Any ideas/suggestions on material for scenic dividers? My frieindly contractor/capenter suggested 1/8" masonite double faced (ie. 2 pieces).... I need something that curves (about a 30" radius easily) thx!
Masonite comes both one- and two-sided. I'd suggest two-sided 1/8" masonite would be fine. No real need to double it up unless it's very high or long. Pete
Here's a trick in bending masonite around a corner: take a sponge and wet the masonite that you want to bend with water. The wet masonite will then hold the round corner once it is dry.
I used 1/8" Masonite for the single-sided background for my layout a few years back. This photo is looking straight into the corner of the room, right over the tower spire of the courthouse.
The current "hot" material is Styrene in sheets. I have masonite, but I also have visible joints. I hear you can actually buy it in rolls, and thus eliminate any seams, by figuring out that you have, say, 34 foot of backdrop, and buying at least that much. It's lightweight should make it easy to handle, even in larger sizes. I think you need to lightly sand it before painting for the paint to really hold. Of course, it would bend around the corners you have, as it is quite flexible..... Mike Dryzinski of this board used linoleum tile in similar long rolls for the same purpose, and used it well.
Yes, the person I spoke to also mentioned the sheet Styrene, the question was whether it came in 1/8" or 1/4". Actually, my layout construction "consultant" is our carpenter / contractor, who has done many projects for us. For the past few years he has been using styrene for several facia-type projects including building his own "dental mouldings" for our front door. The stuff is amazing - I just love to see our stupid carpenter bees landing on it and trying to take a bite out of it!
LJudice, Don't know exact thicknesses, but the stryrene sheets I have seen come in MM width, just as the Plastruct sheets. I suspect the thinner the better, and something closer to 1/16 of an inch would be more than plenty in styrene.....the thinner, the easier the bend, although you might want to secure it more often to stop waviness.
A 4 x 8-foot sheet of .060" styrene is lighter than a sheet of masonite. Be aware, however, that rolls of styrene, like rolls of paper, can quickly get pretty heavy! Pete
I've used masonite on mine. Good part is that it is cheap, bends fairly well, finishes well with latex and acrylic paints and a roller, takes a pretty good beating and can be glued to. The bad part is the expansion and contraction and the joints - I live in PA where humidity can be 20% in the winter with the furnace running and 80% in July. I had to have vertical backdrop joints on my modular tables, and they are VERY hard to keep redoing and concealing. I did mine in back-to-back layers with 1/2" wood between (furring strips). Curved with the vertical strips sandwiched in the middle is incredibly strong and takes the stress off the benchwork, and you mount the strips right to the L-girders. Also gave me a 'tab/socket' to fit the edges together in between modules. Seemed like a good idea; in practice I've added steel reinforcement strips with wood screws across the top to try to keep the joints from opening up so much. That helped, but it still has problems. If you 're going to use styrene, better figure out how you're going to paint it with a paint that won't peel off - latex/water base won't work well.
Most styrene has a slightly textured side, and then a side that's very smooth. Not even water based glues will stick to that side. Easiest thing to do for paint would probably be, just take an orbital sander with maybe a 120 to 200 or so grit, and just run it all over the side to paint. You might want to go with an automotive paint, rather than house paint. Also, don't store the sheet in tight rolls before you use it, as it will stay that way. And depending on what thickness you get, it's fairly easy to put little dings in it, so you have to be careful. Dave Los Angeles, CA -DPDP Model Accessories- http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/ ------------------------------------------------- -Rail Radio Online-Home of the "TrainTenna" RR Monitoring Antenna- http://eje.railfan.net/railradioonline
For styrene, Krylon makes a paint especially formulated to bond with plastic. I haven't used it, but you can get it in Wal-Mart or most any building supply store.
I used sheet styrene for my backdrop - while not a scenic divider, it works well - bends to hide corners, accepts paint well (although all I've done is paint mine sky blue for now. . . one of hundreds of projects still to do. . . ), and you can fill the gaps easily. I used full 4 x 8 sheets on the wall - bought them for about $10 each at a plastics wholesaler. The .040 sheets are thick enough to lay flat nicely. As far as painting them went, I used cheap Sears latex, rolled on, and it stuck just fine. I did scuff up the styrene first w/ fine sandpaper. I was surprised at how much paint it took! Kenneth - cool layout!!! Dave
Jeff - I hung them from the rafters with 2x2's, screwed in from behind (you can see one of them in the top left of the photo. For the corner, I ran a 2x2 up from the floor and fastened to the rafter, and then 'pinched' the bottom of the sheet with a 1x2 screwed into the 2x2. Plus, each sheet is taped to the concrete wall with outdoor double sided tape. I used 3M plastic tape on the joints between the sheets. One of my objectives was to not put any holes in the concrete walls. Someday I'll get around to painting the Tehachapi mountains on them - but for now the blue paint works ok. It was a huge improvement over the concrete walls - and looks ok in photographs. Dave
