Well, I bought a truss bridge last summer and over the winter, I took some of the trusses off and then added parts on to make the ends verticle, put a roof on it, side panneling, and then the roof was completed. I modeled it after the Fisher bridge in northern Vermont. I had plans to visit the actual bridge to get better pics, but was unable too. So I used the pics off the internet and just went at it. there was no planning no pre-building desinging stages, all the parts were designed as I was building it up. there are irregularities in it, but I let them slide.
Let me know what you guys think of it.
the link below has all the pics from the layout. the bridge is near the end. you can see the original truss bridge in other pics in the set. I used it as my base.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13421463@N08/sets/72157601982837457/
This is the web site that I used for my picture source:
Fisher Bridge
Then there is this page, but I didnt find it until after the bridge was completed, the Fisher bridge is just over halfway down the page, its called the "East of Wolcott Railroad Bridge":
VT Bridges
Now I need to get the trains running.
Kevin
Thank you for the comments.
the side boards are different length soley because I wasnt careful with measuring. then I decided to keep them that way and have them as they ended up. I knew that the actual bridge had that flairing at the bottom, but i didnt feel aggresive enough to model that. I have a road bridge closer to home that until the current renovations to it, had all the boards uneaven, so i went for that. The wife saw them uneaven and asked to have them stay that way too.
Now, since i didnt have that second webpage until after the model was finished, I didnt know what the roof was constructed of. I was guessing it was metal and had plans to do a coper roof and then weather it with eggs, but the wife put a stop to that and said she wanted shingles. So, shingles it is, she had to help though if she wanted shingles. she helped, one night, but that was it. oh well, it got completed regardless.
the bridge is 53" long each side board is 1" wide, its not proto, but oh well.
there are jobs here in VT, you just need to lower your standards of living to make it.
Kevin;
I see that you successfully replicated the unevenness of the side wall planking. Adds a degree of rusticness to the project. Nice job, well done and thanks for sharing.
Tom Trigg
ttrigg-
yes, and it came out just as i envisioned it way back when I was just starting.
Kev,
I see a great project come to life in your hands unstead of a "normal bridge" it became even better! I see momma likes it, coffee too
How did you like all dem shakes??? Got to love that part of the roof. You did hand lay each shake right?????
Well it is very nice I can say and would give it a 10.0! Just don't go look at my stuff I am ashamed now
Toad
Toad-
Maggie, likes the bridge a lot. she is the one that requested the shakes. yes, all shakes were hand laid...are they laid right? well, I DONT think so. the wife wanted the shakes so i told her that she needed to help lay them. so the bridge came in to the living room and we sat down in front of the TV and started. she started before me, as she was excited and didnt want to wait for me to get some trash bags to cover the rug first...when i came back, she had 8" laid and the grain of the shakes was running.....horizontal...not verticle......I noticed it right off. I told her that they were wrong, that they need to run verticle. "I like them this way, and I have already started." that was her answer. so....all the shakes run their grain horizontal. its not right, and its NOT going to help shed the water and could cause problems latter on. I put a healthy coat of thompsons water seal over it and the plans are for the bridge to come in during the winter months, so...maybe it will be ok. later on that same night, my wife stopped and said, "oh, yeah, I guess you are right, they should go the other way." it was too late at that point. only time will tell what will happen.
I did not stay to scale with the shakes, the store did have 1:24 scale, but they were really small. the ones on there are just under 1" square, they are intended for shake siding on doll houses. we laid them so they overlap each lower row by about 1cm. all shakes were laid by hand and eye, we didnt use any ruler to keep it straight. even though it was 53" in length, it stayed pretty straight. i would say the variation is only about .5cm. the row that got to the base of the coupula(i know i spelt it wrong) was at the base all the way the length of the bridge. I bought 3 bags of shakes, $11 each, each bag was intended to cover 3 square feet. All I know is that the 3 bags covered the whole roof and I have a handful to spare. their item ID is AS39. I tell you that place had a great price on shakes, much cheaper than any place i found on the web. the store was Earth and Tree Miniatures and are located in Amherst, NH.
I only mention them for info only, I am not advertising for them.
anyhow. I might be able to run trains over the bridge this weekend, weather permitting. I will take more photos and go from there.
All I need now is two stations, a mill type of building, and a second whare house type of buliding. the design does not allow for many buildings.
You did place them down with Tightboad III right?
As for the way there going it still could have happened per the RR guy over seeing the project. So don't sweat the small stuff.
But if you want to regrain it and feel you have a good base glue then get a steel brush, look in welding dept or paint, and pull in the direction you need to go.
Cheers,
Toadster
ondrek wrote: I told her that they were wrong, that they need to run verticle. "I like them this way, and I have already started." that was her answer. so....all the shakes run their grain horizontal. Kevin
Kevin:
If I had said that I would have been in the doghouse for a year. Never argue with She Who Must Be Obeyed!
Toadster-
I did put them down with titlebond III waterproof glue. I believe they will stay the way they are.
Tom-
I didnt feel wrong telling her the shakes were in the wrong direction. but I also just didnt argue with her, afterall it is just a model and will be pulled in during the winter.
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