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Dunallander footbridge


Caley Jim
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The late Neil Ballantine had started a large 2FS layout in his garage loft based on an amalgam of Dunblane and Callander called 'Dunallander'.  Following his untimely death his partner contacted the 2MM Scale Association to see what could be done with it as she did not want it to be lost.  The layout has been taken on by the Grampian Area Group of the Association with those of us in the Forth & Clyde Group offering whatever support we could provide.  Early in 2018 I was asked if I would draw up an etch for building the footbridge which was to be a model of that at Dunblane as it was in the late 1950's/early '60's.  I agreed to not only design the etch, but also build it.

 

The footbridge in question has recently been removed and rebuilt at Bridge of Dun, on the Brechin based preserved 'Caledonian Railway'.  Two members of the Grampian group carried out a survey of it in its new location and I was provided with both scale drawings and their survey notes and measurements.

 

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In its original location with its modern replacement in the background

 

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And at its new site

 

Several aspects posed something of a challenge, the first of these being how to reproduce the pillars supporting the landings, with their ornate bases and capitals, including those supporting the arches.  In the end we agreed that 3D printing was the best option and Chris Higgs agreed to convert my 2D drawing for the purpose, making each set of 4 pillars and the associated brackets/arches as one piece.  The results would have been difficult to produce by any other means.

 

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These have still to be tidied up to remove the slight layering.

 

I finally got the design worked out and the artwork sent off to PPD in mid-July and the etch duly arrived last week.

 

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The sheet had several other things on it which were removed before taking the photo

 

I took it along to our Area Group meeting last Saturday and started work on it there.  It went together very well and i was able to complete assembling the outer side of one stairway at the meeting.  Since then the other three have been assembled.

 

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As originally built the area behind the lattice sections was infilled with boarding

 

Next step will be to take the deck sides to the same stage.

 

Jim

 

(Edited to correct spelling of Neil's name)

Edited by Caley Jim
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A couple of evening's work sees the sides of the deck assembled :-

 

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So far everything has gone together as intended with only minor adjustments with a file needed, which is not unusual for an etched kit.  I'm just wondering when I'm going to find the major error I've made in the artwork!! :scared:

 

Next jobs will be to check that the parts meet properly at the corners, assemble the stairways and fit the floor to the deck .

 

Jim

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Before assembling the stairways, I had to add the handrails to the inner faces of the sides.  I hadn't provided anything for them on the etch as I had some 0.5 x 0.25mm strips which were the frames around the parts for the point rodding stools for Kirkallanmuir (I throw nothing, well, almost nothing, away!).  these still had the tags on them, so they were bent down at right angles, a little away from the edge of the strip, and these used to attach the strips.

 

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The little slots near the lower edge are for tabs in the ends of every 4th-5th step to accurately locate the stairs.

 

Another use for these strips was to represent the projecting strip on the top front of the risers. I only did this on the lower 10 steps as I reckon you will need to have the pupil of your eye at platform level to see any further up than that!  They were soldered on with their top edges slightly above the surfaces of the stairs and then filed back and thinned slightly.  These are perhaps tiny details, but they add to the character of the model.  While assembling the stairways I found the (first?) error I had made.  I had put two little tabs on the lower end of each side which were designed to locate in notches in the inner side of the inner two of the four layers making up the frame around the entrance to the stairs.  I found that, in a moment of aberration, I had set the notches 1mm too low down!   :banghead:   It was a fairly simple, if time consuming, job to file 1 mm out of the top of each of the notches to let the lower edge of the frame sit flush with the bottom of the sides.  Fitting the frame at this stage makes the stairway quite rigid and should avoid them getting accidentally distorted.

 

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Next to fit the deck sides to the floor, which also forms their lower flanges.

