Spent part of this evening scratch building the bridge abutments for the Cedar River Bridge. Just using styrene, and trying to follow my design as best I can. I cannot finish the abutments until I have the bridge shoes on the bridge itself, so only did the base for now. Here they are: Did some test fitting, again keeping things in context, without the bridge shoes. The base will get cut back once I have determined exactly where the bridge will sit for best performance, so it's sticking out into space for now. Shoes arrive Tuesday, so will have them in hand for our next work session. That's it for today. M
Quick update on the bridge, tonight I wanted to finish off the bottom end rivet plates with face and top clapping, per the instructions. If you wish to see the before picture, check pic 2 in my preceding post. Directions called for me to just box in the ends. I chose to beef it up a bit; first, adding a cut to fit .080 piece of styrene at the top corner. That gave the thin clapping stability. Once that was, in I filled the void with two pieces of cut sheet lead for added weight and filled the entire void with Alene's glue. Then I set out to cut and trim the clapping for each rivet plate. That was a time consumer! But here's the finished product. Finally I added the rivet plates for the end diagonal braces. I won't add any of the cross pieces until I prime the entire piece. That will require me to mask each rivet plate where the pieces get glued. Why? Because I need to prime before I add the rivet decals. Plus there's a little known fact that fat fingers don't fit between cross braces, making decaling very difficult. The mask will allow me to properly glue all the pieces (styrene to styrene). I also need to add the stringers that hold up the rail. Why are they last? Same reason as before (decals & fat fingers, just in case you forgot). I'll then give it a light second coat and I'll be ready to add the shoes when they arrive Tuesday. Gn all. M
Lots of progress tonight, so let's get right to it. Scott completed the hill brake protection shield. It involved a 4 inch inner diameter plexi tube, cut to fit beyond the hill brake throw rod. He then used a hole saw to cut a hole in flat plexi and used epoxy to meld the two pieces. The final steps included drilling the holes for mounting and sanding all the edges. The end result was fantastic. Bob continued his piping project. He test fit the large stanchions for height and clearance. It's looking great. A tight fit.... Wain was back from family excursions and the crud that's been going around. He built a screed that will ultimately be used to spread plaster in the turntable bowl. He also filled in the areas between the turntable and the table top. I was able to find a spot to mask the bridge and glue the new bridge shoes in place. Ed completed the final step on the Renton switch machines, gluing the desk grommets in place. The tape job says it all.... XXXXX, we're done for the night.
Went out to the train room tonight to complete the rail stringers. As you might recall the plan was to add them after the first primer coat. Much to my surprise, after test fitting two sets of the stringers I could still get unfettered access to the rivet plates. I made the executive decision to make all the stringers and get them glued in place. Here's how it turned out. And in place... I like the results and once I get the west end abutment in the right place I know the track will line up perfectly. Next stop the paint booth. M
Wain dropped by this morning to put down the first layer of plaster that will create the bowl shape of the turntable base. I put the finishing touches on the bridge, including using a combination of styrene and gap filling Mr Dissolved Putty. MDP might be the best friend a modeler has. I'll let that dry, do another round of sanding, then it's off to the the wash basin for some pre-painting prep. M
Douse it in water, use a toothbrush and soapy water (dawn liquid) to lightly brush entire model, rinse and airdry. All while wearing gloves.
It must be a whole lot of fun trying to figure out angles for spraying and actually coating every little corner.
Glad you put that second pic, the one of it with primer, in. Was going to ask if you had renamed your railroad "Poseidon Adventure". Looks great!! It might be the camera angle, but is there some distortion? The bottom edge looks like it has an arc to it.
I just try and make the same action (spray in a specific angle) across the model. Then turn it and do the same. Then flip the model and do it again. That usually gets about 90% coverage. Then I wait for it to dry a bit; that's when it gets interesting, trying to get the nozzle at an angle to get the hard to reach areas.
I hadn't noticed that before you mentioned it David. It's just the angle it's sitting on the foam. Thank heaven.
