Model Railway Restoration - Painting the Viaduct and Retaining Walls and Point Mods

[Chris64B]

On 27/09/2017 at 23:16, LongRail said:

Chris looks good but would need a support in the middle to work in the real world which would have to have stanchions either side of the track

 

Yep don't worry Gary, those are under construction!

 

 

 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Chris64B
Edited to repair broken images

[Chris64B]

'Ere, I thought you said on page 1 of your thread that you were going to "lower the average a bit" - Well I am sorry but you seem to be failing in your desire!

There is some great modelling on here ! Great Stuff. 

Kevan

 

Haha thanks Kevan! I've just checked out your thread and can say the same to you, great stuff going on!

[Chris64B]

Just spent some time repairing all the lost photos on the first page of the thread - Bloomin' Photobucket! - but good old RMweb for having the photo hosting facility!  

 

It's been quite nice looking back at them to see the progress I've made - it often doesn't feel like much but looking back it has come quite a way.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

[Chris64B]

Hi all,

 

An update for you about my bridge and viaduct building antics!

 

First up, I've build some of the support legs for the plate girder bridge - just modelled on various prototype picutres I found on the web using off cuts from sprues and some plastruct I beams and channels:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also decided to add an impression of the support beams on the underside of the bridge deck - I used the remaining riveted plate strips that come with the Wills girder kits and think it turned out alright - better than looking at a smooth underside anyway, not that you'll see it that often!

 

 

Next up, I wanted to improve the other remaining curved part of the upper branch - originally, it was supported by a few foam arches covered in brick paper and some foam covered in green sawdust as a bank (oh the innocence of youth!) - see this shot from ages ago:

 

 

...but I thought it would be nice to replace this with a brick viaduct. Obviously there's nothing off the shelf to suit this situation so I though it would be a good chance to build my first structure in plastic, but I've cheated slightly by using the old fashined Hornby brick viaduct pieces as a base - so several ebay purchases later:

 

 

 

I had toyed with just gluing and these together some how and painting them, but I wanted to have a more realistic brick pattern and thought it would be a nice project to do something a bit different so after plenty of research into building techniques and brick pattern plasticard I bought a whole load of SE Finecast brick sheets in various bonds and got cracking!

 

First up I glued several of the Hornby arches together and clad the main structure with the sheet:

 

I used the off cut semi-circles from the arches as a backing wall for those that aren't going to be full depth:

 

 

I wanted to do something to improve the arched courses (sorry I'm not familiar with the proper term!) so with nothing being the right size on the SEF pre-formed arch sheets I decided to cut out a whole load of the lines of header course bricks and stick them on - time consuming but effective, I also added a strip of the longer stretch course as a decorative boundary between the arch and the faced bricks:

 

 

 

Here's the progress so far placed on the layout temporarily:

 

 

 

Just another nine arches to do.....why did I start this again!?

 

Cheers,

Chris

 

 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Chris64B
Edited to repair broken images

[deltic9014]

Looks brilliant Chris. If there were more modellers with your skill level showing what could be done with an 8x4 layout, the format would probably lose a lot of its 'train set' reputation. Keep it up. 

[Chris64B]

Thanks Robin, that's very kind!

[Jaggzuk]

That's a great looking viaduct, nice mix of scratch parts and off the shelf bits.  I really like the transition from girder to brick.  Looking forward to watching it progress.

[Crisis Rail]

Good stuff going on here with the brick and ironmongery,

 

Impressed

 

Ian

[Vespa]

It just shows what can be done to modify something to a more suitable item required. A few years back I made a road over track bridge from scrap balsa and Superquick paper to look like the bog standard iron and brick bridge seen all over the place.

[LongRail]

Chris great modelling the base to,the bridge supports would be concrete as it acts as an impact wall to deflect any derailments to avoid losing the piers and the bridge then falling onto the lines below.

[Chris64B]

That's a great looking viaduct, nice mix of scratch parts and off the shelf bits.  I really like the transition from girder to brick.  Looking forward to watching it progress.

 

Thanks Paul - I was quite limited how I could do it as everything is so cramped and close to the main line. The girder bridge is slightly wider than the brick viaduct but I couldn't allow the full width in the end pillar to go all the way to the ground otherwise trains would have hit it so I had to do that step effect like you sometime see on a chimney breast! Of all the photos I looked at, pretty much every bridge was unique so I figured it would look ok!

