Boy, Gary! It looks better and better with each Fo-Toe. This is looking to be another gorgeously everyday mundanely beautiful bridge.

... and ,uh ... my bad ... the fish were so small on the screen that I didn't look closely enough to see that tremendous underbite that is so "Largemouth!" I was going on color and fin location. But once I made a snudge on the laptop screen with my nose, I could see that protruding lower jaw. That little guy hitting a lure almost as big as it was ... so typical! If it's shiney and it moves, they have no fear ... hit and run is their game! Bass are so much fun! 8-)

I was just thinking about the concrete "down in the dip" and wondered if there is a drain somewhere down under that bridge! I don't know if you guys get the same gullywashers that drown frogs across the Gulf there in Tey-Hahss, but it seems to me that without a drain of some sort under that bridge, only HumVees and Jeeps with snorkle intake and exhaust would be able to negotiate that street during a downpour!

HMmmmmm! I think I spotted a very small (easily stopped up with a little trash) gutter drain about midships under the bridge. I'll assume there's another on the side we can't see. I don't see that sad excuse for a gutter drain doing much in a real downpour, but it's probably better than no drain at all.

I was jus' wonderin' out loud ... usin' the keyboard!

But, hey, Bubba!! You have for sure earned the title, "Herr Bridgemiester!"

P5se Camelback Wrote:Boy, Gary! It looks better and better with each Fo-Toe. This is looking to be another gorgeously everyday mundanely beautiful bridge.

Thank you Sir. I'm kinf of amazing myself about how fast I am going tonight. I suppose with the previous experience I have on sandpaper roads and making concrete out of styrene, I just dove right in, started slapping on washes and powder and Krylon clear matte, and then took the hair dryer to it. Must have four applications on this. Next step is the finishing touches of stripes.

P5se Camelback Wrote:... and ,uh ... my bad ... the fish were so small on the screen that I didn't look closely enough to see that tremendous underbite that is so "Largemouth!" I was going on color and fin location. But once I made a snudge on the laptop screen with my nose, I could see that protruding lower jaw. That little guy hitting a lure almost as big as it was ... so typical! If it's shiney and it moves, they have no fear ... hit and run is their game! Bass are so much fun!

Like you noticed, yep, the big lower jaw gives it away. The one that Vicki is holding seems even more pronounced than normal. We don't have smallmouths this far south, I don't think they can handle the warm summer temps. But the smallmouths are some beautiful fish.

The largemouths in this lake are even more aggressive than normal, as being overstocked, they are in fierce competition for food. It's a shame really, they are rather stunted, and the lake needs some management. But gee it can be fun. As you mention, these bass love a fast moving flashy-shiny crankbait. Drives them nuts. I actually prefer topwaters, but was too windy today. Love those days when it is glassy calm and you can work a Rebel Jointed Minnow real slow, just twitching it on top.

P5se Camelback Wrote:I was just thinking about the concrete "down in the dip" and wondered if there is a drain somewhere down under that bridge! I don't know if you guys get the same gullywashers that drown frogs across the Gulf there in Tey-Hahss, but it seems to me that without a drain of some sort under that bridge, only HumVees and Jeeps with snorkle intake and exhaust would be able to negotiate that street during a downpour!

Oh yeah, we get some floods that even put houses under water!

P5se Camelback Wrote:... HMmmmmm! I think I spotted a very small (easily stopped up with a little trash) gutter drain about midships under the bridge. I'll assume there's another on the side we can't see. I don't see that sad excuse for a gutter drain doing much in a real downpour, but it's probably better than no drain at all.

I noticed that too, the gutter drains are really small. But notice the manhole covers in the bottom too. Probably some big underground storm drains under there, which run out to Brays Bayou which is about a mile from this bridge. Still doesn't look like enough drainage though.

On the Forest Hill bridge (the road underpass with the green concrete sides) there are some new electrical pipes and small manholes in the sidewalk, which most likely are sump pumps. I am guessing that the gravity drain wasn't enough, so they fairly recently supplemented that with the powered pumps.

Based on the relative position of the drain and the manhole cover - are there 2 draisn on each side instead of just the one?
You want to see flodding, you should see the Spring Street Subway in Reading. It's like this bridge but the road is steeper on both sides and since it goes under an entire yard throat it's wider. They've used boats in there to get people out of stuck cars.

--Randy

rrinker Wrote:Based on the relative position of the drain and the manhole cover - are there 2 draisn on each side instead of just the one?

Yeah, if you go back to Gary's first post, on Page 1, one shot shows two drains on the same side.

Wayne

Gary S Wrote:Put the road in place just to take a gander. Not too bad...

" Not too bad...?? " HE said!!
On a scale of "____ poor to unbelievabe, to Holy carp that's fantastic ",( yes, I spelled carp correctly, interpretation is in the mind of the beholder ) "not too bad" falls somewhere half way and is just short of good...... .......that is righteous good !!

( You go right on being you, I'll be conceited for you. )

rrinker Wrote:Based on the relative position of the drain and the manhole cover - are there 2 draisn on each side instead of just the one?
You want to see flodding, you should see the Spring Street Subway in Reading. It's like this bridge but the road is steeper on both sides and since it goes under an entire yard throat it's wider. They've used boats in there to get people out of stuck cars.

We've got a few underpasses that flood like that too. And when they flood, invariably people will just drive their cars right off in the drink and have to get rescued. On the nightly TV news, when flooding is predicted, they are constantly giving the wisdom of "don't drive into water where you can't see the bottom" but still, there'll be cars with water up to the roof and folks swimming out of them.

Sumpter250 Wrote:( You go right on being you, I'll be conceited for you. )

Sounds good to me!

Now, more progress this morning, putting down the stripes. Next item will be glueing the road onto the bridge base, and while that dries, I'll work on painting the girder bridge.

[attachment=21865]

That road looks fantastic!

Judging by the road markings your bridge is going to allow 2 way traffic.

That's right Tetters, I took some modeler's license and turned this into a two way street. The proto is 4 lanes one way, and there is a corresponding underpass that is one way the other way a block over. But on the layout, it didn't make sense to have a one way underpass unless the other underpass was nearby. And since it isn't, I made this a two way street, two lanes on each side.

I used some Aleene's tacky glue to attach the road to the base. I'm painting the curbs now and will glue them on next.

[attachment=21866]

Started on the girder paint. Found some details I had not considered. First, the small yellow squares, two on each girder section at the bottom. Seems I completely overlooked those, so I took some leftover girder rivet plate from the ME bridge, used a hobby knife to scrape it to a very thin cross section, then cut the pieces and glued them on. First photo shows the pieces and where I scraped the paint off for the glue.

[attachment=21868]

Then upon closer examination, it seems there are not actually plates in those locations, it is just different colored paint. Well, I am leaving my rivet plates on, will paint them yellow, close enough!

[attachment=21867]

Got the curbs on, and took a different direction on the paint on the girders. The silver needed three coats, so I went ahead and painted the side of the girder in silver, then will go back with the other colors.

[attachment=21869]

Sweet!

Wow! That looks SO GOOD!!!!
Ralph

Tetters, Ralph, thanks!

Got some additional painting done on the girder. Right now, it is more of a caricature of the real thing rather than an exact duplicate. Gotta stare at the real thing for awhile longer and see what else needs to be done. Definitely needs something else, maybe the rusty red spots here and there.

[attachment=21870]

Darken the horizontal area right under the top, and perhaps a light blue wash over the silver parts? What else?

Oh... who votes to put in the gray paint which was most likely used to cover some grafitti?