he is very helpfull, my

he is very helpfull, my backdrop was make with his service...i'm very happy with it

I will be really interested

I will be really interested in seeing the product and your pictures showing the installation. It sounds like you found something that would be nearly ideal. After you get all the hard work done I think all know which way to go on my layout.

Rob in Texas

Rob in Texas - I'll be sure

Omar, thank you for sharing

I've placed my order with

I've placed my order with Dave at Backdrop Junction after he resized his MTH044 & MTH045 backdrops for my space.  I can't wait to see how they turn out!

The anticipation is building,

The anticipation is building, there are a bunch of us on the web waiting to see this too! Man the web is getting crowded today.

Oh happy day! - I received my printed backdrop!

Yesterday I received my printed backdrop from Backdrop Junction.  Dave did a great job of customizing the printing for me to reduce the size of the trees along with not printing the sky since it will be cut off.  He printed just enough above the sky to make the finished product 10" of printed area (at the highest) on 12" high self-adhesive vinyl.  Since the printed area was reduced Dave made sure that I was paying for less printed area thus saying me money.

I'm using two of Backdrop Junctions backdrop - one for each side of my room.  On the left will be MTN044 and on the right will be MTN045.  Both products are 216" (18 feet) long and each is cut (at my request) into 4-1/2 foot long sections.  I wanted that length as it will make it easier to handle and install the sections then if I went with 6 foot long sections.  Yes, I know that means another seem, but I can live with that. The sections have a printed 2" overlap to allow for an almost invisible seem.

Last night I used scissors to cut off the un-printed area at the top of the sections.  I'll leave the white un-printed section along the bottom as it will be hidden by scenery.  I'll also cut off the white sections at each end of the sections.  I taped the sections to the wall so that I can use a white pencil to faintly mark the top profile of the hills.  After I've completed that I'll remove the backdrop and use my airbrush to work on fading the sky to the horizon and add clouds.

Here's the view along the left wall of the backdrop.  There will be a couple of industry buildings in the foreground.

This area is behind a small yard and will have a mostly country look.

The back corner will contain the Hoovertown downtown area.  It works out great that the backdrop has houses in this area!

More to come as I make progress on the project.

Looks...

Fantastic Rick!

That looks really good!

That looks really good!

Oh yeah

That works Rick. Get the 3D foliage to match the foreground tree colors and you will have a winner of a backdrop.

Looks fantastic Rick. It

Looks fantastic Rick. It would be interesting to know how much was saved by eliminating the sky. The houses and other details will really enhance your models. It would also be interesting to know if the perspective can be changed so only the first hill is included and the height extended upward. In looking at those things from the edge of a river one does not get to see what is behind the first hill. Really nice looking back drop and looks like a bunch easier than painting!

Let me say it again really looks good and adds a huge amount of depth!

Rob in Texas

Rob in Texas - The particulars on my order

Rob,

It's difficult for me to nail down the savings as Dave also did some customization on the backdrops to my specifications.  I'd suggest that you check directly with Dave for the specifics on what you might need for your situation.  Dave did a mock up for me at no charge and posted it on his site.  I downloaded the picture and printed out a small section which I taped to my wall to really see what it looked like in place.  He didn't charge me for that service.  The MTN044 "stock" image had windmills on it which he removed since I'm modeling the 1960's so I believe he might be able to remove the background hills and change the perspective.

Backdrop installation: blue sky fade to the horizon

With the backdrop taped in place temporarily I used my wife's white pencil to lightly trace the hill top outline just below the actual top of the hills.  You can see it (barely) in the picture below after I removed the backdrop.

I then removed the backdrop and used my airbrush with some Badger opaque white paint to blend the blue sky down to the where the top of the mountains will be.  I also painted some very wispy clouds which don't show up in the picture.  Once the backdrop is installed I may lightly airbrush some clouds over the tops of some of the mountains.

Do you have a plan for gluing them up ?

 Looking forward to seeing how this works out. Hope it's easier than wall papering :> ) ...DaveB 

Attaching the backdrop to the wall

DaveB,

I purchased the self-adhesive versions and will follow the method shown in Dave's installation video on his website.

Can't add anything new here -

Can't add anything new here - it looks very good!

Blue Sky Fade to Horizon

Rick,

Your photo that shows the end wall appears to show that the start of the fade to the horizon follows the slopes of the hills' profile. Remember that the horizon is level and behind the hills. The fade should start at a level line somewhat above the hills and not curve up and down following them.

Dante

Backdrop on left wall installed!

Yeah!  I followed the instructions on Dave's video to install my backdrop and it was a snap!  The self-adhesive vinyl was much easier than the rubber cement that I used on my backdrop on my previous layout.  It took me about 45 minutes to install all four sections.

I used my wife's slide cutter to trim off the white sections on each end and tried to trim in a location that would allow for easy matching of the sections.  I peeled away about 8" of the protective sheet from the back of the section and then set the roll on top of the layout to make sure I was unrolling the backdrop so that it would be level.  Next I carefully stuck the adhesive exposed section to the wall and then pulled away the backing as I pressed the backdrop onto the wall.

After the section was all stuck to the wall I used a paint roller to roll the entire section with medium pressure to ensure adhesion with the wall.

Here's the first section installed.  I didn't have any bubbles or wrinkles so I installed the next section by carefully matching the scenes at the seam and repeating the installation process.  And so it went with the other two sections.

Here's a view of the completed backdrop.  The giant flesh colored blog in the upper left of the photo is my finger.

This is a view of the backdrop from the door looking towards the back of the layout.

Boy, I am glad that I went this route of purchasing a backdrop instead of painting one.  It is a great time saver and looks much better than anything that I could paint.  Speaking of paint, I've got some clouds to paint and of course install the other backdrop on the right wall.

I highly recommend Backdrop Junction as Dave did a great job of working with me and produced a quality product in a short time frame.

It really does look nice Rick.

The coved corners are all but invisible.  The town in the corner looks like it belongs there.  I think you've done well for yourself.  

That looks fantastic Rick!  I

That looks fantastic Rick!  I can't find the seams even when I zoom in. Where are they? They are very un-unnoticeable for these old iballs.

Randy

Nice Job Rick!

'nuthin wrong with that!

Looking really good Rick!

Hi Rick, your background is looking really good. Great installation!

It is amazing how a well done background adds so much to a layout.

Your layout is coming together really well. Looking forward to future progress.

Paul

Ok now I am really jealous.

Ok now I am really jealous. It looks great, your painting was good as well and you already have the thing on the layout and did it in no time at all. Way to make us all jealous of the big downsize from your other layout, just not fair at all.

Fantastic job Rick, all kidding aside it sure looks like that is the way to go. There are some folks on here that seem to have the artistic talent to do an excellent job but most of us do not come close. Some folks have enough talent and ability that they can improve to be able to do something very good that many of us would be proud of as well. Alas I do not, I sure hope the backdrop photo route is not to expensive as it would really be a stroke of luck for me to find something that will work as well for me.

Rob in Texas

Beautiful , but what does

Buck and Loretta say about it? did it pass the locals test? ........DaveB