Gary, that room in your photo must be pretty narrow. I took the pic below of my layout. The scene is 9' across. The backdrop on the left is an exterior wall and full height. The wall on the right is around the lolly columns and also full height. I get no sense of claustrophobia here. but in your photo I would! According to your drawing of your space, you should have a similar space, so I wouldn't worry about height making your space seem too tight. Air flow may be another issue, but I imagine only a couple inches would suffice. There won't be a wall beneath the roadbed, correct?

Note on the backdrop wall on the right I didn't run it to the end, instead I left it open so I had a very deep scene when viewed from the other side of the room. Your situation allows a similar opportunity.
[attachment=3945]

This pic is the next aisle over, so the backdrop on the left is common to the one on the right in the previous photo. Note there is no backdrop on the peninsula to the right, another option if you consider what you may achieve with it. I think there is no right or wrong here. If suitable for your scheme of things, a long row of industrial bldgs down the center could have different "fronts" (or backs) on either side, and could be high enough so you don't see over them.
[attachment=3944]

Finally, this photo show the view from the last aisle, from the other side of the peninsula with no backdrop. You see across the aisle and the concrete silos across the aisle could be just across a river.
[attachment=3943]

Most of the fun in this hobby for me is the planning, so don't rush into it and don't hold any given idea too tightly.

Gentlemen, I am very pleased with the quality of responses and thought so far. I thank each of you whloeheartedly for your time. It gives me alot to think about.

I've been working on the electrical stuff in the building today, and just came in for supper... am headed back out to work some more, so I'll need some time to adequately digest the above and makes responses.

Will return sometime.... thanks again!

I had not thought of JGL's idea of using buildings as a back drop down the center with different sides being different industries. You could probably maximize the layout space by making buildings down the center function as different industries on different sides of the layout.

First off, I thought about you quite a bit today while adding onto my kids playset. You've built an entire building in a few very short months while it took me most of the day to add on a simple second deck to their playhouse so I could move the slide around to come off the side instead of off the front. Murphy lives in my house so as a result, anything that can go wrong on my projects usually does.

I've got two graphics simply to provide food for thought....
The first is a profile of a layout I designed for last years MR track planning contest. The intent was to make it somewhat lower down so that my two boys could utilize the HO line while the upper levels (HOn3 and N) were slightly higher for me. (MR didn't like it by the way).


The second graphic (very similar to the first) is the layout I am currently building. As of right now, I have only built the N scale part but in the future, I hope to add the HOn3 above. Should be a doozy of a double decker delight.

I'd favor a high backdrop, probably to the ceiling. I've seen too many photos where the modeller had to crop closer than he wanted.

On a related note, one layout that once appeared in Model Railroader, the Lorigan Lumber Company, had scenery hanging over the front of the layout. Not floor-to-ceiling scenery, but far enough to make photography a lot easier. Of course, this technique is really only suitable for rough, mountainous terrain.

I perfer backdrops to be no more then 30" In HO or 18" in N Scale since that hides the other side..

Remember folks the idea behind a backdrop is to hide the other side of the layout,turn back etc from our view so we get a feeling of "distance".

You guys really came through with some great discussion and have given me much food for thought. What I am going to do today is frame the center wall between the posts shown in my photo. I'm going to leave it about 18" below the ceiling, just to see what it looks like. Then I can decide what to do. I can always frame it on up to the ceiling if that is the decision.

I'll post some photos, most likely tomorrow, then we can discuss the results.

Thanks a million!

I'm with Wayne... go right to the ceiling.

If we were talking about your living room, then I'd agree you want the room to feel spacious. This isn't your living room, it's your model railroad.

You're going to go to a lot of trouble to make scenery and models look like the real thing, so why wouldn't you want the backdrop to aid in that. Having the sky end 2' above the tracks and letting you see everything going on beyond it is going to destroy the illusion for you.

On the other hand, a well-painted sky backdrop, combined with good lighting will give you the illusion of wide open spaces. I would also consider insulating the full-height backdrop to deaden the sound coming from the other side of the peninsula.

More good foof for thought, Gentlemen. Thanks. Looks like we are about 50/50 on the "to the ceiling" versus "leave it lower" thinking.

Here are 2 photos of what I did this morning, with a mock-up of the layout height. So what do you think? Layout height is at 58 inches and the top pf the wall is at 78 inches, ceiling is 96".





Of course, the exterior walls will all be full height backdrops. Now, for the center wall... It is essentially divided in three sections between posts. If you look in the first picutre, you can see a post which is in the wall at the back. The center wall will be coming from there, connecting up to the framing/post in the pic. How about I make that section full height, but leave the mock-up section as is? Comments welcomed!

