Come on TF! Keep it going! Look at all the views you have! Many of us keep coming back, even if we don't reply.
Anyone on here that likes bridges and scratch building are watching!
Mike.
My You Tube
Thanks Bear. You always crack me up but on the serious side I read you loud and clear.
And now I really have to hit the rack! We are gaining on the 1 A.M. here
Thank you everyone. Sleep well tonight and I will see you tomorrow.
TF
energizer Track Fiddler don't close this up. I'm learning how you do your bridge so I can do mine.
Track Fiddler don't close this up. I'm learning how you do your bridge so I can do mine.
Ya melted my heart Energizer.
I can tell your good people. Don't worry, I just had a ruffle in my day or something. I will be back tomorrow.
It would be my pleasure to answer any question you or anyone has
Nighty Night Kids It's about an hour and a half past my rack time
Track fiddlerAgain I say that I don't think there's much interest in this thread.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Thank you Mark
I was just getting ready to hit the rack and saw your post.
I really appreciate your words. You seem to have a way with them as that's exactly the way I thought.
Thanks
Hey Track Fiddler, I know where you're coming from thinking there's no interest in the thread. Sometimes when I post an update to my layout thread, I'm thinking "boy, everyone's gonna have something to say about this!" And... crickets. For days!
But then I post some tiny little thing I think won't be of much interest, and there comes comment after comment! I've given up on trying to figure it out.
It is disheartening when you've put in a lot of time and effort, and then it seems like no one is interested. I don't post a lot of comments because most of the time it would be along the lines of "Yeah, what he said!" Maybe I should more often, even if it isn't something more than that.
I've been following your bridge build. It's looking really good! I especially like the way the brick coloration came out.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Thanks Wayne
I've always admired your work, especially that bridge of yours Always appreciated your exceptional talent.
Track fiddler...It took me a while crawling around on the floor looking for that little triangular sliver to glue back on. It flew about 6 feet away.
...and now, if anybody's able to see it, it looks like a simple stress crack, rather than a slip of the blade.I'm impressed by the combinations of curves that you've created, and it'll be interesting to see how the underside of those arches will be done.I do like your touch with the brickwork, too.
EDIT:
Track fiddlerAgain I say that I think there's no interest in this thread. I respectfully ask Tom or Steve to Lock It.
Huh?? I very much doubt that I'm the only interested party following your progress, as we're already on page two.
Wayne
Well there doesn't seem to be much interest in this thread. But I need to clear the air before I kill it.
I've been taking my time on my model railroad for 3 years. I do believe that it was 37 years from the last time I was involved in model railroading.
Two years before I became a member on this Forum I was a lurker reading everything provided here and learning. I gathered so much information through those years that it made me happy and excited to start the hobby again. I thank you all. I started another model railroad with the knowledge that I gained here.
There is so much of this hobby that I still don't know. Probably about 70% of it. With that I sit back, read, listen and learn. I don't reply to most threads because I know little or nothing of the content. When I'm knowledgeable on a subject I do Post when I know what I'm talking about. A retired Master Carpenter, some things I do know about. Other things with this hobby after a laps of 37 years I have no idea.
And that's what I thought this Forum was all about, sharing your knowledge you know about and learning from others that you don't.
I did learn on my own that the brick styrene sheets treated with India ink came to life 2-3 minutes after it looked like it was dry, rubbing a credit card across it and then taking 2000 grit sandpaper over it to create the different colors.
After that, rubbing your fingers over and over until they actually hurt the next morning enhanced the effect more schmoozing it all together.
Edit next paragraph deleted
energizer It looks great. I can't find that piece.
It looks great. I can't find that piece.
Thanks Energizer.
It's right in the lower left-hand corner on the left side of the pillar support.
I was lucky. I would have whittled off a chunk of my finger had it been any closer.
It took me a while crawling around on the floor looking for that little triangular sliver to glue back on. It flew about 6 feet away.
Anyone, anyone?
Buehler
Is there anybody out there
Evening
Dinner was a delight, Taco Tuesday on a Wednesday
Where I left off, I let the repairs dry for two days. The day I picked the project back up I wanted to do experiments on how to color treat the Plastruct brick styrene.
Here's how the styrene looked originally.
There's actually a set of directions in the Plastruct styrene package for painting tips. It kind of floored me they didn't have anything about India ink. India ink is kind of magical, I use it on modeling projects every chance I get.
I did a black sample and I did a brown sample, in the end I used the black example with a little bit of brown.
I learned a while ago the mortar color you choose between the bricks, makes or breaks the color of the bricks. I like the second one and I hate to admit I spent about three hours doing experiments that day.
The perfect cement color was even harder to come up with than the brick color.
Mixing stuff in a bowl and trying samples for another couple hours You have to admit the dry stuff on the top edge of the bowl does look like dried mortar and that's what I was after that day
At this point I was thinking I had the colors right. With all the problems I had prior I was a little on edge about sticking the sides on the structure.
