I viewed the mock-up from just about every angle I could get to....and i came to the conclusion that this bridge would not only NOT overpower the trains running along the elevated ridge; it actually enhances the scene and gives the trains a little perspective AND frames the trains nicely through the trusses! Thanks for looking, Bruce
bridge parts ordered (along with a couple of the newest release of the Kato F7's...number 37/37C!, and few extra detail parts)...so no work on the layout today...not true entirely...cooking a pot roast 'au poivre', enjoying a nice glass or shiraz, listening to the Sunday evening football game, and conversing with a couple of 'friends'!.. ...but wanted to take a moment and detail a product I've found to be indispensible to me for this layout and the scenery I'm modelling... along with certain carving tools, 'hot wire' tools are, to me, a necessity for sculpting, cutting, carving ANYTHING when using foam as your scenery 'medium'... and tools that I WHOLEHEARTEDLY endorse are the ones manufactured by "Hot Wire foam Factory" out of Santa Barbara, CA.... I've used 'other' brands in the past...but these folks have a product line that is unbelievable,,, 'currently I'm using a 'craftsman' style 'hot knife, which, by itself is wonderful for cutting and carving...nut I'm really looking forward to acquiring their 'engraver', professional knife, bow cutter, and 'router', all with a variable-rheostat type power supply...using their hot wire knife makes foam work SO less 'messy' AND gives me INCREDIBLE control over detailing rockwork and basic shaping...I'm going to need that when I tackle that mesa and it;s eroded sandstone outcroppings... Customer service is unparralled...Ms. Chelsea, in particular, has helped me with answers to questions and has steered me to products that will definitely make my life so much easier per foam scenery! here are some pics of one of their knives in action on my layout...only a hot wire tool can reproduce the type of strata that I want and this particular knife has been getting majot use! ...and if you're having reservations about using foam as a realistic scenery 'medium'... check out Mike Danneman's 'flat iron' region in the new Model Railroader issue! Sincerely, Bruce
I agree, your progress looks great. I will look forward to more on the layout now that I discovered your thread. Jim:tb-biggrin:
Hello all.... a little progress...received the Central Valley and Atlas truss bridges...and...after taking a real close look at the kits and instructions, decided that I'd like to use the Central Valley bridge as my highway bridge (with a few alterations to modify it) rather than 'blend' the two bridges together. I have to say this, for the price, the Central Valley bridge is an OUTSTANDING value...a beautiful kit and very well molded...apart from a few 'sink marks' in the larger riveted gusset plates, the molding and detail is incredible, the scale rivets have to be seen to be believed. The kit is, certainly, not beyond the abilities of anyone with plastic kit experience...the instructions are a little 'lacking'..be sure to carefully read the assembly instructions, and check, frequently, with the exploded view parts' diagram on the reverse to be certain that the right parts are being used for each assembly step. I would also assemble the kit in the prescribed order...they've done their homework in this regard (at one point, I had considered that I was going to spray paint he inside of the girders before cementing the girder 'frames'...how ever, I now believe that I'll be able to spray the entire bridge after assembly, a la the real thing...this one will be painted 'silver') the only concession will be that this bridge is an 'older' design truss (the date '1918' is beautifully molded into the gusset plate at each end...however, I can rationalize a 'rebuild' and 'repaint' for my mid to late 1950's era-1957 to be more exact) In order to model a highway bridge I had to modify the lower portion of the side truss braces...on the 'exploded view ' parts diagram , you can see the traingular gusset plates on either side of the 'track'... I shaved these with an Xacto blade, and sanded the girders smooth, to extend the width of the beams that will support a 'roadway'...(these photos reveal that I'm going to have to back a little bit and sand a little more snoothly, this will definitely show up under a silver coat of paint)
Here the bridge assembly is 'roughed in' to give me an idea of how I want to build and place the abutments and the roadway that will be to the right of the bridge in this view...notice that the bridge slants slightly downward from left to right...this will be made to be level when I build the roadway...
