If you were modeling a coastline....

[ljudice]

Would you put the water in front, with hillside to the rear ---- or have a beach and ocean as a backdrop?  Geography I'm looking at is western,  Coast Line-ish....

Just looking for opinions...

[John]

Depends .. SP line along Cali coast, looks better with the hills in the back

[C855B]

Water in front. The bluffs, arroyos and canyons are signature to the California coast.

[mcjaco]

I'd check out Jerry DeBene's ATSF Line thread on Trainboard.  He's done a pretty good job of capturing part of the SP Coast line.

[Scottl]

Land in the back would be conventional, but I think the water in the back, with slopes directed away from the viewer is more interesting, visually.  It also opens the door to background elements like capes, stacks, and other features that would be interesting, while focusing the land features around the track. 

[SkipGear]

I'd check out Jerry DeBene's ATSF Line thread on Trainboard.  He's done a pretty good job of capturing part of the SP Coast line.

+1 Jerrys layout has a very convincing waterfront.

[mcjaco]

Land in the back would be conventional, but I think the water in the back, with slopes directed away from the viewer is more interesting, visually.  It also opens the door to background elements like capes, stacks, and other features that would be interesting, while focusing the land features around the track.

When you start sloping terrain down away toward a backdrop the scene looks small.  Upward terrain can fool the eye into thinking it's a bigger scene.

[DKS]

When you start sloping terrain down away toward a backdrop the scene looks small.  Upward terrain can fool the eye into thinking it's a bigger scene.

+1

Also, access to the trains is improved, and blending the scene into the backdrop is infinitely easier; it's a seriously tough challenge rendering the ocean on a backdrop convincingly.

[sizemore]

+1 Jerrys layout has a very convincing waterfront.

+1

The S.

[Scottl]

I realize it would not be as straightforward as the norm, but it would be visually very different and some of the most remarkable scenes are those make us look at the scene differently.  The backdrop might be tricky, depending on how deep you are trying to make the scene.  If there were background coastal landforms like a rocky point or stacks, that would be quite dramatic.  I remember seeing a Florida Keys layout with extensive open water and the backdrop was not distracting in pictures.

[Bremner]

there's a choice?

[TiVoPrince]

Would you put the water in front, with hillside to the rear ---- or have a beach and ocean as a backdrop?  Geography I'm looking at is western,  Coast Line-ish....

Just looking for opinions...

Built 
the SP Coast Line both ways in HO back in the day.  Ocean front and conventional looked 'correct' on a garage sized layout even though you never actually see it that way in real life.  Built a module to test looking out over the ocean but could never get the backdrop to ocean seam to be convincing in any way.  Abandoned the ocean view idea although I am convinced it could work using a five inch radius transition from ocean to sky and painted well it might work.  I just don't have the talent to pull off the road less travelled but I think it could be done...

I'm in for SP Coast Line trestles for Honda, Gaviota, and Stenner Creek if you are etching them...

[ljudice]

Hey, thanks for the inputs...   Still pondering this....   I have about a 10-15 foot stretch of space to devote to this, with about 24 inches from front to back.  This is an evolving idea, so I welcome your continued ideas...

[peteski]

With only 24", this is no brainer: water at the front!  I can't even imagine how you could start with hills at the front. That would basically hide the tracks!  Then the scenery would slope down to the water level in the back (for few inches) and then hit the backdrop? I can't imagine that looking realistic.

Think of your layout as a theater stage. It starts low at the seat level (water), goes up to the stage (tracks) then it goes higher  to the back of the stage (hills). 

[ljudice]

Peteski, you're right about the hills!   The thought I had - and this was not a fully constructed thought, mind you,  was something more like a road and dunes with some rocky outcroppings in front....  But for a lot of reasons, I don't think this is going to work - although I am still thinking about it.  I should probably post some photos to show what I'm talking about...

One important point is that if I go this route, I am strictly proto-freelancing, not restricting myself to some absolutely specific place...

- Lou