I folded over some blue tape and stuck it. I remember doing stuff like that in grade school. At that point I could peel back half the sides and glue it. Then after about 20 minutes, peel back the other half of the sides and glue it so everything was in the right position.
It reminded me of laying a linoleum floor in a kitchen
I cut out and removed the temps after them being there for two years so I could fit the bridge into its position. I thought it would be a good idea to fit the bridge in case any of the bottom of the supports needed to be trimmed. Things would be a little harder trimming if I installed the interior arches first.
It fit but a lot of trimming and adjustments were needed so I did that. I should have did that at the table instead of on the layout. My carpet knife slipped and it's a good thing it didn't hit my finger. If you look at the support to the left of the underpass you will see the triangle I glued back on. Nothing a small shrub won't hide later.
The seam to the right of the arch over the underpass. It is undetectable to the naked eye and even with reading glasses on. A camera and a zoom itvsticks out like a sore thumb. Nothing a little Moss or Ivy won't take care of, might as well put some in other places too.
Today I put in the cross supports for attaching the inner arch panels. Styrene for styrene solvent. And the inner arch foam pieces for poly-seam-seal.
I'm glad I thought of treating the new panels so they will match everything else
Hindsight is the best site in construction as I always say. The water based adhesive moistened the under part of the masonite. It's a good thing I caught it because the bridge arched up about a 3/32 of an inch which is a mile in N scale.
I put some weight on it to dry overnight and it has been my experience, it will be fine in the morning after completely dry
Thanks for looking
Finally someone who understands!
Overmod. You hit the nail right on the head. Everything I've been struggling with for years posting from a phone. The frustration and the grief. You summed it up perfectly, I could add to your description but why bother
I will try to update the progress here pretty soon in bits and pieces. I have done that before on a good day and it usually works. Now and in the future you guys will understand why I post that way.
Late Night Dinner first and then another post attempt in segments.
It does that all the time on a phone - shivers like a wet dog, the page reloads, the typed content disappears. Does it worse at some times than others.
Best approach I've found, if you can't cut and paste from 'notes' or a text application, is to go paragraph by paragraph, posting and then 'editing' over and over to lengthen it. Tedious, but at least it won't make all your work vanish.
The site has been very peculiar here lately. It's always been a little time-consuming posting text and pictures from a phone.
This morning I tried to post an update for this thread two times. I was almost finished both times and everything I had typed and pictures posted disappeared off the screen into hyper gamma space.
Maybe I'll try to do an update in segments later this afternoon. My eyes need to take a little phone break here.
Good afternoon
I decided to let the Fast & Final repair job on the melted foam dry a few days before continuing. I definitely don't want to have any more problems.
I taped off the faces of the side panels to protect them from the adhesive.
I got them installed with the E6000 edhesive this afternoon. it worked good. I have a few discrepancies to iron out but no big deal. I plan to cut some strips of thin styrene and glue them to the bottom sides of the legs and in the middle of the arche tops. I will need to cut some thin pieces of foam for spacers in some areas.
This will provide a solid base for the styrene solvent to attach the inside arch panels.
Then it's hurry up and wait for my other panels to come in the mail from eBay.
I appreciate all the suggestions so far. I've had a bit of a rough road but things are going smoother now.
Interesting
Sometimes chemical reactions of product work to your benefit.
It seems the meltdown of the foam from the super 90 is accelerating the Fast & Final repair job I'm doing.
I just put on the second coat a half hour ago and it's drying faster. I think I'll get the third coat on soon and I'll be back in business to continue in the morning.
All of the sides of the uprights did get ruined. It Ain't So Bad John. It is still relaxing and enjoyable.
I've been so bored with the corona these days! When something goes south I look at it as another challenge and I love challenges. I'm the type of guy that says bring it on when a piece of material starts to argue with me.
I must say, things have not been going smoothly the last two or three days. But they will That's why they call it "Trial and Error", ....... Bring it on I always say
That's too bad, TF. On the bright side, all of them didn't get ruined.
This hobby is supposed to be relaxing and enjoyable?
York1 John
Post Hog !
Am I allowed to do that on my thread? nI think I can. Although, I think someone else should.
Today I had a nuclear meltdown! Seriously! That's the only way I can look at things today. Things are not going good here. Why is it that all my bridge projects get so complicated.
So I went to the Hobby Store to get E6000 per Overmods suggestion that I liked. My luck at the hobby store was not good. They were sold out as they are not doing a good job restocking as business is slow.
The other day while I was driving around and picked up the plaststruct stamped brick sheets and the contact Super 90 spray adhesive. I told Judy while I was driving I was not familiar with 90. I asked her to look it up and see if it is foam safe? Otherwise I was going to stop by Home Depot and pick up Super 74. She looked it up and said it was foam safe.
IT WAS'NT !!!!!!!!!
The two on the right, Hot Pink Purple! instead of soft pink, are the ones still melting. The three white ones on the left are the ones I'm fixing with Fast & Final. I sent in that little "Sweeper Guy"
Good thing I taped everything off before I sprayed the 3M 90 Nuclear spray The tape acted as a repair stencil
Well, That's another 24 hour set back. I'll let you know when things are going smoother.
