gf.greg
here is the finalized version of the piece from the gallery thread. (it might be cropped a little funny...)
i'll try and get some images of the model up.
re: photomatch - for a lot of environment design concept artists get pushed into the 'look/feel/atmosphere' department. Many times i get 3d underlays from the AD to paint over or at least a generalized block out of where they want certain elements to be. I've gotten into the habit of taking their block out and photomatching to it and building/painting on top. It makes the photorealism easier and makes sure you don't get too far away from what your AD wants. I eventually started doing this with my own compositional sketches. i somehow feel it retains the initial artistic spark and keeps the traditional media in the workflow. I always let the sketch dictate the model and not the other way around. This means (to me) that i'm not letting the software dictate the design. In a way is a bit of the opposite of your painter sketches.
I really admire the amount of detail in the planning you have to go through! Your stuff is extremely well thought out and planned and the resulting compositions are both pleasing and useful. I think this is a fundamental difference between what an AD/PD does and production illustration. You don't get the luxury of saying 'someone else will figure out the details!' - which is something you find amoung concept guys. They will love to do the really cool painting, but are never quite sure exactly what the form is doing, or what is behind those trees. I think sketchup is a tool I can use to make that gap smaller. AD's love it when you have a model, to scale, that you can rotate around and show exactly what you are thinking.
But of course they always want changes 
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the trees in the above image are all photoshop. I put in proxy geometry in my rough model, then dropped in photos later on.
let me ask you, as an AD how could what the production illustrator does make your life easier down the line? are you only looking for how the set will be dressed, color, atmosphere etc or more comprehensive concepts of the environment at the outset?
plus its really fun. The wind turbines are based on a venturi and a reduction in size of individual turbines. So instead of one very large cantilevered prop, you have a vertical series of smaller turbines, better able to handle variations in wind speed. The interior shape of the entire structure serves to speed up / concentrate low wind conditions.
