Building an E&N curved steel viaduct

[Wolf N Works]

Looking great. Watching with excitement. This project is shaping up to be a Best in Show in my opinion.

[peteski]

Excellent weathering!

[Cajonpassfan]

Loving it!
Otto

[craigolio1]

Thank you everyone.

[Dwight in Toronto]

I genuinely need to echo the “best in show” comment.  This is going to look SO perfect!

[Angus Shops]

Wow, that just screams mangy BC rainforest concrete!

[craigolio1]

Wow, that just screams mangy BC rainforest concrete!

Hahah. Mangy. I love it. Thanks!

[craigolio1]

Here I’ve added rock castings and pieces of bark to give the creek a reason to flow where it goes. I originally had the creek higher up. To make room for the supports I had to excavate down which opened up some voids in the foam. I filled that with a bit of spray foam.





For scenery to start I need the foundations glued in their final positions. First I got the bridge all levelled and plumb. Then using construction adhesive and thick paper shims I began glueing them in their final positions.









And here it is. This is what the final arrangement will be for bridge and terrain.



When I start the scenery I plan to wrap these in cling wrap until the messy stuff is complete.

Craig

[Angus Shops]

Cling rap - good idea. I’m a really messy scenery builder and I was having difficulty with the idea of your great footings and my process.

[craigolio1]

Cling rap - good idea. I’m a really messy scenery builder and I was having difficulty with the idea of your great footings and my process.

I’m also very messy. But I just don’t see a way of embedding them in the scenery without doing it this way. I hope it works. Maybe green painters tape would be better. I don’t care if I have to cut it to remove it as any tape or wrap trapped in place by scenery won’t be seen.

Lots of time to think about it. I likely won’t be able to get any time until next week.

[Pomperaugrr]

*** Updated reply:  I posted this before revisiting your prototype photos.  You have nailed the look of the real thing!  Disregard the info that follows...      ***

You are creating a beautiful scene.  The work that went into the footings for that trestle is outstanding!  With all you are doing for this scene, I offer only one suggestion.  The solid legs on the trestle support towers can be upgraded fairly easily.  I struggled with the appearance of the solid legs on my Microengineering trestle kit.  I ended up cutting off the solid legs and replaced them with parts from an HO scale Central Valley Box Girder assortment.  These are still available.  I think the effort to make the legs look a little more delicate than the solid ones from the kit is worth it, although your scene is excellent.

Here's my example.




Eric

[craigolio1]

*** Updated reply:  I posted this before revisiting your prototype photos.  You have nailed the look of the real thing!  Disregard the info that follows...      ***

You are creating a beautiful scene.  The work that went into the footings for that trestle is outstanding!  With all you are doing for this scene, I offer only one suggestion.  The solid legs on the trestle support towers can be upgraded fairly easily.  I struggled with the appearance of the solid legs on my Microengineering trestle kit.  I ended up cutting off the solid legs and replaced them with parts from an HO scale Central Valley Box Girder assortment.  These are still available.  I think the effort to make the legs look a little more delicate than the solid ones from the kit is worth it, although your scene is excellent.

Here's my example.




Eric

Thanks very much for the feedback. I see a ton of value in your post. It never even occurred to me to look at the CV parts. That opens up options for other bridges I’m planning.  Thank you! 

Craig.

[craigolio1]

I found myself with a free hour today and was excited to get this next step done!

I wrapped the pylons in cling wrap and secured it in place with a bit of tape.





Then I mixed up some Celuclay and filled in all of the gaps/smoothed things out a bit. Complete coverage doesn’t matter so much as it all gets covered in dirt and trees. The forest floor is quite irregular as well.







Once this sets up in a few days, it’ll be time to break out the latex paint.

I’m dreading the fact that I’m approaching the point t where I need a couple thousand trees.

Craig

[CNR5529]

Time for a tree party!

Oh and that bridge is looking great too!

[Lemosteam]

You might only need to make a some at your tree line and then populate behind with pre-made trees. There are some folks out there that sell fairly decent trees (at least I have seen some).