What Should Come First

[Artisan]

 

As a newcomer I am not sure what I should do first when landscaping my new layout. Should I fix the buildings to the baseboard first and add the likes of grass, gravel and tarmac around the buildings or should I lay the surface materials first and then add the buildings after?

Your opinions please.

[Newportnobby]

Personally I place the buildings before the scenics stuff as putting some grass, weeds, mud etc round  sheds etc removes that 'floating' look and beds them in. There nothing worse than seeing gaps between the base of buildings and the scenery

[RailGooner]

Either way could work Greg. My personal preference is to work thus:

• Mask the foundation of buildings
• Tackle roads, hardstanding, bridges, etc.
• Tackle low level flora - grass, bushes, etc.
• Tackle high level flora and the planting of buildings

I'm elastic with this order though - what works in one instance won't necessarily work in every instance - and I do overlap some stages. But I find that working from low to high reduces the risk of my accidentally bashing something - elbows are not well designed in my opinion!

NPN is right to point out the danger of buildings/structures looking like they've been plonked on top of the scenery. But this can be addressed as one plants each building.

Why not experiment with some small cameo scenes, to find what works best for you?

HTH

[port perran]

I'd suggest construct any large landscaped areas (eg hills) first then think about where any roads or paths will go.
Next I generally fit most buildings and work any greenery etc around the edges where necessary and add any gardens, walls or bushes.
Then I add roads/pavements and finish with fields and hedges etc.
But....there are many possible variations on this theme .

[ntpntpntp]

My approach is usually: Plan it out roughly how you want things,  construct the scenic contours allowing for roads and where buildings etc. will be, carry out the basic general landscaping/grassing, create road surfaces and blend their edges into the scenery, install buildings and bed them in so they don't look "plonked on top" (as has been mentioned), add trees, fences, hedges, bushes etc, use light airbrush sprays and washes to blend everything in and finally add figures, cars etc.

[CarriageShed]

Is it only me who was expecting a chicken and egg joke here...?

[Ali Smith]

No