Bridge at South Wayside

[mountaingoatgreg]

Gary,

Maybe you should take a picture of todays newspaper with your model, like they do in the police dramas. Keep up the great work and I look forward to the completed bridge on Sunday

[Steamtrains]

WoW....Thar' she blows again....!! That will be a unique bridge with all that sidewalk work underneath...
Look forward to seeing your last-to-be progress. (Maybe you can find another place for another bridge..?? )

I wouldn't bother with the shadow underneath...It just won't look right. In the "real world" we get this effect because we have a single point source of VERY STRONG light, whereas in our little worlds we rely on any number of weak light sources for illumination. Just a fact of life....

[Gary S]

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.

Still, it might be wiorthwhile to try it. Once the bridge is in, I could put some "fake" road underneath and give it a shot with paint. The main shadow will be there, perhaps the little bright squares could be painted on.

[Gary S]

Maybe you should take a picture of todays newspaper with your model, like they do in the police dramas. Keep up the great work and I look forward to the completed bridge on Sunday

That's what I was trying to do with Big Blue in the monitor in the background of the photo. But as the bridge goes in, the newspaper trick would work out at the layout!

[Gary S]

WoW....Thar' she blows again....!! That will be a unique bridge with all that sidewalk work underneath...
Look forward to seeing your last-to-be progress. (Maybe you can find another place for another bridge..??

Gus, I'll still have plenty of projects to keep me busy. At some point, will need to do a ton of structures, and I will try to model them from the prototype for the most part.

I wouldn't bother with the shadow underneath...It just won't look right. In the "real world" we get this effect because we have a single point source of VERY STRONG light, whereas in our little worlds we rely on any number of weak light sources for illumination. Just a fact of life....

It is intriguing though, to consider painting in the bright spots and to figure out just exactly what is possible.

[Gary S]

Here's the homemade cutter. Will do the long pieces first and then glue new stops for the shorter pieces.

   

[Gary S]

Crud, this is getting very repetitive. Need 25 of these sections, each 4.5 inches long. And a revised piece count is 32 per section. Ugh.

   

[mountaingoatgreg]

Gary,

I think asking for a Chopper for christmas would be a good idea...I think it would make things go a little quicker, especially with th multiple cutting. Everything is looking really good, keep up the great work.

[Steamtrains]

Gary...Now you know what I went through when building the doors to my r'house. As I recall it was over 200 pieces of 3/64" trim with ANGLED cuts on most of them....A real pain in the bottom, but worth it, at the end...So to speak....

I like that jig...It should make the tedious job go faster....

[Sumpter250]

All the cutting and layering of styrene strips, is a process I am familiar with, although not to the extent you will have to go to complete the concrete "railings".
In my case, it was the transom, and quarter galleries for my "HMS Surprise", as seen in the movie "Master and Commander".
I think I can honestly say, "I feel your pain"
   
   
   

[P5se Camelback]

To Gary and Pete, et.al. ...

The work that the two of you consistantly produce causes me considerable angst!

I am in a state of perpetual amazement! As a "lone wolf" model railroader my whole life, I had deluded myself into thinking I had developed a serious set of journeyman modeling skills. Now that I have had some exposure to the work of others, especially of those on this forum, I have adopted a much more humble opinion of my abilities! I can only hope to learn from careful observation and then to strive to emulate those techniques that I have studied.

The skill levels exhibited on this forum are truely top shelf ... premier examples of the best that the hobby has to offer!

Keep it up, Gentlemaen! There are minions out here who are "going to school" on you!

[Steamtrains]

That's some beautiful vessel you built there...!! Wish i had the patience (and skill...) to do something like that....
How did you make the medallion above the windows..??
Sorry for the hijack.... :oops:

[Gary S]

Greg, the homemade cutter worked quite well. I was at the LHS this morning, saw the NWSL chopper for $44, but figured I could do without. To be honest, I need to refine my technique and thinking, because the stuff I have been doing is actually rather crude compared to some. I typically work from a "close enough" perspective rather than a "perfect" perspective. Lots of times I just "eyeball" stuff to get it in place instead of making it perfect.

Although there are imperfections in all my bridges, the overall effect is pleasing. Just as an example, on the second bridge I built, the wood trestle, I noticed that the spacing between the bents is off a little - some of the bents are closer together than others. I measured everything beforehand, but somehow I missed a little. Still, it isn't all that noticable, and unless someone purposely studies the bridge, no one will ever notice.

Gus, I definitely know what you went through now. I'm sitting here about one quarter of the way done with the railing fab, just shaking my head.
Gotta get my mind right, dive in and quit stalling. As you mention, the finished product will be worth it. As for the cutter, it did the job - put the piece in, then tap the razor blade with an electrician's hammer, and there ya go. For the thinner stuff, I was cutting up to 6 pieces at a time by stacking them on top of each other.

S-two-fiddy, the work you did on the ship is fabulous, and much more intricate than what I am doing. The smallest strip I am working with is .015 x .060. Yours looks to be considerably smaller and your creations never cease to amaze me! My concrete stuff isn't that hard to do, just there is alot of it, a mind-numbing lot of it! Anyway, I salute you for the work on that ship!

biL, I feel the same way. All I do is attempt to meet the high standards I see from the accomplished modelers on Big Blue. As I said to Greg, my work won't withstand scrutiny under a magnifying glass, but from 3 feet it meets my expectations. With a 20 x 40 layout room to fill, compromises must be made due to time constraints, and my goal is to create an overall "good feeling" from three feet! Now, I very much appreciate that you include me with the likes of S-two-fiddy, but I gotta confide that I'm not that good! To be frank, I almost feel that somehow I am "cheating" because my modeling skills (and my desire to accomplish such work) just aren't up to par with the best of Big Blue. But again, you do make me feel good when you admire my work and I enjoy sharing my projects with you.

One of the best things about Big Blue is taking my limited skills and raising them to a new level just by trying new things... new things that I now see are possible because other folks are accomplishing them! On that note, I have seen your attention to detail, and have no doubt that your modeling is on par with the best!

Now... back to the styrene!

[e-paw]

I see that you did your homework on this one Gary. Good with it your off to a nice start.
Sumpter that's a wonderful bash on that ship.

[Gary S]

But my homework wasn't very accurate! After building what I thought I measured, the proportions just weren't right. Had to change the dimensions, which necessitated a trip to the LHS this morning. And as we all know, a trip to the LHS for $10 worth of stuff ends up being $100 of stuff. They had a bunch of Athearn Blue Box undecorated 50 foot boxcars for $5.95 so I stocked up on them.