Plywood or Hardboard for Backscenes - Advice Needed

[REGP]

I am trying to work out what's best to use to build the support structure for my backscene.

It's going to be between  9 & 12 inches high, the main body being 6 ft long plus side wings each about 2 foot hopefully with corners curved a little rather than right angles.

The aim being to paste or glue a commercial cloud backscene onto the support.

What sort of material have you folks used and was it painted, varnished or protected in some other way?

Ray

[Newportnobby]

I've used 5mm ply x 11 & a bit" tall. As it's a narrow width I haven't bothered to varnish it but it is securely screwed along its length to the 2" wood of the baseboard. With the sundeala top layer being 9mm that has given me just under 9" height for the backscene.

[UPINSMOKE]

I also would consider strengthening along the back with 2"x1" as even the plywood has a tendency to warp, as mine did and had to strengthen it. What with central heating in today's houses I think its a must. 

[Jonner]

On my current portable layout the backscene has similar dimensions to your requirements, The wings being 22" and the longer length at the rear being 5'6" with a height of 9" although they are not curved in the corners. The wings are 6mm ply with a 18x18mm PSE listing running along the bottom in order to fix it onto the surface of the baseboard it remains very rigid whilst the longer board is of 4mm ply with the broadest edge of stripwood measuring 18x9mm glued and pinned along the the top and bottom edges which not as sturdy still does the job. These being made with materials to hand and the viewing side coated with light blue emulsion paint
      If a curve in the corners is essential (which does look much better in my opinion) then im sure hardboard would be much easier to work with
A friends layout who I help operate at shows uses this but again with no curves and he just screws it to the back of the base board with no bracing other than a small piece's of plastic channel at the joints and his is covered with a peco paper bacscene.
      To produce a curve in the hardboard I would suggest soaking it first then maybe bending against something solid and then using something heavy to keep it in place till dry. I think it will spring open a little afterwards but will give a better chance of you fixing it to your desired shape,
      Another alternative would be to search for ready made corners similar to a fillet

[REGP]

Thanks for the info guys this was the sort of route as was thinking of taking.

But I have a vague memory of a type of hardboard that was sort of corrected on one side enabling you to bend it quite easily.

I don't suppose anyone uses that or maybe knows what it's called or who stocks it?

Bending the plywood may be a bit beyond my abilities.

Ray
.

[Newportnobby]

Maybe a piece of filed down polystyrene ceiling coving would do the trick for curving corners into backscenes

[mojo]

On a recent visit to a timber merchant, I seem to recall seeing some MDF board quite thin but with grooves moulded into it which made it good for bending to shape in one dimension. Not sure of the correct name for it though.
Maurice C.

[REGP]

Mick, your right a  polystyrene  fillet fitted in a right angle corner could do the the trick,  if I can get the edges thin enough.

Thanks Maurice that was probably the stuff I was trying to remember, at least now I've got an idea what to look for. I see  both B &Q and Wickes do it, so may have a wander down to one of them later and see what it's like.

Ray

[Jonner]

Now that grooved MDF has been mentioned I decided to have a quick browse online and found both Wickes and B&Q are selling it in the form of
4'x2' sheets, Wickes stating 6mm as a thickness however B&Q are just giving the length and width dimensions B&Q being the cheaper at £9.83.
    A customer review of this material on the wickes site advises a safe minimum radius of 150mm.

[REGP]

I'm going tolhave a look at it tomorrow when the "sheds" reopen.

At 6mm I could hopefully match I with ordinary MDF for the straight bits.

Wonder if I should paint or varnish it, any ideas any one?

Ray

[Chetcombe]

I used hardboard for the simple reason that I wanted to avoid avoid 90 degree corners. Hardboard can be easily bent & screwed or glued/clamped into a smooth curve:

[port perran]

I used plywood because it is ideal for acrylic paint :

[Jonner]

Whatever material you choose and you feel the need to seal it. I would go for a thin coat of primer(not sure if its oil or water based) as that seems to be the coating of choice on newly manufactured MDF skirting board which may be best applied with a mini sponge roller the type recommended for gloss.
     I would also if possible do a couple of test piece's to see if there is any reaction to the adhesive of your backscene cover be it paste or glue just to be sure.