Someone brought up another point... I had it in my head that the center wall would be sheetrocked both above and below the layout. What about not sheetrocking it underneath? Advantages, disadvantages anyone?

I wonder what kind of shadows your lights will make shining through from the opposite side of the peninsula? There may be none or few, since lighting on both sides of the peninsula will be similar, but one thing to avoid, if at all possible, is backlighting your scenes. Because fluorescent lighting is so "flat" (not casting distinct shadows), some detail is naturally "lost" when viewing. Backlighting will exacerbate this situation, and may cause further difficulties for photography, too.

As for finishing the walls beneath the layout, one thing to consider is the use of that below-layout space. I boarded all of my layout room floor-to-ceiling, but finished (taped and mudded) only the area which shows above the benchwork. If the layout comes out, I'll have to finish those areas, but since removing the layout will also require un-coving and re-boarding the corners and filling all of the holes where the bolts securing the layout to the walls were located, it won't be that much extra work.

Much of my below-layout space is occupied by heavy-duty shelves (3/8" plywood on 2"x4" framing, 16"o/c) and used for storing all sorts of stuff, including tools, toys, furniture, miscellaneous household goods, along with building supplies and train stuff. I intend to eventually cover these areas with sliding Masonite doors, but, in the meantime, sheets of cardboard suffice.






If you're going to have lots of layout wiring beneath that requires access, you probably won't want to block that: mine has only two such areas, one where the power pack and track connection is located, and another where I have an access hatch.

Another consideration, and not just on the peninsula wall, is electrical outlets. I have several of them throughout the layout room, all currently located on the wall under the layout. Only one, near the power pack is readily accessible (which explains why there's an extension cord visible on the floor in many of my layout room pictures). The original plan (approved by the electrical inspector) is to locate new receptacles below the layout facia, fastened to the face of the top member supporting the benchwork, as shown below.


Since all of the receptacles are currently mounted on the face of the wall, it's a simple matter to put a blank cover on them, then run BX cable to the new boxes. That way, they'll be readily accessible but not on the layout facia, where someone might accidentally insert foreign objects into them.

Wayne

Based on the second image, with you (I presume...) next to the mock-up, it looks about right. It would only be in imagery where you have the camera low and taking an image down the major axis of the benchwork, or turned maybe 15 deg from the major axis, that the sky backdrop would be tough to crop. Photo shop takes care of that problem, and from the visual/operational standpoint, you look to be able to get good use of the height you show.

-Crandell

Gary S Wrote:Someone brought up another point... I had it in my head that the center wall would be sheetrocked both above and below the layout. What about not sheetrocking it underneath? Advantages, disadvantages anyone?

I was thinking of air circulation. You would be cooling more than heating, right? Cool air sinks. Leaving openings on the bottom for air flow seems logical, and you have no need of a wall, just a backdrop, to hide the columns.

Just came in to take a break. I see more thoughts to digest!

I am unable to make any serious rplies right now... in the rural area in which we live, the best I can do for inernet is a satelite connection. Apparently my daughter must have used some serious bandwidth last night, because the internet company has us over our limit. When that happens, they cut you back to dial-up speed or slower = excruciating slow. Therefore, I'm not able to reply to much because I gotta go back to work instead of waiting forever for the pages to load. :x

Sorry about that, but will definitely be making some comments tomorrow, and replying to other threads which have gone neglected.

I like it Gary. It appears that the backdrop will be about 3-4 inches above your eye level. That makes it tall enough that it might as well be all the way to the ceiling. Another trick you can do for photography purposes is to paint sky with clouds on the ceiling! I don't know if you have ever been to Las Vegas, but the shopping areas in Ceasar's Palace, the Venetian, and Paris have floor to ceiling scenery with sky painted ceilings. If it was done correctly without being able to actually see any light fixtures on the ceiling on the other side of the peninsula regardless of which side you are on, photography will probably blend the ceiling into the backdrop and see it all as sky.

First, sorry i couldn't participate wholeheartedly in the discussion yesterday. Also, thanks again for all the wonderful commentary. Here is what I am thinking now (see photo). And if I don't like it, I can always add on to the lower wall and make it full height. Thoughts? (on theright hand side of the photo where the layout is shown ending, it will actually be extending around the peninsula and going back down the other side of the center wall.)



I will be building the walls out with studs and sheetrock because I am using the heavy duty shelving brackets so I don't have to build legs for the benchwork. It will be shelves/foam on the brackets. I may leave the sheetrock out in a few places underneath the layout, possibly put some vent grills or something justto allow some air circulation.