I'm in the process of installing a new bridge and am in need of bridge pier suggestions. Here's a shot of what I need to do (with foam blocks in place of piers): I'm currently attempting to dress up the foam blocks in the picture into concrete piers by skim-coating them with plaster (and then painting). However, the process is becoming a challenge and the results are starting to disappoint. I'm really not sure they are going to turn out well. I've looked at commercial products, but most are just too expensive. Chooch makes a pair of nice stone cut piers, but they are short by about a half inch. I'm also considering cannibalizing piers from an Atlas Viaduct kit, but am not sure how tall (or wide) they are. Does anyone have the measurements? Or maybe other reasonably priced products I have overlooked? Also, does anyone have a relatively easy way to scratch-build a convincing set of piers? I can go with either concrete or stone cut style. Thanks!
Similar issues here. I did a couple with foam and india Ink and some white wash. Came out OK but not completely thrilled with them. So this is a good thread to get ideas to maybe redo them.
I'm leery of using foam for the piers to begin with. Very weak structurally and in addition getting the foam to look prototypical is difficult. I would use wood cut to size. A 1X2 [nominal size] is really a scale 10 feet wide by about 20 feet. An alternate method would be to use wood [or foam] as a core and use sheet styrene to cover the core.
Buy the Chooch piers, and sit them on top of a 1/2" piece of wood or foam. It should be easy to make that look like a concrete pad, upon which the bridge pier rests. Personally, I would use a small piece of foam, put some styrene on all four sides and the top, paint it to look like concrete. Stick the bridge pier on top, plant some vegetation around the base, and you're good to go. Should look great.
Unfortunately I do not have a photograph to back my suggestion here, so you have to bear with me. ( I did use this idea and it looked very good ) Take a piece of 1"X3" pine and, using a chop/mitre saw or mitre box. Measure the distances between ground and the bridge and cut these pieces to size - make sure you don't have any large knots in the pieces. You should then have simple square piers. -Sand the cuts ( and then smooth edges if you don't want them square like. ) -You can also gouge/or scratch up these piers to distress them up a bit before painting. -Paint with concrete paint or light greyish watery paint - 1 coat should do so you kinda see the wood grain. I used regular concrete modelflex and brushed it on. -Then take some challk to weather it up - use colour pens/or decals to add graffiti if you wish. Now if you really want to get fancy like I did, you can angle ( with your saw/mitre box ) or taper the sides so the pier is wide at the bottom and thinner at the top. - You can also make ( with the pine ) a wider base for the pier out of a seperate piece of your 1X3 and put the two pieces together to form one pier. Give it a try. Model Railroading and using power tools - how exciting !
Hi, Bruce-in-MA: In your photo, it looks like double tracks emerging from tunnel cross each other (hidden behind foam pier)? Just out of curiosity, any particular reason? Just part of a twice-around loop? Or does it represent some prototype or special operational situation? Just nosy. For a quick project (entire layout built in 10 days), I used the Atlas piers--which are just barely high enough to clear a track underneath. Now that I look at the picture, I believe I put the Atlas concrete piers on top of stone piers, either left over from the viaduct project shown below or possible from some other plastic kit. Nothing special, probably wouldn't suit bridge experts, but quick and easy. Another idea- I have a jillion-- well, maybe not a jillion but a dozen or more leftover Atlas viaduct lower portions from the 8 kits I used my "causeway to the Island Seaport". Those could probably be cobbled together to make medium tall stone pier... Still another possibility... You have an almost flat valley floor from the double track at the left of photo to the sheer cliff at the right side. It looks like a model railroader decided to put some hills on a flat table. Suppose instead that the terrain before tunnel and cut for track was somewhere halfway between the river level and the top-of-the-hill level through most of that area. That natural terrain was cut down to track level with a deep cut where your exposed double track runs. If there was not running water under the right hand span, a railroad might have used ro0ck from the cut to build a fill instead of a span where the right hand span is. But we could keep the span. Perhaps let the level of what is supposed to be the natural terrain fairly high under the two center piers, use medium-length piers there, such as the wide-available Atlas piers, deep cut down to the double track, and terrain under the right span low enough to justify the span, but slightly higher than the almost-flat valley floor. Unless you have some future track or feature planned there (that would justify a stone-cut down to that level.) Just my opiniuoin that thius would make it a more credible and/or less "model" looking scene. But of course, you may have something much better in mind that I just don't know about...
Instead of trying to do a concrete pier, why dont you use a tower from Micro Engineering? I think that would give you the best look with what you have so far.
I agree with the Micro Engineering piers in the middle. That was my first thought when I looked at the picture. On the ends, build it up so the ends look like they are sitting on a small concrete pad on the hillside. I've taken wood, covered with a thin coat of plaster and painted them for my piers, but they are in a river. They aren't bad for my first attempt, although I may change them later.
Thanks for the suggestions so far. Gives me possibilities to ponder. It's to position the reverse loop so it emerges on the correct side when it exits the tunnel. I actually did something similar on the original version of my layout: This time I'd like to get the piers in one piece. This is one of the possibilities I'm considering. Do you know the measurement (how tall) these lower portions are? As far as what's going over on the right, it will probably be an abandoned spur with decaying ties still in place but the rail removed. It fits the general theme of my layout - a location that used to see a lot of local activity, but has been in decline for many years and is now a near forgotten stop off a N&W mainline.