 

Jim

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Thanks to the poor weather we've been having the last couple of days, more progress has been made.  The deck sides have now been assembled onto the floor.  I had etched the deck and landing floors as one piece, with a bend line to allow the landing floors to be bent to the horizontal, however it proved tricky to get the floor to mate up with the sides, so it was easier to separate them.  The square holes in the landing floors are to accurately locate the 3D-printed landing supports, which have a corresponding square projecting from their tops.  Making sure that the sides were at right angles to the floor all the way along was crucial as otherwise there would be problems getting the stairways to line up with the deck accurately.

 

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I decided to leave the bracing angles and smoke deflectors off until the deck and stairs have been assembled, which will be the next task.

 

Before that, though, I need to make a plywood base to locate the landing supports in their correct relationship so that everything will be soldered together accurately.

 

Jim

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Assembling the deck and landings together took some time to get everything square in all three planes, but it's now starting to look the part.  The swan-necked braces and the smoke deflectors have also been fitted.  The former proved to tricky to put together, having to solder the half-etched top of the 'T' section to the curved 'leg'.  By the sixth one i thought I had just about mastered it and then, as i was doing a final trial fit of it before applying the solder paint, it shot off into the wide blue yonder!  Luckily i had put a couple of spares on the etch for just that eventuality.  In these photos it is just sitting on the pillar bases of the landings.  they won't be glued in place until I'm about to paint it and before that I'll have to go over them and remove the (very slight) layering.

 

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This completes the basic structure.  Now to work on the roofs, but they won't be fixed in place until the rest has been painted and the glazing slid in place.

 

Jim

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After a fair bit of adjusting and fettling I've finally got the roof put together.  I knew it wasn't going to be straightforward as I couldn't quite get my head round how all the sections fitted together - it has a very slight pitch and is complicated by the centre section of the deck being on a curve - so I made some of the parts slightly oversize and had to do a bit of (expected) trimming in several places.  Some of the joints between sections are still not particularly smooth, so a little filler may be needed before glueing on a layer of tissue to simulate felt.

 

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I am pleasantly surprised at how good a fit I've managed to get despite the fact that at present it is only sitting there.

 

I'm now in the process of fitting the gutters.

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It looks smashing, and the 3D columns just seem to be the icing on the cake. Wonderful work by all. What a lovely design it is too with the curvature and diamond lattice work. I am a bit bemused that for such a nice symmetrical design it was offset over the tracks, it’s noticeable that in it’s new location they have been able to sit it centrally.

 

Izzy

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Thanks for your (and other's) kind comments Izzy.  At Dunblane the staircase on the island platform lined up with the centre line of the island platform building (and the platform), whereas that on the main platform was up against the wall of the station building, hence the reason it was offset.  The model will replicate this.

 

The pattern of the lattice across the central, curved, part of the deck took me a fair bit of head scratching to figure out how it was arranged so that the 'diamonds' followed the arc of the deck.  Eventually I realised that I could draw it as a polar array.  How the draftsman drew it originally with pencil and paper, I've no idea as the angle of the elements of the lattice change subtly across it.

 

Jim

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So, a little more progress.  The gutters have been fitted - a strip of 4mm wide 20thou  styrene with a half round groove scraped along one edge and the underside of that edge rounded off.  This then fits between the roof base and the roof.

 

The roof has been covered in the aforementioned tissue paper, fixed with cyano.  This makes the tissue slightly translucent which account for the patchy appearance in the photos.  Also fitted are the battens across the roof, strips of .25mm styrene cut as near to .25mm wide as I could.  In fact they are not very consistent and most are between .3 and .4mm.  In any case, it seems that .3 x.25mm is the finest you can buy.  There are a lot of reject strips in the bin!!

 

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Also visible in the photos is the jig I included on the etch to ensure that the holes for the pegs on the bottom of the pillars are drilled in exactly the correct positions.

 

Again the roof is just sitting in place which is why there is a gap under it in the second photo.

 

Next up will be to fit the downpipes, but it may be a few days before I get round to that as I have other things taking up my time this the weekend and at beginning of next week.

