How to Paint HO Scale Backdrops

Cut 1/8-inch hardboard strips 20-to-24 inches wide and as long as the section of model railroad bench work you will be backing up. Hardboard comes in 4-by-8-foot sheets, so anything longer than that will have to be done in sections. Prime the hardboard with a coat of white or light blue paint on the smooth side to provide a good background to draw your backdrop on. Allow this to dry thoroughly.

Sketch out your scene on graph paper. Use photos, other paintings, pictures from model railroad magazines and websites, or your own imagination for inspiration. Choose a vanishing point for each four- to eight-foot section. This is the point in the distance that the scenery disappears. All buildings, trees, sign posts and other objects appear to get smaller at a steady rate as they get closer to the point. A street, river or railroad track traveling straight away from the viewer best represents this, as it gets further away, it seems to rise up to meet the horizon. Draw diagonal lines from the corners of your piece to the vanishing point to use as guidelines. It can be anywhere on the work, but is easiest toward the center.

Work with an HO scale ruler, available from hobby shops, to draw buildings, trees, people and other objects approximately the size they appear in real life, drawing them smaller, the further away they are. Draw the scene in as much detail as possible, making clear, clean lines. For tricky parts, photo copy your source material, enlarging or shrinking it to size, then place it behind your graph paper and trace the outline into your drawing. Go back over the main outlines of your picture with a marker with an extra-fine point.

Darken the room and set your backdrop hardboard standing upright. Place your artwork on the bed of an opaque projector. An opaque projector uses a common light bulb and mirror to cast a reflected image of your artwork onto the hardboard. Focus the image by turning the focus ring around the projector lens. Move the projector closer for a smaller image, or further back to enlarge until the image is the correct size. Trace the outline onto your backdrop in charcoal pencil, which is easy to see in the dim light. Trace all outlines.

Turn the lights back on and use a medium art brush to block in all the main colors as you would in a color book. Be careful to avoid painting over important details. Stay as true to your outlines as possible. Mix a highlight and shadow version of each color you use, adding white to a small amount of the base color for highlights, or black for shadows. Paint everything as if the sun were directly overhead at high noon, shadows are under ledges, bridges, etc. and cast out from the center, so objects on the left are shadowed on the left, and vice verse. Allow the colors to blend slightly for a more natural look.

Paint highlights opposite every shadow, above ledges, bridges and along the tops and center faces of buildings. Speckle your highlight and shadow colors over the face of the main colors with a dry brush, just wetting the tip with paint for a more natural color. Do the same for the sky, working in three colors of blue, gray or red, depending on the sky you wish to represent. Dry brush the entire scene with a wide brush to slightly blend the finished work. Paint in details, such as sign lettering, facial features, individual bricks and other small touches last so that they pop out from the background.

Mount the background against the wall with staples, or on vertical wooden battens screwed to the edge of the table. Staples work well for mounting on almost any surface.