Home backdrop printing

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I'm a huge believer in photo backdrops.

I'm also a big believer in agile, iterative modeling.

That means that using commercial backdrop printers can get kinda problematic if I want to make adjustments, don't get the alignment or sizing right, etc...

Do any of you have experience with home printers that can take roll paper to do seamless backdrops? Any suggestions? Recommendations?

[haasmarc]

Ed,

I bought an Epson SC-T3170. 

I use Breathing Color Photo Peel Always paper which has a permanent adhesive.
https://www.breathingcolor.com/collections/wall-coverings/products/photo-peel-always?variant=32228749344864

I tried the plain Photo Peel and after a few days the backdrop started to take itself down.  The adhesive just wasn't good enough.

I have printed 2 backdrops so far.  One for me and one for a friend.  So far they are holding up very well.  They have been up for about 9 months.







The challenge is finding/taking the images and Photshopping them together and color correcting them.  Luckily my brother is a Photoshop whiz.  I bought a drone and have taken some panoramic shots with it but haven't printed those yet.

[amato1969]

Holy crap that looks great @haasmarc !!!

  Frank

[haasmarc]

Thanks

[Maletrain]

That is really excellent work.  I adds a lot to the modeling in the foreground.  Often, the printed backdrops I see have a blue, slightly washed-out, hazy look that screams "PHTOGRAPH" to me.  But, yours nicely match the hues in your models.  You are renewing some inspiration in me.  So, thanks for the details on how to do it.

[thomasjmdavis]

@haasmarc

What did you start with in terms of photo to achieve that level of resolution? Most "panoramic" shots I've seen don't look nearly that realistic.

Beautiful work.  You could definitely have a side gig if you were so inclined.

[wvgca]

i went a slightly different route with my backdrop .. i ran three feet down with the sky / clouds thing , a roll of fifty feet was maybe a dollar a running foot, plain back hard paper...
i then used ordinary 8 1/2 by 11s and joined them together for the bottom edge, the seams turned out to be pretty invisible ..and the top edge with some judicious scissor trimming turned out pretty good, an ordinary inkjet printer was used for the bottom pieces

[Dave V]

Boy, this thread is timely AF. Been wondering this myself.

[basementcalling]

Ed,

I bought an Epson SC-T3170. 

I use Breathing Color Photo Peel Always paper which has a permanent adhesive.
https://www.breathingcolor.com/collections/wall-coverings/products/photo-peel-always?variant=32228749344864

I tried the plain Photo Peel and after a few days the backdrop started to take itself down.  The adhesive just wasn't good enough.

I have printed 2 backdrops so far.  One for me and one for a friend.  So far they are holding up very well.  They have been up for about 9 months.







The challenge is finding/taking the images and Photshopping them together and color correcting them.  Luckily my brother is a Photoshop whiz.  I bought a drone and have taken some panoramic shots with it but haven't printed those yet.

What makes these impressive is that the intensity of the lighting in the modeled scene matches what's in the photo.

[haasmarc]

@haasmarc

What did you start with in terms of photo to achieve that level of resolution? Most "panoramic" shots I've seen don't look nearly that realistic.

Beautiful work.  You could definitely have a side gig if you were so inclined.

We bought a collection of background images at an NMRA convention a couple years back.  LARC was the name I believe.  Not all images he has are really good but some are usable.

The backdrop above was actually images from two different background sets and blended together.

[haasmarc]

This is not a cheap way to go by any means but 5 of us are building 3 layouts, 2 N scale and one HO.  Spreading the cost out helps a lot. Plus I had an appreciation award gift card from work that was burning a hole in my Amazon account 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Hot damn @haasmarc , this is EXACTLY what I was hoping for!

Those look beautiful and the printer is exactly what I was looking to find. It's going on the shopping list now.
Given the number of projects I have my hands in all the time, I'm sure it'll get good use.

Before I get around to that, though, if you ever feel like yours if collecting dust I'd be an interested party in taking it off your hands.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

i went a slightly different route with my backdrop .. i ran three feet down with the sky / clouds thing , a roll of fifty feet was maybe a dollar a running foot, plain back hard paper...
i then used ordinary 8 1/2 by 11s and joined them together for the bottom edge, the seams turned out to be pretty invisible ..and the top edge with some judicious scissor trimming turned out pretty good, an ordinary inkjet printer was used for the bottom pieces

That's basically what I did before on my old layout.

I found it to look good when conditions were controlled.



But not as great in person.



If the layout had existed for longer, I would've made some improvements, but I hated joining those sheets up.

[wvgca]

If the layout had existed for longer, I would've made some improvements, but I hated joining those sheets up.

yes, joining those 11 inch sheets was a pain , but for basically fifty bucks it was a worthwhile project , i thought about improvements, but said 'good enough' and left it there

[NtheBasement]

Has anyone checked a printing place like Officemax to see what they are capable of?  Gotta be cheaper than buying a superprinter...