 

It was also quite hard to find a decent picture that showed the way the plate girder meets the brick pillar - I found a few and they made me realise they don't just meet, there is an overlap (which meant the pillar had to stick out even more, compounding the problem above). The brick pillar is usually an odd shape on the inner side and the outer is often just a brick or two deep to disguise the join, with the coping stone covering both if that makes any sense. I'll try and get a picture to show you how I did it but here are a couple of links with some photos I found useful for this aspect of the bridge:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/21881-plate-girder-bridges/?p=216469

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/103126-scratch-built-bridges/?p=2025119

 

Cheers, Chris

[Chris64B]

Chris great modelling the base to,the bridge supports would be concrete as it acts as an impact wall to deflect any derailments to avoid losing the piers and the bridge then falling onto the lines below.

 

Thanks for the info Gary, that's interesting I hadn't heard that before and most photos of supports I did find are concrete as you say. This was the bridge that inspired them (tracks ran beneath, road above)...

 

Clyde Cycle Path going under Dyke Road by Roderic Page, on Flickr

 

...not sure they do look concrete on this one interestingly - maybe it's an age thing?

 

Trouble is I'm so limited with the space inbetween the curved main lines beneath - I can't make the supports any thicker without them getting way too close to the trains!

 

Cheers, Chris

 

EDITED TO ADD - reading your post again, do you mean the bases of the supports I've made, rather than the upright supports? As you can see I clad them in brick but was planning to paint the middle concrete colour, but could re-clad them in concrete sheet instead?

Edited October 9, 2017 by Chris64B

[LongRail]

Chris I am referring to the structure ground level it would not have square ends as it would be looking to deflect any errant train, it would be cast in concrete as brickwork would not be strong enough to withstand such impact

[class"66"]

More super modelling here Chris

 

 

 

cheers neil.

[Chris64B]

Hi everyone and a belated Happy New Year!

 

I can’t believe it’s been so long since the last update, but it’s the same old story, life getting in the way!

 

I’ll bring you up to speed…

 

It’s taken an age but construction of the viaduct is finally complete, bar painting! I’m pleased with how it’s turned out:

 

 

 

It now runs nicely into the girder bridge at one end:

 

 

And the retaining wall alongside the station at the other:

 

 

The retaining wall has been taking up a lot of time too, but it’s nearly done, including the curved end where I used the kettle to steam and bend the wood underneath in shape! I’ve been using non-solvent based UHU glue to stick the SE Finecast brick sheet to the wood and it seems to work well.

 

 

 

I just can’t decide what colour to paint it all – red brick or blue engineering brick – any thoughts? I think I’m favouring red brick at the moment.

 

To give myself a break from all this tedious wall construction I’ve been spending some time recently improving the Hornby HST coaches. We got some coach lighting kits for Christmas from http://www.layouts4u.net/coachlighting.html - they are the battery powered ones with a little magnetic reed switch and they are really effective:

 

 

(The soldering iron jumped and attacked me while doing this – my fingers are still recovering!)

 

Having put them in, I decided to paint the backs of the side windows to stop light bleed in the wrong places. A bit fiddly but worth it in the end.

 

 

Of course adding lights only serves to highlight the fact that the interior is all one colour and pretty basic, so I’ve spend some time painting and detailing it.

 

I started with the first class and buffet coach and found a good original interior shot of first class here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/54701885@N03/11842511814/in/photostream/ - and a useful RMWeb thread here - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/27726-br-mk3-interiors/

 

So here’s my attempt – started painting the seats orange:

 

 

To replicate the little white headrests, I used some off-cuts from the SE finecast brick sheet, and cut out individual bricks for them! I've carefully painted the edges of the tables to make them stand out and I’ve also tried printing the striped carpet onto paper, but need to play around with this a bit more.

 

 

I need to give it all a spray of matt varnish and add some people, but here’s how it looks in the dark so far:

 

 

 

I’m also taking the opportunity to improve the outside of the coaches too – I can live with the fact they’ve only got 7 windows instead of 8 (the shorter length is better on our tight curves and relatively short platforms) but I thought I could improve the detailing (and weather them in due course) so I’ve started trimming off the redundant cable details and bought some new transfers from Fox and Railtec (great service from both) and some new wheelsets:

 

 

 

So that’s about it for now – I’ve treated myself to some new Bachmann Mk2 coaches and we got a lovely Mk1 miniature buffet coach for Christmas so that’s partially inspired the improvements to the old Hornby coaches.

 

Cheers, Chris

 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Chris64B
Edited to repair broken images

[deltic9014]

That looks amazing! You're definitely failing to lower the average modelling standard!

[fishytrains]

Like the work you have done with the viaduct. That said the coach improvement is pretty good too.

 

Mike

[Revolution Mike B]

Absolutely love it Chris and you should be quite rightly pleased with yourself!

 

Your update put a massive smile on my face 

[Chris64B]

Thanks for the kind comments all!

[Coryton]

Hi everyone and a belated Happy New Year!

 

I can’t believe it’s been so long since the last update, but it’s the same old story, life getting in the way!

