Scratch Building a Wooden Howe Truss Bridge

Gen Dec 6, 2009

  1. Gen

    Gen TrainBoard Member

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    Hello to all. I am in the early stages of scratch building a pin connected wooden Howe Truss Bridge, and I've run into some detailing questions. First off, this is not going to be a prototypically perfect replica, but I definitely want to include some nice detail on top of my horizontal cross beams. I am running into problems working out the tension rod fastening detail. My thought is to use .015 music wire for the tension rods, but the nut and thread detail top and bottom is difficult to model in N scale. I'd like it to look a bit like this, however I'm open to new ideas:

    [​IMG]

    On my bridge, that plate would actually fasten to a beam spanning the width of the bridge, top and bottom, with 4 rods per beam. I've looked for miniature all thread, nuts, and washers, but the smaller they are, the more the cost. Any suggestions, tips, or relevant pics would be greatly appreciated.
     
  2. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    I would run the piano wire up thru the beam and the plate (which is black)...I would heat my soldering station on max. Take a very small amount of solder on the tip...touch it to the top (end) of the wire. After it cools I would use a small file and knock the tip of the solder and wire down. This gives the effect of the silver nut on the end of the rod from the distance of the "2 foot rule". The silver against the black plate would look really nice IMHO. thnxs.

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  3. Gats

    Gats TrainBoard Member

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    The detail is so small in N I personally wouldn't worry about trying to model the NBW detail.
    Pass the wire through a small hole in the plate, secure and trim it off. By the time it's glued, trimmed and painted it will look the part.
     
  4. skipgear

    skipgear TrainBoard Member

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