The first attack on the bare backdrop behind Junction City saw a little over a foot of backdrop painted. From small beginings grow large forests (and hills). I used acrylic tube and liquid paints (to avoid the fumes from oil paints) and tried to portray some detail in the the painted on scenery

I disagree with those who say backdrops should be extremely simple to avoid drawing attention away from the trains. Trains should be dwarfed by world around them. This doesn't happen on a 2' wide shelf. A 3D backdrop painting helps expand the layout beyond the confines of the benchwork, making it seem bigger. Now the trains have a bigger space to run though. I'm modeling a railroad, not an overgrown display case for rolling stock.