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Bridge of sighs


Mucky Duck

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Hello all,

For a while I was set on using my Wills vari-girder bridge kit for my layout but the span required was borderline. In any case, I much preferred

the look of taller, more substantial bridges such as Woodlands Road bridge on the Manc-Bury line but being unable to find an affordable kit

for that type, I decided to scratch build my own.

 

I found a photo of the bridge in question, plus a few pics of similar bridges (but, significantly, with no detail close-ups). The Wills kit served

as a rough guide to various parts.

 

Stashed away was a small collection of plastic materials; sheets of various gauges, 'riveted' sheets, Slaters assorted microstrip and 'H' section

lengths. I was not in the position to buy any more in a hurry so made do with what I had. The double-skinned bridge sides and floors were cut

from the thicker sheet and individual 'panels' created by painstakingly cutting out strips from the riveted sheet, gluing them down in pairs

divided by vertical microstrip.

 

As Barborough My link is kind of a testbed for the real thing, so to speak, sometime in the future, I've tended to trundle along by trial and error

but when impatience has got the better of me, I've dived in head-first and thought of the consequences later. Thus, once all the bridge panels

were done I realise only then that I should have left them until later as I made a right sow's ear of attaching the ends of the guesstimated riveted

strip 'struts' to the top and bottom plates, snapping many in the process and having to re-attached bits here and there… not pretty! These should

have been brass anyway, as their gauge also looks too heavy.

 

The bridge skins sandwiched a plywood filling which was a mistake due to the wood warping! Also, the fact that I hadn't planned the task properly

by incorporating lugs and slots or even screws made gluing perpendicular surfaces, clamping them and getting them square pretty frustrating!

 

Eventually, with a lot of huffing, it came together and it only took a weekend. The warping has settled and I'm hoping that some brutal weathering

will disguise the poor workmanship.

 

Well, you have master craftsmen and bodgers and I'm definitely the latter – but, I've got an approximation of the bridge I wanted. For my first

attempt at completing anything structural, it looks reasonably acceptable to my eyes from a distance – and now I know exactly how I would tackle

the next one much more efficiently and with better results.

 

Wills kit showing borderline length required

post-6878-127472419473_thumb.jpg

 

Riveted sheet did not have ideal combination of rivets – the rows of my ideally spaced rivets were far too close together

so had to cut from ends of rows

post-6878-127472429947_thumb.jpg

 

Individual 'panels' made from riveted strip/microstrip combinations

post-6878-12747243423_thumb.jpg

 

One face complete with yet to be trimmed riveted 'struts' – Note the struts' over-thickness, instrumental (along with scoring)

in their preference to break than bend

post-6878-127472439187_thumb.jpg

 

Beneath the bridge. Basic… with 'H' girders. Well, as Iain Rice would say, 'Don't model what you can't see'

– and I certainly won't be zooming in under here

post-6878-127472443789_thumb.jpg

 

Two halves of a 'banana' sandwich… where the trouble began!

post-6878-127472447463_thumb.jpg

 

Both sets with top and bottom plates help to disguise broken 'struts'

post-6878-127472450694_thumb.jpg

 

Now for inner decorative panels, a bit of wet 'n' dry and primer

post-6878-127472455008_thumb.jpg

Plonked and standing way too proud… but you get the picture

post-6878-127472459486_thumb.jpg

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Thanks guys, I really appreciate the praise, but this is what the earlier pics didn't show too well…

 

post-6878-127473364073_thumb.jpg

The supposed 'struts' at the top of each panel divide are all different and some are missing, not to mention the huge gaps above the

horizontal riveted strips at the top! But from reasonable viewing distances I can cope with it for now.

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Those bits that are 'missing' are surely where the bridge has had to be 'repaired' at a later date; just add some 'welded' bits of spare plasticard, suitably weathered.

 

But a brilliant piece of modelling, I like the way you've created the riveted ribs !!

 

Stu

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A very nice piece of modelling indeed and looks just the part.

 

As a matter of interest, who makes the 'rivet sheets' - it's not something I have ever come across before.

 

Chris

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Flippin'eck I'm choked! Thanks for the positive comments… really. Saturday night I was cursing, I can tell you!

 

Those bits that are 'missing' are surely where the bridge has had to be 'repaired' at a later date; just add some 'welded' bits of spare plasticard, suitably weathered.

Stu

 

Brilliant, why didn't I think of that before? :blink:

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A very nice piece of modelling indeed and looks just the part.

 

As a matter of interest, who makes the 'rivet sheets' - it's not something I have ever come across before.

 

Chris

 

Erm… good question Chris. I wouldn't like to say for sure because they were loose sheets – but I got them from Eileen's Emporium at the

last Scaleforum in Leatherhead. There was a fair bit of Slaters material there (the microstrip, for one), so maybe the rivet sheet is Slaters too.

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…and just to add that the Wills kit shown above is incomplete so the pic definitely doesn't do it justice. It's certainly not a bad kit at all

but not the type of bridge I wanted, so I've bashed it to use on other parts of the layout.

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