Coved corners on backdrop (walls)

dieselfan1 Apr 3, 2011

  1. dieselfan1

    dieselfan1 Guest

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    I am in the process of remodeling my layout room ,and building a whole new layout from scratch. The main reason is I was never really happy with my current 5x19x7
    U-shape layout. The new room will be an L-shape in the garage taking up almost 3/4 of the footprint. The L-shaped room will measure 17' x 19' and be 7.5' wide on both sides. I have 5 inside corners and 1 outside corner that I want coved. What is the best way to do this? I want to keep the radius as small as possible. The walls are drywall and I can mud pretty good. I am looking for something that will be solid and yet thin enough so I can mud it and sand it without making a federal project out of it.
    BTW , once I get the shell of the room done I will try to start a progress thread of the layout. I have a real good vision of what I want to build, I just have to find the time.
     
  2. Kenneth L. Anthony

    Kenneth L. Anthony TrainBoard Member

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    I used thin Masonite on my former layout. Corner about 16 inch radius. I used a long piece of Masonsite with the corner in the middle of the sheet, and the tension on the corner sheet held by the sheets on each side of it. And I taped and floated the Masonite just like it was plasterboard.
    The corner of the room is straight over the peak on the courthouse tower.

    [​IMG]

    Unfortunately, the room where I am building my current layout does not allow that. It has windows flush against the corners of the room, which must be kept at least semi-reasonably accessible. So I must make due with square cornered background, and the portions of "sky" over the windows are hung on nails and removable. All background is on thin sheet styrene.

    [​IMG]
     
  3. mbshaw77

    mbshaw77 TrainBoard Member

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    US Gypsum makes a product just for this purpose, well may be not specifically for layouts. But it is a gyp board product that flexible for doing coves. Not sure how tight of a radius it can do.

    You could also try scoring the back of a thin sheet of gyp board. Makes the scores parallel with the cove. About every 1" or so should do. Don't cut all the way through the board only about 1/3 of the thickness.

    Just a couple ideas.
     
  4. ratled

    ratled TrainBoard Supporter

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  5. mrhedley

    mrhedley TrainBoard Member

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    I have only one coved corner in my layout room. For the main walls, I used 1/2" GWB (drywall). The last 18" to the coved corner I used 3/8" drywall, and bent a piece of 1/8" masonite after trimming it to length into the recess. A little drywall tape and joint compound and it looks great. Pretty easy to do.
     
  6. Flash Blackman

    Flash Blackman TrainBoard Member

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    I used 1/8 inch Masonite. I moistened it with a spray bottle to help it form the curve into a 12 inch radius. Very easy to do many years ago. There may be a better way today.
     
  7. Mike C

    Mike C TrainBoard Member

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    As Soo Line says US Gypsum makes a product that is perfect . Some in the Drywall trade call it "Bendy board". Its 1/4 drywall that bends easy er. Most installers will wet down the piece of drywall and lay it over a sawhorse. It may take a couple of wettings to get the radius you want.....Mike
     
  8. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    A friend of mine in Springfield Illinois used moistened Masonite to curve a 12 inch wide strip to a 6 inch radius for sections of his lighting valences. He said it took several days of re-wetting and tightening the shaping straps, and he hurried too much on one and snapped it, but I thought the finished product was beautiful.
     

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