Author: Alan Carter

Backdrops – A Four Person Tag-Team Approach – By Tom Buckingham

Photos by Al Frasch and Rich Blake

Four clinicians (Al Carter, Nick Muff, Al Frasch, and Cliff Aaker) took turns with different parts of the presentation.  Al Carter began by briefly describing the three options one has: Plain sky, photo or photo mural and a painted backdrop.

For the plain sky Al provided some photo examples of the improvement  accomplished simply by picking your favorite blue sky color and painting your backdrop with that color. The difference was dramatic and very simple.

Al Frasch then showed the improvement that can be had by using three different shades of blue. He painted a board with the darkest shade on the top and the lightest on the bottom.  Then with a dry roller he simply blended the three colors where each joined its neighbor.  The result was a very nice gradual increase from the darkest blue on top to the lightest blue on the bottom with no apparent “line” separating them.  He said he paints about five to six feet at a time and can go about fifty feet or so before he has to get another dry roller.

Al Frasch demonstrating blending techniques

Nick Muff then talked about how he starts with a plain single color blue sky and then adds clouds.  As he researched the subject of adding clouds there seemed to be four popular methods: cloud stencils, hand painted clouds, misting with a spray paint to simulate clouds and using a sponge on a stick to in effect “blot” on the clouds.  His only comment about the latter method was that the end result looked like “sponges blotted on a blue sky” and were not what he was looking for.  Nick ended up using the cloud stencil method. He took pictures of clouds and projected them onlarge pieces of card stock and then outlined the clouds in the projected pictures. When he was done he cut them out and ended up with about a dozen or so different stencils.

Nick Muff showing a sample of his custom cloud stencils

He chose spray cans of Flat White Krylon because he liked the color and how fast the paint dried.  According to Nick the trick to getting realistic clouds is to hold the stencils about two inches away from your backdrop and spray mainly on the top edge of the stencil.  The result is a more defined top of the clouds and a “fuzzy” or less defined bottom.  As he gets to the bottom of the scene (that is the part representing what is the furthest away) he made the clouds smaller and in straighter lines as you would see if you were outdoors.

He passed on several secrets to realistic success—start with  a darker blue than you would probably otherwise use.  The blue has to be dark enough to see the white clouds. Start with a light mist and go heavier.  Once the cloud is on the backdrop it won’t get any less dense.  Flip your stencils end for end after a while to avoid “repeating” a cloud formation.  After all, clouds don’t look like carbon copies of each other.  Get a spray can “handle” so your finger doesn’t wear out.  And most importantly wear a respirator.  Nick had several photos of his process and a sample of his end result that was very realistic.

Al Carter then spoke about photo backdrops.  You may either buy them commercially (Backdrop Warehouse, and Scenic King) or make your own. To make your own, take some panoramic photos, and then using a photo program like Photoshop Elements remove any photo errors that may have crept in, like paralax error, etc.  The result can be printed commercially at Kinko’s or COSTCO,  for example.

Finally, Al Carter and Cliff Aaker gave a live two ring circus show demonstrating how to paint trees by hand on your backdrop. Al dealt mostly with the far background trees using mostly very dark colors in the far background and then bringing them up to dark green and then lighter green as you come forward. He was mainly demonstrating the hills of trees that you see as you look off toward the mountains or hills. Cliff concentrated on the foreground trees. Using mostly a “fan brush” he demonstrated how quickly and easily one can paint realistic trees on your backdrop.

Al Carter showing a backdrop painted on the backside of sheet vinyl flooring

Cliff Aaker painting trees

Both Al and Cliff had several tips for realism:  Have an example (a photo) nearby so that you don’t have to paint from memory.  Plan ahead—it is a lot easier to paint a back drop if you can stand at the wall than climbing over your layout to do it.  Make sure your “painted trees” are not larger than the actual scenery trees you have in the foreground.

Al wrapped up with some very amusing examples of the good, the bad and the ugly.

It was a very enjoyable clinic. There is nothing like seeing someone (in the case several someones) do something live. As Al Carter said: “If I can do it, so can you.”

Al Carter / Photos by Al Frasch

Chairman Rich Blake started the meeting and welcomed 38 eager attendees to the April 2013 Clinic. Al Carter reported on the upcoming Fourth Division Spring Meet to be held on May 17-18 in Tukwila and on the June 26-30 Pacific Northwest Region meet to be held in Boise, Idaho. Susan Gonzales discussed several of the clinics scheduled for the 2013-2014 season, including a field trip to the Mount Rainier Scenic Railway, in late September.