I'll get this Kids! Have a little faith
Good morning
Thanks for your reply Bear. Not relevant to the project I'm doing now as you stated. I can still appreciate the method of construction you used on your bridge project. I found it quite interesting and can relate to quite a few similarities to a project I once did years ago.
I put sheetrock panels over sheetrock to make the appearance of Roman slabs of stone. Rounding the sheetrock panels with a quarter round bit with my router, the neighbors thought I was quite insane kicking up all the dust in the driveway. I'm sure they did not appreciate all the sheetrock dust all over their cars either
Originally it was going to be a 150 gallon saltwater aquarium that would be serviced in the other room. I spent a lot of money on the aquarium and the saltwater equipment but unfortunately I never finished that job before I sold the house. A large mirror was installed and it was just painted instead of the stone faux finish.
Well, here is the theory I have switched my focus to after Wayne's suggestions.
I'm going to trace the templates onto Plastistruct stone stamped modeling sheets. The 3M contact spray adhesive terrifies me. I got pretty good with this stuff over the years with countertops. But that's when you could leave a half inch overage to allow for misplacement. I don't have that luxury for this small model. A missalignment could be costly for lost time and materials.
Overmod, I'd like to Thank you for your suggestion. I'm not familiar with E6000 but I did some research on the internet. I found nothing but Raves by other modelers on the ease of workability of this product.
Apparently you have 10 minutes of working time for adjustments and it sets up in 20 minutes. Sounds good to me! This is exactly what I am looking for so I have time to achieve exact placement.
Looks like it's back to the Hobby Store for some E6000
Thanks everyone for your participation so far. Your suggestions are definitely helping me out on this project
If you build the 'faces' in styrene, consider gently pre-bending them with heat before cementing. Make some templates the shape of the transverse curve that you can 'drape' the styrene over and heat lightly with a hair dryer so that when it cools it will harden up in precisely the right complex curve. (These templates might then 'double' as things to use to hold or weight the sheets compliantly while the glue sets up)
I think I would try something like E6000 or Goop to hold the sheets. Or low-temp hot glue. In a pinch if the face bonds turn out not to hold right, you could drill away some of the 'bottom' and reinforce the edges of the joints between foam and styrene from the back -- that might be very strong.
Thanks TF. I'm looking forward to following your progress.
Good evening
Nothing really done on the model today except for rounding up a few things.
Thanks for the suggestion Wayne. Styrene and styrene solvent always worked well on my truss bridges. I am going to use your suggestion for a large portion of the project. Now I decided to scrap all the foam panels.
I went and picked up some plastruct Dressed Stone sheets #91590. I like the uneven stone pattern and it looks like a pretty good size for N-Scale. Unfortunately they only had one package so I ordered another one off ebay.
I think I'm going to leave what I have done so far and use 3M high-strength 90 contact spray adhesive to attach the styrene side panels to the Masonite base and the foam uprights. Then I will have the edges of these panels to fuse to the inner styrene pannels to.
Great idea Wayne. I think you probably saved me a lot of time and frustration with your suggestion
Track fiddlerAny ideas or suggestions are definitely welcomed here
Never having made a viaduct similar to what you're attempting, my choice of material would be styrene. It can be bought in 4'x8' sheets, and in several different thicknesses.For the amount you're doing, buy a gallon of MEK, as it's a great choice for bonding styrene, and the joints will harden quickly.You can do straight cuts with a utility knife, and perhaps curved ones, too, but another option for the curved cuts might be a very fine blade in a jig-saw. When doing the assembly, the joints can be filed or sanded shortly after the bond has hardened. As-is, a coat of paint can make it look like concrete, or you could use the utility knife to score-in mortar lines - one or two passes with the blade, then another with the back of the blade to make it more distinct.The other advantage of styrene, especially when built in the shapes you're creating, is the strength once the joints have hardened.I do realise that each individual usually has their own favourite medium for scratchbuilding, so this is only a suggestion for an alternative.
Thanks Kevin, will do
Well, my first attempt on the assembly of the bridge failed. The foam framing uprights that dried overnight are in place and holding. I had a problem attaching the 1/4" arched side pannels.
The resilience of the narrow top areas of the arches were weaker than the triangular sections in between that had more retention. The flow of the curve was too inconsistent.
Two-in-one poly seam seal was not an aggressive or quick enough setting glue to hold with the T pins to offset the inconsistency.
Imgur is not working for me this morning or I would have posted pictures of the failure.
The problem with foam safe adhesives is they dry on the outside edge and stay wet in the center for sometimes weeks. More aggressive setting adhesives melt the foam. I cleaned things up with a damp cloth but I still have a bunch of question marks rattling around in my head, ...Flustered here
Hopefully I painted a good enough picture without pictures to make things understandable. Any ideas or suggestions are definitely welcomed here
Thanks for your input in advance.
Nice project.
I have always liked the looks of viaducts, but I have never attempted to build one.
Please keep the updates coming.
-Kevin
Living the dream.