 

Jim

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Chris Higgs indicated to me that the plastic used for the 3D printed landing supports is UV sensitive (though he doesn't know how sensitive) and that it might be a good idea to give them a coat of primer before too long.  I therefore lightly scraped the pillars and around the top arches with a scalpel blade in an attempt to reduce any layering effect, gave them a good wash and the next day sprayed them with rattle-can grey primer.  From 3-4" away and with 1.5x magnification, you can still see the layering, but from a foot or more with normal vision they look OK and the Grampian Group chaps are happy with that, which is just as well as I was reluctant to attack them any more vigorously for fear of removing the fine detail.

 

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Bear in mind that they are only 20.6mm high to the underside of the landing and the flats of the pillars are only 0.66mm wide.  On my 18"screen this photo comes out at about 6 times actual size.

 

Having done that, the downpipes (copper wire) were soldered to the sides of the stairway entrances.

 

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This completes the basic assembly ready for painting.  I will be giving everything a base coat of grey primer, and the pot of Railmatch 'Nanking Blue' ordered from Trainshop.co.uk arrived yesterday. We reckon this is the best match for the colour the bridge was painted c1960.

 

Before any of that, however, I will be trial fitting some of the glazing pieces which Alisdair Campbell brought along to our group meeting last Saturday, which he kindly cut for me on his Silhouette Cutter.

 

Jim

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finishing the bridge has taken some time, partly due to a shortage of time thanks to a couple of week-ends away and other commitments starting up after the summer break, and partly due to the time it takes to paint models using multiple thin coats.

I'm please to say that most of the glazing fitted perfectly, the exception being that for the windows on the landings which I somehow or other managed to draw too small!  However, these were the easy ones to cut, being rectangular.

 

Painting and glazing completed, the roof has been glued in place, so it will now be handed over to the Grampian Group for weathering.  It is far from perfect, but hopefully its shortcomings will not be too obvious once it is on the layout.

 

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Jim

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Looks pretty damn good to me especially as this is 2mm.

 

When I get round to PSJ's footbridge, I might be picking your brains.

 

Regards

 

Ian

Thanks, Ian. Feel free, there's not much to pick!

 

Jim

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  • 1 year later...
1 hour ago, scottystitch said:

Blimey, Jim, that is a stunning piece of work from start to finish.

Thanks, Scott.  And welcome to the Association ( I maintain the membership database, so I know who you are! :D)

 

1 hour ago, scottystitch said:

Do you do commissions?!  Something like that would be ideal for my Perth Caledonian...

I'm not really wanting to get involved in commissions.  I offered to help with the Dunallander project  and am happy to do so in memory of Neil.  While I enjoy the challenge of designing and building etches I have plenty on my plate as it is.

 

Jim

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36 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

Thanks, Scott.  And welcome to the Association ( I maintain the membership database, so I know who you are! :D)

 

I'm not really wanting to get involved in commissions.  I offered to help with the Dunallander project  and am happy to do so in memory of Neil.  While I enjoy the challenge of designing and building etches I have plenty on my plate as it is.

 

Jim

Thanks for the welcome.

 

And worry not, Jim, I was only (half) joking ;)

 

But really looking forward to seeing your work in the flesh.

 

Best

 

Scott

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On 31/08/2018 at 19:57, nick_bastable said:

quality modelling as usual  perhaps I should take up knitting  :senile:

 

Nick

I already did! Brilliant work on the footbridge, it does rather spur one on to greater things. To keep things on topic, it’s a Scottish fisherman’s kep, and it’s on me on the Wirral Cheshire Lines line near Hadlow Road.

 

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45 minutes ago, John57sharp said:

I already did! Brilliant work on the footbridge, it does rather spur one on to greater things.

Thanks, John (and others) for the kind comments.  That's the object of the exercise in posting on here, to encourage others.

 

Jim

 

PS. Like the kep (which is what they call a cap in Dundee and also, probably, Kelvinside!)

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