Micro-Engineering Bridge Flex

[TrainCat2]

If anyone has some Micro-Engineering Bridge Flex Track, can you tell me the width and height of the ties?

[SkipGear]

Bob,

.050" Tall
.0625" Wide
.74" Long

[NARmike]

I get very close to the same measurements...

0.052" or 1.33mm tall
0.063" or 1.60mm wide
0.740" or 18.79mm long

and I have 5 lengths of code 70 I can get rid of. $8 per length, plus shipping (warning: the shipping charges to the U.S. are extremely high ... I think I'll have them for a while so next time you're in Alberta look me up)

Mike

[TrainCat2]

Thanks Tony & Mike. I just wanted to confirm the width so I could set the spacing of the grated walkways on a design. The supports were the last thing.

[robert3985]

Bob,
This doesn't have anything to do with ME bridge track, but I thought you and others would like to see what one of your UP Cantilever signal bridges looks like after I corrected some of your model's flaws and scratch built a lot of parts that should be included in the kit but aren't.

This was soldered, using my American Beauty resistance solderer, pre-tinning parts, then holding them with the tweezers and applying current.

I replaced the kit's etched safety rails on top with brass wire, as well as substituting wood planks to replace the kit's etched expanded metal walkways (both were present on the U.P. until the bridges were taken down a few years ago).

I also constructed brackets to hold the kit ladder in place, and built tiny brass L-girders for the top of the bridge to mount the safety rails and board walkway to.  The N-scale kit had nothing to do this with (specifying non-existent Z-girders from the HO kit).

I also constructed a "joiner plate" very characteristic of these towers that joins the cantilever part with the upright part.

A significant part of the prototype, but non-existent on this kit are the parts that hold the bridge to the concrete pad, which I bent up out of brass sheet and soldered to the base.

Lastly, I scratch built the characteristic D-type signal heads with "snow shields" which are on every D-type signal head I've ever seen.

All in all, it makes a pretty good model to modify into a more correct model, and greatly reduces the time needed to scratch build them as I have done in the past, and I have several of the kits and I am going to use them on my own modular U.P. layout...even if I have to build a lot of parts to get 'em "right".

This photo is taken on my friend Nate Goodman's (Nato) layout, at his Riverside scene, which is the first scene I finished on it.


Just for comparison's sake, here's a photo of my scratch-built bridge...only 80-something hours of work!  Yes, these rivets are exactly the correct size (I measured a real bridge!).


Keep up the good work!  I'll be buying more.

Cheers!
Bob Gilmore

[ednadolski]

This photo is taken on my friend Nate Goodman's (Nato) layout, at his Riverside scene, which is the first scene I finished on it.

Great work on the bridge.  Not to hijack, but those power line poles really caught my eye too..... can you point me toward any further pics/details?

Thanks,
Ed

[robert3985]

Great work on the bridge.  Not to hijack, but those power line poles really caught my eye too..... can you point me toward any further pics/details?

Thanks,
Ed

Ed,

Totally scratchbuilt power poles I'm afraid.  Stay tuned for possible future "other possibilities" I'm working on.

Cheers!
Bob Gilmore

[ednadolski]

Totally scratchbuilt power poles I'm afraid.  Stay tuned for possible future "other possibilities" I'm working on.

Scratchbuilt is cool -- and I'll definitely stay tuned     Quick one if I may -- what did you use for the insulators?

Thanks,
Ed

[robert3985]

Scratchbuilt is cool -- and I'll definitely stay tuned     Quick one if I may -- what did you use for the insulators?

Thanks,
Ed

Ed,

Basswood arms w/.012" holes drilled in them...then .012" brass wire stuck in 'em, glued (w/runny CA...which also strengthens the arms after it has cured)...then, the insulator mounting pegs are trimmed with a flush-cutter to the same height, and the arm gets painted.

After the paint has dried, I carefully blobbed on Elmers which I was hoping would dry clear.  It doesn't, so I painted them with Pollyscale NYC Blue with a little yellow thrown in to "green it up"...waited for it to dry then put a coat of gloss on 'em.

I then tried mixing in the NYC Blue with the Elmers, hoping to get at least a translucent green...and I got it...but I'm still not satisfied.  These poles and crossarms are N Scale of Nevada SP-style kits, and their crossarms are slightly oversized, and bend really easily. 

Here's another photo showing the results of the N Scale of Nevada poles and Elmers dyed insulators.


I've got some antique extremely small "Teal" glass beads on order, which supposedly will be about the right diameter (but not the correct shape) for blue-green glass insulators for future experimentation...in the NEAR future as I want to have my UP style telegraph poles lining my right-of-ways before the Salt Lake NMRA show the last weekend in October.

I also have another solution in the works...maybe in about three weeks.  If that solution works well, I'll be posting photos.

Cheers!
Bob Gilmore

[parkrrrr]

An idea for teal glass insulators that might work for you: dip the end of a copper wire into a drop of water, then into borax. Then hold it in the flame of a propane torch until the borax melts. If your results are like mine, you'll end up with a transparent to blue-green (because of the copper) dot of glass on the end of your wire. It really is a kind of glass, too, though I'm told it's slightly hydrophilic so it may tend to break down over time. For stationary modeling applications, a light clearcoat should fix that.

The caveat is that I don't believe I've ever tried it with 28-gauge wire. You might find that the wire melts before the borax does, or that the resulting blob is too big. But it may be worth a shot.

[Sokramiketes]

Thanks Tony & Mike. I just wanted to confirm the width so I could set the spacing of the grated walkways on a design. The supports were the last thing.

Bob, are you desiging the whole kit in 3D?  What program do you use?

[peteski]

I've got some antique extremely small "Teal" glass beads on order, which supposedly will be about the right diameter (but not the correct shape) for blue-green glass insulators for future experimentation...in the NEAR future as I want to have my UP style telegraph poles lining my right-of-ways before the Salt Lake NMRA show the last weekend in October.

Bob,
I have never found craft beads small enough or have a shape good enough to be useful in N scale (for insulators or for the glass spheres on barn lightning rods).

How about this: Tint some Microscale Crystal Klear (or acrylic gloss medium) with a mixture of green and blue food coloring then use that instead of Elmers glue. It will dry crystal clear.

[TrainCat2]

Bob, are you desiging the whole kit in 3D?  What program do you use?

I am actually doing ALL of my designs in 2D using Adobe Illustrator. Here is an even more complicated design, the Canyon Diablo bridge:

Sorry about the resolution, here is a close-up:

[ednadolski]

I am actually doing ALL of my designs in 2D using Adobe Illustrator. Here is an even more complicated design, the Canyon Diablo bridge:

May I ask, what is your color convention?   Looks like white = full thickness, red = half-etch front, blue = half-etch back... but what is the orange?

Thanks,
Ed

[TrainCat2]

May I ask, what is your color convention?   Looks like white = full thickness, red = half-etch front, blue = half-etch back... but what is the orange?

A fruit that grows all through Florida and California. Used to make Tang.   


Orange does not really have any meaning Ed. I design the skeleton in standard White. Detail Overlays are then placed on the structure and are copies of the actual parts. Detail pieces after being designed are given different colors and placed onto the main drawing so I can see what items still need to be created and any interplay. The actual artwork that I create has my own color code. Here is an example of a production sheet with my code at the bottom.