In the background

My escapades today in the Man Cave centered around my 009 narrow gauge layout. Whilst I am in the process of putting it back together I am doing some of the jobs that are easier without everything on it. Having sorted the wiring the other day it was time to deal with a matter that I have been putting off for a long time and it is literally in the background - the backscene. At the moment there is a black background from the rear of the USA switching layout which backs onto the 009 layout. Not exactly inspiring to look at!

I am not sure what the backscene will look like. There are choices to be made. I could just paint it sky blue and leave it at that. I could paint my own landscape which is probably not a good idea given my artistic skills are somewhat questionable! I could also use a preprinted backscene which opens up even more options. Peco do an artistic version which is like a painting whereas Gaugemaster and other companies do what is termed as a photo backscene where the scene is like an elongated photograph with the detail that allows. At this stage I am not sure which I will go for but in putting together the backscene board I have made it to the height (300mm) of the standard sizes for preprinted sheets.

My material of choice is foam board which is light in weight and comes in sheets that are 600mm wide - that's handy! 

Unfortunately my sheets are not long enough to stretch the entire length of the layout so having cut two sheets in half lengthwise, I had to cut one sheet to the additional length required to complete the rear and side of the layout. These were joined at the rear by further 150mm wide strips of foamboard.

UHU glue, unless it us the solvent free variety, is not the best for foam board as it melts the foam. However as I was only gluing the paper face I used it with success. Having glued the various parts together it looks like this at the moment. The side piece is loose at the moment and will probably remain like that so it will be easier to handle the backscene if I have to take it off. Fastening it to the baseboard I am toying with the idea of Velcro and have some in the WMD HQ stock room! This would make it easy to take the backscene off if I need to split the two baseboards or indeed move the layout for some reason. Anything to make life easier as I tell Mrs. Woody when agreeing to her latest list of chores for me!

Even at this stage of the whiteness of the foam board (reminds me of my recent painting job in the rebuilt conservatory!) it makes the layout look better - in my view anyway!

Hopefully I can have a quiet hour or so perusing backscene options but I fear in the background of my mind that Mrs. W may have other ideas for my time!