Mike, "welcome to the club"!
My first real layout was a sizeable Lionel in the mid '50s, and the current one (under construction) is a two level HO - with several between them.
Putting in scenery has always been kind of hit and miss for me. Taking that first step is often hard because I didn't want to screw it up. But the thing is, most all the time it worked out well. And the few times it didn't, as soon as I fully realized I wouldn't be happy with it - boom, out it went!
Even with the layout I'm building today, there is still some procrastination and tentitivity (spell?) to start new areas of scenery. I - like you I am sure - want to do it right the first time.
My point is, jump into it, don't rush, and don't try to do too much at a time. It will work out fine - or in any case - give you valuable experience. By the way, leave the ballast for last!
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
OK, as you may know from my previous posts, I'm working on my first section of my first layout and I have track down on cork roadbed and the trains will run on the track, so small victory. Now, I'm getting ready to start scenery, in particular laying ground cover and ballasting the track. I have this fear that it will end up looking awful or that it will be harder than you all make it sound. :)
For those who remember their first layout, how big of a learning curve did you run into when you tried to take your layout from track, cork, and plywood to something more? I guess my biggest fear is that it seems like it will be very hard to undo anything that ends up looking lousy. Since it's all glued down, etc. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid. :)
Thanks for listening,
Mike