The last couple of days I have been working on the Walther's arched truss bridge and have most of it done except for the cross braces. Hopefully I can finish it tonight. Spent most of today trying work on our Honda Pilot replacing the alternator. My hands are messed up from years of riveting commercial aircraft and had to get a mechanic to complete the job. He did a great job and we were back on the road in no time. Joe
Until a couple years ago I did all my car work regardless of what it was but that is now changing. A year ago I needed brakes on the back of the Suburban and asked a local shop how much for them to do it. Their answer $125. My answer 'you do it'. How is Cynthia making out? Hopefully well, Sumner
Cynthia is doing great after four weeks out of the hospital. Thank you for asking Sumner. I wasn't able to finish the bridge last night but did this morning. Below is a photo of the bridge. This wasn't the easiest kit to assemble, there were no alignment pins or tabs on almost all of the critical parts. It took me three days to build about two or three hours per day. I work slow so someone else. Joe
My next project on the Arkansas River Bridge project is to modify the main span from a double track bridge to a single. Will start on it this afternoon. Joe
Glad things are improving. Hopefully after you get to know the person and vice-versa, there will be a better environment.
Around these parts many double track bridges had one track removed. The prototype didn't remove the entire bridge they just single tracked it. Same with tunnels.
I decided to work on the Kato bridge first instead of the Tomix main span to determine what tools I might need. Used a razor saw to cut the bridge to 6.75 inches long and it only took about 15 minutes. Hope the main span goes just as easy, will work on it tomorrow. Joe
I cut the Tomix bridge into pieces and it is ready to assemble. It was very easy to do with a cutoff disc in my cordless drill, only took about 30 minutes to do. After I do a couple of chores will start putting it together. I remeasured the bridges on the layout and altogether it is about 44 inches long. Here's the bridges and new cross braces. Joe
Earlier this evening I installed the truss that was cut this afternoon to the floor which is now a single track and a walkway to the other truss of the Tomix bridge. It is ready to install the new cross braces that were made a couple months ago. Will install them in the morning, it's been a busy day and I'm ready to sit back and relax for the night. Currently watching a movie that is pretty good, Hunter Killer, it's a movie about a US submarine mission in Russian waters. Joe
We went to Top Shelf Hobbies in Owasso this afternoon, I bought a package of 3.2mm I beams and 2.0mm square stock styrene to scratch build the lift towers on each end of the main span. There is a photo of them next to last post on page 20. I'm currently working on the cross braces on the main span and hope to finish tonight with a photo to follow. Will try to start the lift towers tomorrow morning. Thankfully this project to modify the main span has been easy, no major issues. Was a little nervous about cutting up the bridge at first but have had a lot of fun doing it. That's what it's all about. You should have seen the look on Cynthia's face when I started cutting the bridge, she said "What are you doing?". It was classic. . Joe
Just finished the Tomix main span bridge!!! Turned out the cross braces were a very tedious job and I'm glad it's over. Wish I had kept track of how many hours I worked to modify the bridge, probably spent over half of the time installing the cross braces. Tomorrow I will start scratch building the lift towers using the I beams and square stock purchased Wednesday afternoon. Joe
This has been a fun project to work on. I got all of the vertical beams cut and started assembling the north lift tower. Still have to add more cross braces to the tower but the basic structure is done. Spent most of the day in the planning stage and searching for more photos. Joe
Does anyone know where I can find two pairs of winch pulleys for the top of the lift towers? Or if you have any suggestions on how to make a them your help will be greatly appreciated. They need to be about 0.60 to 0.70 inches in diameter or close. Joe
The main structure of the north lift tower is done, ready for the counterbalance and winch pulley. Altogether there are 27 pieces in the tower structure. Will start on the south tower after dinner. Joe
I believe that Plastruct used to make a sprue with several pulley sizes on it because I once had some.
