The Modelers Thread

[G3750]

Rufus - nice job on the gon!

Greg - kudos for your Howe bridge! And having the courage and skill to attack the problem yourself! I think it looks great.

George

[gregj410]

Not going to put in all the truss rods and nbws?

Now what'd you to go and say that for? I’ve been thinking about it but I’m not fully sure I understand how to go about it yet.

Nice gond btw......especially the Mackinac part

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Not going to put in all the truss rods and nbws?

Now what'd you to go and say that for? I’ve been thinking about it but I’m not fully sure I understand how to go about it yet.

Drill holes for maybe 0.025" wire running through top to bottom (side 2 side as well); cap off with nbw castings; add more nbws everywhere there's a joint that calls for them - drill through and put them on each side. Tedious, maybe, but it adds a lot of visual appeal.

Nice gond btw......especially the Mackinac part

Thanks! The dry transfers for this car were too hard to resist!

Rufus - nice job on the gon!

Thanks! Not sure why I put off building gons for so lone, They're not all that hard to do and a lot of fun!

[gregj410]

Rufus - nice job on the gon!

Greg - kudos for your Howe bridge! And having the courage and skill to attack the problem yourself! I think it looks great.

George

Thank you George!

[gregj410]

Drill holes for maybe 0.025" wire running through top to bottom (side 2 side as well); cap off with nbw castings; add more nbws everywhere there's a joint that calls for them - drill through and put them on each side. Tedious, maybe, but it adds a lot of visual appeal.

Thank you for that. Do you have a good source for the nbw castings?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Drill holes for maybe 0.025" wire running through top to bottom (side 2 side as well); cap off with nbw castings; add more nbws everywhere there's a joint that calls for them - drill through and put them on each side. Tedious, maybe, but it adds a lot of visual appeal.

Thank you for that. Do you have a good source for the nbw castings?

Tichy! While I generally like Grandt Line, the Tichy ones are cast in red-brown styrene which just looks better than painting over the Grandt Line grey or white styrene.

[healey36]

I realize that some multi-span truss bridges were built of wood prior to the introduction of cast/wrought iron, and steel after that. I've not seen very many pics, if any, of a wooden truss span (could be I've seen them but didn't realize they were wood), so it'll be interesting to see how that works, especially if you go the whole nine yards and include the iron rods and such that hold the whole thing together.

No pressure...

[gregj410]

I realize that some multi-span truss bridges were built of wood prior to the introduction of cast/wrought iron, and steel after that. I've not seen very many pics, if any, of a wooden truss span (could be I've seen them but didn't realize they were wood), so it'll be interesting to see how that works, especially if you go the whole nine yards and include the iron rods and such that hold the whole thing together.

No pressure...

Well as a 3 railer I reserve the right to skimp on scale fidelity

I should start by saying that when I built this bridge I was going for the spirit of the bridge if that makes sense. Meaning wood, old, rustic, worn. Below is the bridge I thought may work in S scale. I believe it to be a very accurate model. I did things on my bridge that may prohibit me from acquiring accuracy. I wasn’t even entirely sure I could pull this bridge off from the get go.

You’ll notice on the model it has angled cleats that the timber’s but into. I simply over lapped my timber’s. If you look closely at my bridge I also pin nailed the top rail into the diamond section of the bridge. The lower cleats that carry the rail are also pin nailed into the stringers. All that could pose a problem drilling and fishing wire. I will have to do some experimenting to see if it’s feasible and if it would look ‘right’ even if it’s not true to the model.



anonymous picture sharing

[healey36]

Looks really good to me. In this example, the diagonals carry the weight and the vertical rods tie it together. Most trusses I’ve seen, it’s the opposite. The “cleats” you have on your lower chord, is that prototypical or something you came up with to strengthen the model? Either way, it’s pretty ingenious. Nice bridge, for sure.

As I’ve related before, The Old Man was a trained mechanical engineer, a practicing civil engineer, but fancied himself a bridge engineer (if you ever drove over the DC Beltway’s Cabin John Bridge, rebuilt and renamed the American Legion Bridge, you’ve experienced his work). He tried explaining truss loads, stresses, and all that stuff to me more times than I care to admit, but it was mostly beyond me. I can remember sitting at the kitchen table while using graph-paper, rulers, and protractors, trying to sort it all out. Nope, wasn’t happening, hence a degree in finance

When you read the old railroad trade journals, one sees article after article about wood preservatives and the process of cutting and treating ties. Makes you wonder what the maintenance methods were for a wood truss bridge. I presume they were constructed of some sort of treated timbers.

Good stuff...looking forward to seeing the process.

[gregj410]

How do I go about drilling so many tiny holes? I have some micro drill bits that I haven’t used before. They must use something much smaller than my standard drill press or household drills. Any recommendations?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

How do I go about drilling so many tiny holes? I have some micro drill bits that I haven’t used before. They must use something much smaller than my standard drill press or household drills. Any recommendations?

Drill press!





Okay, this drill press!



But, if you have steady hands - battery powered Dremel works just fine - drilling holes for grab irons today - #74 drill bit. No problems at all,

[gregj410]

I have a drill press and a corded dremel but neither equipped with a chuck small enough to hold that little bit.

[healey36]

I use a really fine bit in a pin-vise to drill the holes for guitar-string masts in the 1/2400 ships. The problem is they go dull pretty quick, especially if I’m drilling through pewter. I would think they’d hold up pretty well going through wood, and not take too terribly long doing it. Tedious, but not too long.

[gregj410]

Not sure I see this coming to pass just yet. 2 holes with a pin vise and fishing line as a test run. Maybe a drill press would get me more centered on the diamonds. It would take 152 holes at 2 per diamond.....thinking the sock drawer needs to be organized

[healey36]

Okay, yeah, that’s a lot of holes to drill. Holding it while drilling with a pin-vise might be a challenge as well.