 

I realize you don't want to have the scenery right up to the background.

 

Any other thoughts on backgrounds or experience with particular brands?

 

-- Ernest

 

OBBtrains

I have also been looking into this lately.  I too am looking for Austrian Alps.  From what i have seen on message boards and you tube it looks like you find any high quality image and have it printed either locally (kinkos) or from an online printer (i think some people called it vinyl banners).  I think it is pretty reasonable if you went online (say $40 for 8 linear foot of banner)  The one issue i have seen is that if you want a long back ground then you need to merge several photos.  I saw where some used a feature in a photoshop program that automatically merged various photos.  Again, i am just learning too so i am curious what others have to say.  Any suggestions on where to find good high quality images? 

Christian

Railwriter

As a now (mostly) retired photojournalist, I have plenty of high quality images of Austria from many trips.  There are probably several thousand 35mm transparencies with Austrian subjects -- in addition to railroad images.

 

The problem is that most of what makes a good photo for publication also makes it a terrible photo for use as a scenic background.

 

The reasons is that for most photos, you want an interesting foreground, middleground, and background.

 

To use an image as a scenic background, you need a total lack for foreground subjects.  The reason is that the foreground images will be totally out of perspective in a scenic background.  (I hope that makes sense.)

 

Commercial scenic backgrounds are purposely shot without any foreground subjects that would affect perspective -- and in such a way that multiple images can easily be stitched together.  When images are combined, they need to have lighting from the same general angle or they will look wrong.

 

In addition to looking at backgrounds from manufacturers such as Faller,  I'm also looking at some smaller Austrian background providers who have been mentioned in Austrian model railroad magazines.  Presumably those backgrounds could be mailed in a tube without huge mailing cost.

 

-- Ernest