Bridge at South Wayside

[Gary S]

Here we go, the final bridge for the layout. This is a road underpass, a four lane one way road. I'll take some modeler's license and make it a two way street, two lanes on each side. There is a brass plaque on each side of the street on the concrete walls, with the builder's info. Quite interesting, and amazing that the hoodlums haven't pried them from the wall and sold them for the brass.

   

   

   

   

   

   

[cnw1961]

Okay, I am sitting here waiting for the show to begin

[Gary S]

Kurt, sit back and enjoy!

Was at the bridge yesterday, took some measurements, mainly of the concrete railings. Did all the figuring, dividing by 87, all that to get approximate scale dimensions for the styrene strip. I could go "Kurt's way" and cut the strip from sheet, but I took the easy way out!

   

   

And here is the plastic:

   

[ocalicreek]

You've got your work cut out for you on this one! So many details in the concrete, additional plates and paint on the bridge, and that terrific shadow beneath the bridge on the road that looks like a strip of film. Remember film?

I'm pulling up a virtual chair next to Kurt.

Galen

[mountaingoatgreg]

Gary,

I am SHOCKED....you don't have this bridge finished yet

This looks like a good bridge to end with on the layout....now how are you going to make those plaques???

[Gary S]

Galen, the concrete details are going to be tedious. Not hard, just lots of it! On the shadow, I don't think I will get that on the model though, as the long string of lights will have photon overlap on the "holes in the film" part of the shadow.

Greg, not finished yet, in fact, barely started. The plaques will be just rectangles of .010 plastic... no lettering...

Here is the first try on the concrete railings. Acceptable but not quite there. The center rectangles on the model are too big. Now I am hoping I have the right size strips to make the change.

   

[Gary S]

Built the second edition. The middle rectangle could still be smaller, but I'll go with this because I have the proper styrene strips to do it. The top portion of the photo below is the new one.

   

[ocalicreek]

Okay, true confessions time. You did all this last year and have just been holding out on the photos, right?

Or let me put it another way, How long has it been since you've seen your family (awake)?

Galen

[Gary S]

Well Galen, most of last year was spent building the train building and getting the benchwork done. Best I can do is post a photo of the plastic that was purchased today that will be used to build the bridge. On the computer monitor, you can see your last post. Still, this doesn't prove anything...

   

[Gary S]

Hope someone finds this interesting...

Here is how I am piecing together the concrete balusters.... railings... hmmm.... what exactly would you call these things?

The core is .040 x .375 strip. First layer is as shown in the middle of the photo. Once that is on with some putty to fill in the cracks and sanded a bit, the second layer goes on - the pieces at the bottom of the photo. Both sides of the core get these layers. Then the top goes on, which is .030 x .100.

Lots and lots of these pieces to cut and glue together - not as much as S-two-fiddy's shingles on his boathouse, but will need about 90 inches of rail in all, with around 18 pices per inch.

   

[ocalicreek]

Gary,

I for one find it interesting. Ever since I saw the Oklahoma City Passenger Station I wanted to build an Art Deco style concrete structure for a layout...someday. That day is still a ways away but this is the technique I have thought about using, building up layer by layer to achieve the right look.

I imagine a NWSL chopper would come in handy for this sort of work.

And don't worry, I trust you, although I appreciate the picture 'proof'.

Galen

[tetters]

Okay. With all the talk about light and shadows on the last bridge, I insist that you get the shadows right on this one. The shadow cast by the prototype looks like a huge chunk of reel to reel movie projector film thrown across the street.

[Gary S]

I imagine a NWSL chopper would come in handy for this sort of work.

I don't have one, but will make some cutting jigs this afternoon. I didn't quite realize how many pieces it would take to build this one. 90 inches at 18 pieces per inch is 1620 pieces! :o

As I was thinking about that last night, the only sensible thing other than getting a "chopper" is to make some cutting pattern-jigs to keep everything uniform and speed up the process. For the jigs, I'll take some sheet styrene and strip and make a sort of guillotine type thing for use with a single edged razor blade to get accurate lengths and straight cuts.

And don't worry, I trust you, although I appreciate the picture 'proof'.

Considering the speed at which I am getting the bridges accomplished (surprising to me too), I have on occasion wondered if some of you may have suspected that either: 1) these bridges were built long ago, or 2) I've had someone helping me. But no, the dates on the threads follow along the timeline of the builds, and the only help I have had is some occasional painting by my wife.

For this bridge, I'm anxious to get the concrete railing work done so I can get to the "bigger picture" of the bridge... the excavation and build of the road and the concrete walls.

[Gary S]

Okay. With all the talk about light and shadows on the last bridge, I insist that you get the shadows right on this one. The shadow cast by the prototype looks like a huge chunk of reel to reel movie projector film thrown across the street.

This will be a tough one. Because of the long length of the light source which is parallel to the bridge, there will be a decent shadow underneath. However, all the little I-beam sections which run from girder to girder will be perpendicular to the length of lights, and will not cast good shadows. The "film" shadow won't be there on the model. Don't know if i will take a chance on painting those in. We'll have to see. I suppose that it wouldn't hurt to try, but I wonder if the attempt would produce a decent return on the investment.

[tetters]

Okay. With all the talk about light and shadows on the last bridge, I insist that you get the shadows right on this one. The shadow cast by the prototype looks like a huge chunk of reel to reel movie projector film thrown across the street.

This will be a tough one. Because of the long length of the light source which is parallel to the bridge, there will be a decent shadow underneath. However, all the little I-beam sections which run from girder to girder will be perpendicular to the length of lights, and will not cast good shadows. The "film" shadow won't be there on the model. Don't know if i will take a chance on painting those in. We'll have to see. I suppose that it wouldn't hurt to try, but I wonder if the attempt would produce a decent return on the investment.

I, of course, was only pulling your leg. Although that would be cool if you could pull it off. I wouldn't try painting it.

Looking forward to another excellent bridge thread.