Recycled Bridge Project - new Free-moN Module

[wm3798]

Gorgeous.  I was just looking at a book of Russell's photography of the transcon construction in the 1860s...  marveling at the antique engineering.  You've got it spot on!
Lee

[Mark W]

Uh oh.  Looks like someone needs to check their squaring abilities.   

[railnerd]

Uh oh.  Looks like someone needs to check their squaring abilities.   

favorite trick is to borrow a small mirror and hold it up flat against the endplate— makes it really easy to find things like this before you paint the track.

-Dave

[Mark W]

Well, turns out it was square, but the flex must have slipped before the glue dried.  *whew*   Pretty easy fix on this one, just pried it back up and re-glued in correct place.


(Yes I know it's mis-aligned vertically.  I'll need to re-trim the rail once the glue is fully cured)

Now you can clearly see the 6" straight off the end plate, just as it should be.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Well, turns out it was square, but the flex must have slipped before the glue dried.  *whew*   Pretty easy fix on this one, just pried it back up and re-glued in correct place.

It's 4" of mainline straight, not 6".

And that kind of warp doesn't happen if you glue some PC board ties / GapMasters to the endplate FIRST and work off that (with the mirror trick Railnerd mentioned):



That's HO but you get the idea.

Not sure why you go flex-first and then slip PC board ties underneath.
If you don't want to order some GapMasters then I can send some to you 
http://www.americantieandtimber.com/4.html
Just got 30 for $70.
Worth it as they insure smooth level rail at endplate.

[Mark W]

Point well taken. 

My intention was to center the bridge track where necessary and then sheer off the track at the end plates wherever they met.  As admitted back in Post 8, not my best effort at laying track.  Patience is not a tool in my toolbox. 

Nonetheless, we're all fixed up, hooked up, and running trains on the new module! 

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Patients is not a tool in my toolbox. 

Neither is "Patience," apparently
(Unless you've become a doctor of FUD as well!)

Nah: with Free-moN you have to go endplate-in, not "cool-scene""-out.

Glad you got things running fine.
Always a modeling magician you are.

Looking forward to seeing the scene come together!

[Mark W]

Patients is not a tool in my toolbox. 

Oh dear.  And it's only Tuesday.   

[Mark W]

If you don't want to order some GapMasters then I can send some to you

I actually am planning an order of my own, along with the requisite powerpole connectors (shhhh, nobody show MC the wiring job yet!).

Somebody needs to compile little "starter" baggies for Free-moN that could be sold/distributed at shows.  Includes one modules worth of all the unique little odds and ends necessary for a module.  GapMasters, PowerPole connectors, a quick reference guide so people don't say 6" straight when they mean 4...   

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Somebody needs to compile little "starter" baggies for Free-moN that could be sold/distributed at shows. 

Getting there 
["No, really Officer, that's a bag of dried moss... for scenery texture!"]

As for the 4": that's only for the mainline run, and so can include the straight section of a turnout.
[i.e. a spur can come off the main right next to the endplate as long as the main has 4"-- Voice of Experience sez "Make sure there's space after the 3/4" endplate for a switch machine: no throwbars right at the edge, yo."]

[railnerd]

["No, really Officer, that's a bag of dried moss... for scenery texture!"]

 

[Mark W]

First train rolling across the bridge!
 

[Mark W]

Started adding some flora.





Rawr

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Dino-mite!

Looks like some small supertrees.
I found that most of the small sections of weeds are "slanted" to one side, so to make fuller, more even small trees I usually took two and CA'ed them "back to back".
Spray paint the trunks before applying foliage (AMSI has a lot of varieties and textures so everything isn't Woodland Scenicked") and it's almost impossible to see the line:



All the deciduous trees in that shot are 2-3 small SuperTree sections glued together.

Before you get too far with the foliage, perhaps you should finish adding the support rods to that one side of the bridge.
Otherwise it (or I) will bug you forever 

[Mark W]

More Free-moN Trains with the GoPro.