Bullnose backdrops

If you don't have a free supply of large mailing tubes or other cylinders, the heavy paper tubes used as forms for concrete footings of a pole building (one brand I know is "SonoTube") make another handy option from your local homebuilder supply store. They too should be stable and h*** for stout over time!

Mailing Tube Grain Silos

Of course the other way of solving the problem using mailing tubes could have been to have a number of them all standing in a double row side by side and paint them up to be grain silos, and then for the backdrop edge to "disappear" in-between the last two of them so that you never see the ending of the sky, it will be hidden behind the curve of the last two silos, but looking at it all edge on you will just be looking at buildings. So then as well at putting a nice massive industry on the end of your peninsula, then because you have silos with buildings around or in front of them on each side of the backdrop (of which the silos are the end of) then you can make the same silos be completely different companies on either side of the backdrop thereby giving you 2 different industries to serve and switch for the space usage of just one set of buildings.  That's just my thoughts.

grain silos

If I'm understanding you correctly  you're proposing to bury the end of the backdrop in a silo complex.

Here's a couple reason why that wouldn't work well for me.

• The backdrop is nearly 4' tall at the end of the peninsula. Maybe if I was in O-scale a 44" tall silo complex would be appropriate but that's too tall in HO. A 20" tall silo complex would leave 24" of knife edge backdrop-end visible above the silo complex.
• On the Junction City side that would place a major industry across the aisle from the Oakhill log loading track and passing siding and the west end of Redland (in the land down under), and above the exit throat of the A-side main staging area. The aisle is also pinching down here due to the turn-back blob. In a past design version I was planning an elevator in that area but I've dropped that idea due to aisle over crowding.
• On the Bear Creek side it would be tooo faaar from the aisle to be workable. Also, it would be behind what I'm hoping will become (some day soon) and detailed engine service facility

Certainly a silo complex might work well on other layouts.

Cheers,

Charlie

Sonotube bullnose

I had a similar situation on the upper deck of my layout. I used a 12" diameter Sonotube from my local Home Depot. That's the brand name for those heavy cardboard tubes for casting concrete pillars. I wanted a viewblock so operators couldn't see around the end of the peninsula. 12" is big enough to wrap a pice of Masonite around if it's been softened by soaking it in wet paper towels. I clamped the Masonite to the tube in one place before installation, applied wet paper towels to the bend and slowly bent it around the tube, applying more clamps as I went, followed by more paper towels. Over the course of a few evenings, I had the Masonite formed around the tube 180 degrees. I then removed the tube, cut enough out of the tube to fit over the end of the 2x4 stud wall that forms my peninsula. Taking the measurement from the base of the deck to the ceiling, I cut the tube to that length with a Sawzall, then attached to the wall studs with sheetrock screws. Then I brushed the tube with a coat of contact adhesive. The formed Masonite panel was slid onto the tube and held with sheetrock screws until the adhesive dried. Holes from the screws were filled with drywall mud and sanded smooth. As a result, there are no seams near the curve on the end of the peninsula and I have a partial viewblock.

Neat!

That's a neat bullnose you made WP!

Charlie

Barber Pole

I love the Bullnose!

While I was reading about the spirals in the cardboard tube, my first thought was to run a putty knife full of spackle down the tube, filling the gaps. Some of the spirals I've seen on those tubes are pretty deep. I would think filling with join compound would work in one pass. Sand smooth, and paint.

I haven't tried it, but since you needed to fill the joint between the tube and the backdrop anyway, it might have worked a little faster.