Has anyone built the new CVM double track truss bridge? I tried building the Walthers version and gave up on it and it was posted that they can be difficult. Hopefully someone can give me some info on the CVM bridge, my Walthers bridge was a $40.00 mistake.
I have built the Central Valley single track 150' Pratt truss and I can attest that it is not a "shake-the-box" type of kit. It requires careful gluing of the many lattice girders and careful trimming and alignment of the sub-assemblies. I probably spent about 30+ hours in construction.
You can view assembly videos here to get a feel for how the assembly proceeds.
http://www.cvmw.com/video-instructions.htm
Generally, Walthers kits are geared toward individuals with average-to-above average skills. What exactly went wrong with your Walthers kit? I built the first version, 933-3012, which had lower clearances than the latest release but the construction was fairly straight forward as I recall...
https://www.walthers.com/instructions/0933/09330000003012.pdf
Good Luck, Ed
CV bridges build up nice but the instructions lack some of the tips to make it easy like when bulding the varius boxes, to use some stripwood the size of the opening, to make it easyier to form the boxes all the same size. You stick a piece of stripwood in each box when putting the two L's together to get a more consitant size (of course the stripwood comes out when glue has set and styrene dose not like to stick to it).
I built the single track version. There is a lot of cutting and measuring involved. And the one thing that is not in the insturctions. The underframe is done as a seperate part - and it had parts that must match up with the superstructure. The instructions do not tell you this. And my supports do not match the supports in the superstructure.
I built the single-track version, too.
I will agree that it's a time-consuming kit of above-average difficulty. I put many hours into it and "colored outside the lines" when I found the instructions difficult to follow.
On the other hand, I ended up with a nice model. It's on a long, thin liftoff section and as such it's quite prominent on my layout, so I wanted a showpiece.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
One tool I found that made making it much easyier was a model chop saw.
I consider myself as an above average model builder but I found building CVM bridge tedious and aggravating. Heed the tips of the other post.
South Penn
I've built both the Walthers and Central Valley truss bridges. Of the two, I'd consider the Walthers kit to be quite easy in comparison. The CV bridge requires a lot of cutting and fitting, has parts with finer cross sections, and requires following far more detailed instructions. It may have styrene components, but it's a "craftsman" kit. If you struggled with the Walthers kit, you may find the CV kit to be even more beyond your abilities.
Rob Spangler
I have to agree 100% with Rob's comments. If you struggled with and gave up on the Walthers bridge then the CV bridge kits aren't for you. They are definitely in the craftsman category. They aren't that hard to build but they are tedious and have many, many more pieces than the Walthers kits. Each piece/assembly needs to be assembled precisely or the results will be disappointing. Don't rush the assembly and if you feel it's "getting to you" take a break or drop it until the next time you have some modeling time.
The results are amazing and there's no other bridge kit that will result in a bridge that fine. The Walthers bridges are pretty clunky and crude in comparison but you get what you pay for and in proportion to the effort expended.
My 2¢,
Roger Huber
Deer Creek Locomotive Works
willy6 Has anyone built the new CVM double track truss bridge? I tried building the Walthers version and gave up on it and it was posted that they can be difficult. Hopefully someone can give me some info on the CVM bridge, my Walthers bridge was a $40.00 mistake.
Rich
Alton Junction
Ohhh baby! Last year I tried to build that 150' Prat Truss kit. And I couldn't even get the peices glued straight. Its like a 12 on the scale of 1-10 dificulty.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
No its not, but you have to take your time and make up your own jigs. They could have made it alot easier to build by slightly longer keys and I don't think it would have changed the final apperance much, but it dose look great built, I even modified mine, as I needed a shorter span.
The problem I have with the Central Valley bridge is that, when the bridge is built, the tension bars are never straight on any of the finished ones that I have seen. I find this very distracting. It's sort of like having the grabs on the side of a car crooked.
I consider the CV bridge as excellent raw material.
I have yet to see a really good steel truss bridge in HO.
Ed
7j43k...the tension bars are never straight....
You need to deviate from the kit's instructions if you want them straight. I used .015" music wire, bending the tops 90° and inserting that short length into holes drilled in the gusset plate on the top chord. The bottom ends are straight, simply sitting loose in the latticework of the bottom member.
Wayne
Dr. Wayne,
I'm talking about the tension bars, not the tension rods.
You need to leave the bottom loose and only attach at the top, otherwise I have seem them twist alot, bought a second hand one like that, that I was going to modify but decided to just build the kit, not bad once you get started, but the instructions are lacking!