While I was at it... I did a little more work on the highway as it extends to the left of the bridge, and wraps around the narrow edge of the layout...namely, I leveled the grade a little more, digging deeper through the rock cut, and dipping below track level, before rising to 'cut' through the other 'rock' corner... A neat little 'extra' bonus of making the cut deeper, was to expose more layers-strata of rock(foam)...this will really show up during painting, and adds to the geological 'footprint' of the rock in this region. Thanks for looking, Bruce
Hello all, progress continues, albeit at aslower pace, AND, as more projects (all related to the layout) start to 'stack up'...I find it therapeutic to work on one 'here', another 'there'...keeps the interest level higher, and keeps me from neglecting any one project...kind of like herding children on a field trip...don't want to leave any behind (sic...lol) Here are some pics of the 'route 66' truss bridge progress... I'm building it per the instructions to a certain point....goinf to leave 'off' the walkways and railings (yes, I know the kit is available w/o this sprue, but, I'll DEFINITELY be using these parts on another project...they're beautiful!)...and I'm formulating how I'll be adding the 'roadway' supports. I've decided I'm not going to make this a 'concrete' raodway bridge...but one of those steel 'mesh' roadway beds we remember back in the day...there are still quite a few of them around on older truss, lift, and swing bridges...(my dog always sits up straight and cocks an ear when we pass over this type of 'see through' roadway!) I can't say that I've seen one of these types of bridge roadways modeled (certainly not in n scale), so this ought to be a unique piece... Again, I'd like to extole(?) the virtues of this kit...absolutely amazing, and beautiful detail in a well engineered kit, with a surprisingly low parts' count! I will be finding a reason for building one of these for model railroad purposes very soon! Again, as always, Thanks for looking, Bruce
Lookin good! I've driven past the Rio Puerco Bridge many times. Always thought it would be a good one to include in a layout somewhere.
That central valley kit looks beautiful, taking your time minimizes the frustration and you looks like you got most of the major sub-assemblies done. I love the carved foam abutments.
a few more pics before work today...(I will NOT partake in this shopping madness!) although I have many projects, I REALLY want to get the track down, wired, painted, weathered, and tested before moving on to the big scenery...hopefully, this week Thanks again, Bruce
Hello all...after applying Plano grills to all the F units...taking a small break from them and working, a little, on the 'Route 66' truss bridge.Evergreen H-beams are being used to form a platform for the steel grating road surface...also used some corresponding Evergreen strip to replace a couple of damaged parrarllel braces....I'll add some more bracing (I'm thinking 'diagonal') before I 'lay' the grating and the guardrails...Thanks for looking,Bruce
I received a couple of new foam hot tools for Christmas, so had some time to fool around with them today. I created a curved half sized version of the large cantral mesa/butte that will dominate the "Santa Fe Room" layout... I wanted to use the tools and see which ones will work ther best for the various features. The one that will be on the layout will be about a foot higher (this one stands about 10 inches), I'll just laminate more sections... These pics show the general contours 'roughed' in, and a little 'erosion' detail created on the vertical upper portion-I want some more carving on the vertical part...I'll fool with it some more tomorrow. Although this piece is just a 'test bed' and won't be on the layout, I'm going to go through the whole process of final shaping, adding loose sand and boulders to the sloped section, then painting, including adding the horizontal strata layers with different hues and colors. I'll blend the finished piece into a small diorama that i can take outside for photo purposes...akk in akk, I'm pleased with the initial trials of the tools.... Again, here is a pic of one of the Mesas in the area that i'm modelling... Thanks for looking, Bruce
trying to rapidly develop the 'learning curve' with the new hotwire tools... fiddled with the test mesa a little more...a little more detail and 'randomness'...variations in slope and natural talus fields, again, just trying to hone the skill before carving the main one; also, having this smaller, mobile version allows me to move it around the trackplan to help me visualize final scenes a bit better... Thanks, Bruce
