andyfarmer Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I want to make a bridge that will span 2 or 3 tracks and although there are kits available, they don't seem to be what I'm after. Ideally, a road over the top and I can then have some buildings etc as a backdrop behind the bridge. Any tips (or photos) on what materials I can use so as to give me some ideas ? Modelling in OO gauge, BR Green era. Also, does anyone know if the Wills SS57 kit is just one girder panel or are there two in the kit ? I'm experimenting at the moment with hardboard cut to shape/size and will paint/weather accordingly if I think it looks ok. In any case, will need something like the SS57 to run across the top. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Siberian Snooper Posted July 12, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 12, 2011 Hi If you want a girder bridge Wills do what they call the Vari Girder kit which means you can add as many panels as you like. Each panel is 23mm long. You then make your own deck to suit. I don't have a Wills catalogue so I am not able to give you the kit number. Cheers SS Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
QRModeller Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 You could modify the Scalescenes concrete bridge to suit your needs. I'm not sure entirely what you have in mind but I'm guessing you would only need to print off the supports, the underside of the deck and the deck itself and you could then substitute the sides for your preferred ones. Hope this helps. Matt. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Hi, if you Google the product you can establish that there are two bridge sides in the kit. Two or three tracks can be done in a single span, and your choices for abutments are many and various. A recent thread on here looked at how to make structurally correct/ authentic interfaces between your masonry and metalwork. A little judicious searching will bring it up, I've no doubt. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyfarmer Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 OK, I bought a coupe of Will SS57 kits and using hardboard for the bridge walls, I came up with the attached. Not painted or weathered yet. Your thoughts and opinions are welcome - good or bad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyfarmer Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 Clearly nobody is interested in my attempts Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcmacchipilot Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I love your wagons .... Actually the bridge is preety good as well. I would clad a bit of it with plasticard and put some I beams or something underneath. Is that a 00N9 track on the far side I see? Owen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelb Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Hi Andy its looking very promising look forward to seeing progress Nigel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 You could look here for a scratchbuilt girder bridge. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/member/120-dwhite4dcc/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyfarmer Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Update on the bridge building ! I've had a major re-think on the construction and visual effect but am struggling to work out how, or with what, to clad the currently exposed section above the brickwork crossing the track. At the moment, it's balsa wood but the main issue is that to the left of the picture, (the one with the signal gantry), there is a small bridge crossing the upper track and it's this bridge that is giving me concerns with how to finish off the lower bridge. Ideas ?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc smith Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Hi, Iain Rice wrote a great book, several years back, called "Plastic Structure Kits - making the most of the Wills scenic range" Or something like that! In it, there are some really nice ideas, conversions and plenty of prototype pics, plus some fundamental sketches of what parts actually make up bridges & retaining walls etc The vari-girder kit is superb - you can make any length / span you want You couls also consider the sides of an old Peco turntable kit - I've seen a few second-hand part-built examples knocking about... Keep observing the prototype, and adapt something from those, to suit your needs, but remember to ask yourself, why or where support pillars may be needed etc... Good luck Marc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc smith Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 PS. Can't reccomend Iains book enough! Great info an all sorts of structures there... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
0121modeller Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Girder bridges, one of my favorite topics Here's a book that I highly recomend for a guide to model bridge building, it illustrates all types of underdridges, overbridges, intersection bridges, diagrams, measurements & underside detail. It does'nt cover anything of a huge multispan bridge such as the Fourth bridge or other suspension bridges < (I've not noticed in book anyway) Unfortunately this book is out of print, but can be found 2nd hand on ebay, Amazon, etc. My scrathbuilt "A" type bridge, The scene above was in an incomplete condition on my old layout, I still have that bridge though. Above; I've used Wills SS57 for the paraphet, the scale size of the Wills SS57 plates is no less than 6ft high, so a little high for a paraphet in most cases, this is a bridge to carry road vehicles so adding a pavement leaves you a scale equal to 5ft, the minimum requirement being around 4ft 5". The main "load bearing girder" is a Plastruct BFS12 with 1.6mm styrene rods supporting the slightly cantilevered (overhanging) paraphet. Another plate girder bridge i built with Wills SS57 plates, I recomend adding 4mm x 0.5mm styrene strip between each of joined plates that make up the assembled length, this gives enhanced depth to the web plates, as seen on real examples, some more extreme than others. I've added a slightly cantilevered paraphet made of styrene strip & plastikard. Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndon Posted July 12, 2018 Share Posted July 12, 2018 Hi, I've just purchased a Wills SS57 'Vari-Girder' Plate Girder Bridge kit for OO Gauge and would appreciate any suggestions as to which is the best glue to use? I also intend to use stone walls to support the bridge span on either side, so any ideas please what material to use to for building the supporting walls and creating a stone wall effect? The plan is to use a road-over bridge as a scenic break, where a double track line leaves the station baseboard into the sector plate. Many thanks Mark If you're up for scratch building, you can make your own stone work with plastic strip. The photo below shows one pier of a bridge I'm working on - core is plastic card with individual stones cut out of plastic strip then texture added with a ball cutter in a Dremel. Time consuming admittedly but it does all you any arrangement of stone that you want... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted July 12, 2018 Share Posted July 12, 2018 Have you got any photos of prototypes similar to what you want? I had issues with some tunnel mouths. Those commercially available were short & fat. What I wanted to model were much slimmer & taller. Since I am replicating a real location, I was not prepared to compromise too much with their shape. I found some which were not too bad but the bricks around the arches were all aligned radially around each row, which I was not satisfied with. I also had 2 tiny circular tunnels to make. The only way would have been to cut out each brick individually but this would have taken forever & looked very rough. My answer was to use a laser cutter, then it was all done on a PC where patterns can be easily replicated. I chose to buy a cutter but I am sure there are companies out there who can cut your design if you can do the artwork. You can see the results in my layout thread. I would rather have done them with what I consider to be 'proper' modelling techniques instead of using a computer, but I would not have achieved the same result. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ianLMS Posted July 12, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 12, 2018 You could look at some of the resin bridge kits/parts that are now available. Skytrex are very good and easy to cut, file, shape and paint. They have a few different versions and do the support walls seperately - http://skytrexmodelrailways.com/18-bridges Failing that, Foamboard or ply/hardboard structure with Wills/Plastruct/SE Fincecast sheets laminated with No More Nails worked for me. The bridge below is foamboard with Plastruct stone sheet laminated over it using No More Nails/Evo-stick Impact to fix it in place. The tunnel entrance was made using two Skytrex arches cut and re-joined to span 3 tracks. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 What you suggest sounds fine. It is worth remembering that a technique which works well for somebody may well not be the best for someone else. Maybe you could build a small structure first? If you don't like it, then you will be more willing to discard it & start again. If you do the whole lot in 1 go, you will be more likely to keep something you are not entirely happy with. I was unhappy with a section of retaining wall on my layout, so I re-built just that section to something I am more satisfied with. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndon Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 I used 1mm thick in the example I posted above with the stones being another 1mm thick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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