Scratchbuild - Another Bridge Project

[Gary S]

Gee, this scenery thing should be the "funnest" part, but it has me really nervous.

Why? Why does it have to be the funnest, I mean?

Because it is the final step that brings the miniature creation to life. It is like the crowning achievement, and a chance to be artistic and creative. But I see your point. My reasons equate more to "satisfying" than fun.

There's a reason (or two) that many layouts never make it past the 'Plywood Pacific' stage. The reason most often given is that folks are afraid of doing a poor job on scenery - based on what they see in magazines & online, naturally. But I think there's another reason less often quoted; that some folks have so much fun building benchwork, laying track and yes, even wiring, that they reach a point where operations become possible and are perfectly content to stop there with no interior motivation to scenic a square inch. Getting trains running is the visionary goal; scenery is secondary or perhaps will always look better imagined than realized, so they think.

Good point. I admit that I had alot of fun building the building, the benchwork, and doing all the wiring and controls. But I have major incentive to get this layout to a "completed" stage, then from there, it'll be adding details upon details as the layout matures. Yesterday I ordered a static generator to build a flocking machine, and also ordered a bunch of static grass and flock and Heki grass and all that. I already have 250 trees that Vicki and I made several years ago. Am going to start running scenery experiments to get the hang of how it all works. After that, should be a breeze!

You are proving even by your early work, as is Steve with his shelf layout, and others, that really great scenery isn't that hard if you're willing to experiment and tear it out if necessary to start again. I think you'll do just fine - as long as you're happy with it!

I appreciate that! I have confidence it will all be just fine.