scenery stump

[Sumpter250]

Well Im to a point on my layout where I can start placing structures and laying out scenery. I keep gettin stumped though. I have a few areas on the layout where Im just not sure what to do. Ive been lookin online at railpics.net for a while and got ideas. just not sure how to tie everything in. Went on the layout and looked at how I want it for a while and all, and man its just not clicking, gettin kind of frustrating. Oh well. Any suggestions on what you guys do to figure scenery placement and all that fun stuff?

1. Topography: Your track run, and immediate industrial buildings will have a large impact on the "shape of the land", so the idea of mockups is a sound one. Once those are "located", the "non-level" areas can be determined. I use short pieces of stripwood as temporary stand-ins for groundlevel changes, at least to get a feel for just how far the ground level can change and still look right.
2. Vegetation: Grass, weeds, small shrubs, can be placed as soon as there is "ground". I prefer to build trees, and then find the right location for them, depending on their shape and size. The "Geographical location" will determine the types of trees found.
3. Various other details: Era, and location will determine the amounts, and types of "stuff" that might be found left lying around. Anything that can hold standing water, could have an LPB with a spray pump, spraying for mosquitoes. For urban areas, "Spitfire's" posts have some excellent examples, as does "Steve's", of both natural, and man-made "details".
Hope that helps,
Pete