Jim,
I will post pics here in this thread, when I get that Vollmer bridge. Probably not for at least a week or two.
I plan on modifying adding detail parts to the this bridge.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
Capt. Grimek Michael, would you please post several pics of the metal bridge when yours arrives? I've been curious about them but the single pic in the Walther's catalog and online don't tell ya much. I had a similar frustrating experience with the Micro Engineering city viaduct instructions and parts. Very very poor photos on newsprint type paper, blurry, etc. It was impossible to tell which way the lattice post pieces should face PLUS they were as bendy as wet noodles and a real bear to clamp and glue-I also abandoned the attempt at least for now so I understand your very real frustrations! Jim
Michael, would you please post several pics of the metal bridge when yours arrives? I've been curious about them but the single pic in the Walther's catalog and online don't tell ya much.
I had a similar frustrating experience with the Micro Engineering city viaduct instructions and parts. Very very poor photos on newsprint type paper, blurry, etc. It was impossible to tell which way the lattice post pieces should face PLUS they were as bendy as wet noodles and a real bear to clamp and glue-I also abandoned the attempt at least for now so I understand your very real frustrations!
Jim
I had a similar experience when I ordered a pair of NJ International Cantilever Signal Bridges. Some parts were smaller than a grain of wheat. I finally tossed them.
Rich
Alton Junction
Raised on the Erie Lackawanna Mainline- Supt. of the Black River Transfer & Terminal R.R.
zstripeI believe,that is going to be,,,Rich's Legacy....
Yeah Frank keep your eye out for these flooding the LHS in the Dearborn Station area.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
BEAR,
I believe,that is going to be,,,Rich's Legacy....
Cheers,
Frank
richhotrainStart the bidding at $999.99.
Redeemable in Fuji War Bonds
Michael, you could always complete the bridge and then sell it on eBay.
Start the bidding at $999.99.
Yes thats a great idea for using the girders as a load.
Thanks Wayne, always helpful.
Thanks for your very kind words, Chad.
Wayne
Oh WOW!!!!
Dr. Wayne does t to it, like no one else!Excellent work!!!!!
Michael, if you're not going to build the CV bridge, save the parts for scratchbuilding projects like the one shown below, and any damaged parts can be painted and then heavily weathered, to be used as a scrap load in a gondola.
Well I've got the two side sections complete. But it looks pretty bad. I don't like how its turning out.
Way too many these box girder peices, to try and get them straight is proving difficult for me.
So I'm abandoning this kit, and decided to get the Vollmer metal bridge http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/770-2560
This craftmen kit was a little too much for me. But hopefully down the road sometime, I can build another one of these kits.
Rich is right, and while you can probably re-use those top members by flipping them, the diagonals on the ends which form the sides of the bridge's portals will be too short once flipped and trimmed. Contact CV for replacement pieces, and if that fails, those girder sections, packaged, should be available separately.
LOL
Start over, Michael.
You know that you are incapable of living with imperfection.
I'm spending way too much time on this thing. I should be working on the trackwork.
No way am I going to start over. Besides you won't even be able to tell, because the holes will be facing the wall.
But their instructions need to be more clear. More pictures showing everything. Not everyone is a structural engineer.
Very frustrated at this point.
richhotrainYou can probably get the necessary parts and re-do that section of the bridge.
Yes, I'd recommend doing this if possible. If you can get a kit like this assembled nicely, it can stay with you and get re-used on subsequent layouts. After putting all the necessary work into it, it might as well be the best it can be.
Rob Spangler
Michael, call Central Valley and explain your problem.
When I was contemplating the scratch building of a lift bridge, I spoke to the fella at CV, and he indicated that they do stock extra parts for occasions just such as this.
You can probably get the necessary parts and re-do that section of the bridge.
OMG! See the instructions are confusing as hell. No where do they say exactly which way the box girders should be oriented. All it gives me is the top side should be solid. It doesn't show the bottom side with the holes.
I'll just have to flip this piece around, and it will be up against the wall anyways, so you couldn't really tell.
Motley Ok this kit is very difficult to build. I'm using the dremel to cut the box girder pieces, and using a template they provide. Progress is slow, here's what I got so far. (the floor assembly is complete though).
Ok this kit is very difficult to build. I'm using the dremel to cut the box girder pieces, and using a template they provide.
Progress is slow, here's what I got so far. (the floor assembly is complete though).
Careful - it looks to me like you have many of the girders facing the wrong directions at this point and will have problems with assembly later on. At the very least your bridge could look really odd.
Here's the punchplate bridge on the Central Valley site. Note how all the openings in the girders face up or down in the truss assemblies. None of the openings should face the side. I've never seen a prototype truss with the punchplate orientation like what's in the photo on your workbench. For that matter, the lattice or gussets would be in the same orientation.
As for difficulty of construction, if you've done a lot of kitbashing or scratchbuilding this kit shouldn't present you with any big hurdles. Otherwise it could be a whole new learning experience.
Aha... thanks for the explanations Wayne. That makes sense about the flat metal strips.
I like the punchplate girders on this new one.
I'm painting this dark green color, just like on their website. Then weathering with the powders.
It looks like the newer version uses a different style of girders (punchplate, as opposed to the lattice-work box girders of the original version), and the photo on CV's website shows no tension rods. The original bridge also used flat steel strips which slipped into slots in the span's floor structure. They keep the model bridge from sagging under load, and one of them can be seen in this photo of the bridge's underside:
peahrens I built the older model also, found it fun to build and good looking. Not uneasy but did take some time. The two issues I had were the string type tensioners provided, plus the rail attachment (I used code 83) requiring peening plastic bumps over the rail lower edges (web??). On the former issue, I took another's advice here and substituted pieces of piano wire glued in. I did attach the rails via peening, but had to rework that a bit when I fiddled with the bridge. If doing again, I would glue, then peen the plastic bumps. Does the new bridge have these issues, which are manageable?
I built the older model also, found it fun to build and good looking. Not uneasy but did take some time. The two issues I had were the string type tensioners provided, plus the rail attachment (I used code 83) requiring peening plastic bumps over the rail lower edges (web??). On the former issue, I took another's advice here and substituted pieces of piano wire glued in. I did attach the rails via peening, but had to rework that a bit when I fiddled with the bridge. If doing again, I would glue, then peen the plastic bumps.
Does the new bridge have these issues, which are manageable?
They must have made some changes, because there are no spring tension strings. But it has two metal flat peices, that go through the middle section of the supports, you can see in my pic.
I ended up getting the Micro Engineering bridge track. So I don't have to glue the rails in.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
I just picked up the new release of the CV 150' Truss Bridge. I've built a CV girder bridge before, and it was fairly easy.This bridge has a lot more parts, and seems kinda complicated. I'm replacing this bridge with my Atlas truss bridge. In the main layout room.I'm redoing this entire area. With a new bigger river under the bridge, that will go to the edge of layout. I'm ripping out the lower tracks there, and there will be two new lower tracks, that will traverse the river Old bridge:Here is the re-designed trackplan for this main layout room. This new bridge is the top track against the wall.Here is the progress I made so far. I'll keep updating this thread with progress photos.