 

I’ll bring you up to speed…

 

It’s taken an age but construction of the viaduct is finally complete, bar painting! I’m pleased with how it’s turned out:

 

IMG_7953.JPG

IMG_7956.JPG

IMG_7957.JPG

 

It now runs nicely into the girder bridge at one end:

 

IMG_7961.JPG

 

And the retaining wall alongside the station at the other:

 

IMG_7960.JPG

 

The retaining wall has been taking up a lot of time too, but it’s nearly done, including the curved end where I used the kettle to steam and bend the wood underneath in shape! I’ve been using non-solvent based UHU glue to stick the SE Finecast brick sheet to the wood and it seems to work well.

 

DSC_2193.JPG

IMG_7959.JPG

IMG_7962.JPG

 

I just can’t decide what colour to paint it all – red brick or blue engineering brick – any thoughts? I think I’m favouring red brick at the moment.

 

To give myself a break from all this tedious wall construction I’ve been spending some time recently improving the Hornby HST coaches. We got some coach lighting kits for Christmas from http://www.layouts4u.net/coachlighting.html - they are the battery powered ones with a little magnetic reed switch and they are really effective:

 

DSC_2194.JPG

(The soldering iron jumped and attacked me while doing this – my fingers are still recovering!)

 

Having put them in, I decided to paint the backs of the side windows to stop light bleed in the wrong places. A bit fiddly but worth it in the end.

 

DSC_2195.JPG

 

Of course adding lights only serves to highlight the fact that the interior is all one colour and pretty basic, so I’ve spend some time painting and detailing it.

 

I started with the first class and buffet coach and found a good original interior shot of first class here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/54701885@N03/11842511814/in/photostream/ - and a useful RMWeb thread here - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/27726-br-mk3-interiors/

 

So here’s my attempt – started painting the seats orange:

DSC_2196.JPG

 

To replicate the little white headrests, I used some off-cuts from the SE finecast brick sheet, and cut out individual bricks for them! I've carefully painted the edges of the tables to make them stand out and I’ve also tried printing the striped carpet onto paper, but need to play around with this a bit more.

DSC_2204.JPG

 

I need to give it all a spray of matt varnish and add some people, but here’s how it looks in the dark so far:

IMG_7968.JPG

IMG_7970.JPG

IMG_7971.JPG

 

I’m also taking the opportunity to improve the outside of the coaches too – I can live with the fact they’ve only got 7 windows instead of 8 (the shorter length is better on our tight curves and relatively short platforms) but I thought I could improve the detailing (and weather them in due course) so I’ve started trimming off the redundant cable details and bought some new transfers from Fox and Railtec (great service from both) and some new wheelsets:

 

DSC_2207.JPG

IMG_7972.JPG

 

So that’s about it for now – I’ve treated myself to some new Bachmann Mk2 coaches and we got a lovely Mk1 miniature buffet coach for Christmas so that’s partially inspired the improvements to the old Hornby coaches.

 

Cheers, Chris

 

Those interiors look brilliant - the close-ups are the sort of photo you have to look at twice to see if they're a model or not.

 

I've been meaning to do something similar for a while with some GNER Mk IV's - I really should give it a go.

 

I should try the interior lighting sets too - I saw some recently at an exhibition and was impressed.

[61656]

Really inspirational viaduct there. I’m about (geologically speaking) to start something similar and I’ve found more that I want to copy here than in endless research so far. Excellent stuff, I’ll be back to look in more detail.

[meanach]

Just read this from the start . A master class in how to turn a train set into a model railway ! With skills like these you should seriously consider making an exhibition layout with fine scale track .

[Chris64B]

Those interiors look brilliant - the close-ups are the sort of photo you have to look at twice to see if they're a model or not.

 

I've been meaning to do something similar for a while with some GNER Mk IV's - I really should give it a go.

 

I should try the interior lighting sets too - I saw some recently at an exhibition and was impressed.

 

Thanks Coryton - Yeah, it's well worth it, especially if you are adding lights as that just highlights the basic interior. I went for the battery ones as I'm on DC so didn't want them turning off everytime the train stopped.

 

Cheers, Chris

[Chris64B]

Just read this from the start . A master class in how to turn a train set into a model railway ! With skills like these you should seriously consider making an exhibition layout with fine scale track .

 

Thanks Meanach - I've been checking out your thread and I'm very impressed with your lovely layout so that's very generous coming from you!

 

That would be fun one day, trouble is I think I'd need my kids to be grown up and retired from my job! One day....

 

Cheers, Chris

[Chris64B]

P.S. Any thoughts on what colour I should paint all the brickwork on the viaduct and retaining wall? I just can't decide between red or engineering brick.