One new attendee showed up, John Fuik of Anacortes, along with his wife Marjorie. For the Tool of the Month, Al Carter showed off MicroMark’s “Thin Beam” square, an invaluable tool for scribing sheet styrene and wood. John Mann displayed another MicroMark product – the “Crocodile Action Ear Polypus,” which is a nifty forceps-type tool that can fit into a 1/8” diameter hole.

Another member (sorry but I didn’t catch the name) reported on the fact that anyone with a Sno-Isl library card can subscribe to Model Railroader and also to Fine Scale Modeler, thus saving the yearly subscription costs. However, back issues are only available for the current year via the library. And apparently, anyone with a valid library card in the state of Washington can use this system. For further details, click here.

Bill Harper and John Mann sharing a moment of humor before the clinic started

The “Main Event” of the evening was a clinic on installing sound decoders, by John Mann and Bill Harper. John started off by explaining that in our modeling world, size can be compressed to whatever size or scale we want, but sound is a different matter – think of muting the sound, rather than compressing it. There are lots of manufacturers of sound decoders available now and some sound a lot better than others. Prices generally reflect this, of course.  ohn demonstrated this difference by letting us hear Digitrax (lower end) and Tsunami (higher end) decoders.

John brought an incredible array of materials and supplies to augment his program, including a lot of hardware in addition to the actual decoders, including speaker enclosures, axle and drive wheel wipers, chuff sync devices, very fine and flexible wire, and mini-connectors. He pointed out that while most of the DCC manufacturers offer much of this equipment, one can also go to non-railroad supply houses such as Allied Electronics, Digikey, etc.

John and Bill described how adding a capacitor to the decoder circuit allows the sound to keep on uninterrupted, despite the locomotive running over dirty track or other disturbances in the signal reaching the decoder. We learned a lot about capacitors, including different types and ratings.

John Mann’s DCC Test and Display Tracks

Here’s a great tip, not only for sound decoder installation, but actually any modeling you do: take digital photographs of your work and your finished product for later reference.

John finished the evening with a great demonstration of several different sized speakers, both with and without speaker enclosures. It is truly amazing how a proper speaker enclosure enhances the sound. We learned a lot from John and Bill last night!

Al Carter

Clinic Chair Rich Blake called the meeting to order at a little past 7:00 am with 30 hearty souls in attendance. The group was treated to a pre-clinic “swap mart,” where people bring items to sell or trade or even give away. While the swap mart was held every few months or so in the past, it has become quite popular and is now a monthly part of the clinic.

Phil Gonzales brought along a nifty jig he made to make duplicate cuts in Campbell corrugated siding. He passed it around for all to see, but wouldn’t take orders to build any more. Darn!

The main event of the evening was delayed a bit while Rich and others tried to solve some technical difficulties with the computer, but the computer held out and wouldn’t cooperate, so we didn’t see the DVDs that were to be a part of the show.

Undaunted, our clinician, John White (and former clinic chairperson) pressed onward with his presentation entitled “Track Construction Methods In The Real World,” aided by his ever faithful Kodak slides and projector. John’s presentation told part of the story of the evolution of track/tie renewal from single insertions, to panelization, gantries and finally the need for a faster system for total track renewal, hence the P811.

John described the evolution of the use of concrete ties in North American railroading, including first aborted attempts in the 1960s.

Then, in the 1970s, the Canadian National, plunged forward with some extensive research and development into the use of concrete ties. This was also when use of the European P811 machine came into use, as a machine that could remove old wood ties, grade the ballast, and place new concrete ties all in one fell swoop. Quite a machine, judging by the great slides John displayed.

The P811 became the defacto machine used by the CN, UP, Amtrak and BNSF and is in use today, placing 400,000 or more ties per year for each railroad.  A couple of interesting facts:

• A concrete tie used by the CN (8’ 3”) weighs about 610 lbs
• Concrete ties for UP, BNSF, etc, built to AREA specs (8’ 6”) weigh closer to 750 lbs
• Concrete ties for transit use can weigh less, according to design requirements
• Concrete ties are depressed in the center as a function of their design, not necessarily to save weight
• Concrete ties outlast the tie life of wood ties in similar track conditions

Quite a fascinating presentation by a fascinating individual. Thank you, John!

The April Clinic is scheduled to be “DCC Hands On Sound System Test Track” by Bill Harper and Jon Mann. All are welcome at the Summer Hill Retirement Center in Oak Harbor. The clinic starts at 7:00 pm, but come early to see what goodies show up for sale. Also, several folks get together for dinner at 5:00 pm at San Remo’s on Midway Blvd in Oak Harbor. For more info, email Al Carter or Rich Blake.

Sorry, no pictures this time – our official photographer was off running trains.