Building the West Hickory bridge

[Jbub]

Oh man, that really bites! Good luck on the repairs and next pour. I hope WS stuff is good, I am about to pour some envirotex in the next few weeks. 3-4" wide river but 48" long on three modules. Wish me luck

Jason

[Chris333]

This is some gloss medium dabbed on:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FpjsXx9Rt7wvBRlJ3
After it dried
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qLPrxVkU52hstPHi2

[arbomambo]

Randgust,
 I feel your pain...I've also been the 'gloss medium' guy all my modeling career, but the new WS "Deep Pour Water" system has changed that forever. I just finished using it, for the first time, on my "Bushy Creek" T-TRAK module this week, and love it. Especially being able to easily tint it to an exact shade.
 Here, I've tinted it lightly with the WS "Murky" tint (the WS product that has been pre-tinted murky was a little too opaque for me). I wanted a fairly 'clear' sandy creek, similar to a few in the area here in Coastal Alabama.
I watched the 6 minute youtube video a few times; read the instructions over a couple of times, and jumped in with both feet it's a simple process, and is a two part 'resin'(?)...a main 'water' and an activator, mixed in a 2-1 ratio. Easy to mix, no bubbles, and not very noxious as far as fumes go.
Here are  few photos of the finished product (the banks of the creek will be completely filled with brush so as not to appear this steep)











Here a re a few photos of the creek that inspired this module-Burnt Corn Creek (the puppies love it)











~Bruce

[Santa Fe Guy]

I have very successfully used Magic Water for any water on my layout. No odour, no shrinkage and NO bubbles. They warn that it can creep up into the scenery so you just need to give that a coat of the stuff around the perimeter of where the water is to be before the main pour let it dry and that stops it. It will find any hole and seep out.
You can also tint if required.
I highly recommend it.
Rod.

[randgust]

Thanks Bruce, that just looks great.   There does seem to be a big difference in the product between "Deep Pour" and prior products.   I don't know if 1/4" is "deep" pour, but I've already designed the entire module to have a 1/4" deep water design.  The problem is that as a rather new product, there's not a whole lot of 'Oh NUTS, what did I do wrong???' reports to read and learn from. 

The day I took the backdrop photos (June 2016) the river was very clear - you could look down and see the bottom nearly the entire way across except for the deepest part of the channel.   The upper Allegheny does silt up rapidly though from floods and rain, you'll see it everywhere from coffee with cream to dazzlingly clear.

One of the interesting details of waterways up here is that as the water recedes the rocks on the banks turn almost pure white - uniformly - on the rocks and islands.   It's a silt coating that turns that color, and when it is wet, turns dark brownish with hints of algae and seaweed on it.

Rather typical coloration and surface:  https://imagesus-ssl.homeaway.com/mda01/0e2b1fba-772b-41c3-8246-7739803588ed.1.10

New plaster filled in the holes in the bottom tonight, I'm already rebuilding.

[randgust]

OK, water is done, it's rock-hard, and it looks good to me.    I had to have some fun just with the reflection in the water. 

Oh, don't freak out about the missing backdrop.  It was a temporary.  Permanent one was laser-printed today, just haven't mounted it.







Wow, I'm a new fan of WS Deep Pour.

[narrowminded]

That looks great Randy.   It's been fun following this.

[Cajonpassfan]

Wow, that does look great! Can't wait for the backdrop to finish it off!
Nice work, Randy.
Otto K.

[Jbub]

The transition from the bank to the deeper part of the river is incredible! Well done sir!

[wazzou]

The product results look great but my only criticism is that this is supposed to be a river, correct?
Shouldn't a river of this width exhibit some movement like current? 
It looks like a lake on a perfectly still morning.

[casmmr]

If there is a low head dam close by down stream, it could very well be flat like the picture.  I have seen rivers that were just as still as a small pond/lake on a calm day due to the presence of a low head dam.  Remember that a low head dam pools the river and without rain, the river could stop flowing for a period of time.  Around here, Central Ohio, the powers that be are removing the low head dams and trying to restore the natural flow of the rivers.  Good luck with that as the Olentangy was relocated from the middle of Ohio Stadium to its present location in the 1920's when the Horseshoe was built by THE Ohio State University (THE is capitalized to prevent OSU legal department from coming after me) satire intended.  The module looks great, sorry I am unable to make Altoona this year to see it in person.  later, Craig

[Chris333]

In the photo Randy took for the backdrop the water looks pretty smooth:
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=41271.msg514198#msg514198

[randgust]

I took the backdrop photo on a stunningly beautiful afternoon on June 16, 2016.   You don't get many days like that up here - when I saw the weather report for a Saturday it was 'this is the day'.

http://www.randgust.com/upriver1.jpg

Remember I did a draft backdrop first and am matching colors and textures to it as best I can, and at least on this day, it was dead calm.  Not that typical, but I'm matching the backdrop.   I can show you lots of ugly slate gray and dirty brown shots just as easily at the same spot.

http://www.randgust.com/Hickory%20Bridge%20east%20span.jpg

In low water, the upper Allegheny is like a series of steps with eddys and shallow rapids.  The bridge is on the lower edge of one of the eddys, right below it it turns into shallow rapids again.   If you look at the upriver shot, you can see another set of rapids to the left of the island.  But, in this case I'm actually OK.

My next water project - doing the log pond and Hickory Creek for the Ross Run module - I'll need to do rushing water and the log pond, which should be fun, but I'm telling myself it can't be as hard to pull off as this was.    It has to look more like this:
http://www.randgust.com/Hickory%20Valley%20RR%20Ross%20Run%20ROW%202008.jpg

Remember the last time I tried this water pouring stuff I was just a kid - I did this log pond on the Hickory Valley module using the two-part clear casting stuff that I 'thought' was the same as Michaels, and it worked really well, so the first disaster I created on the river pouring with what I thought was the same stuff was a bit of a shock.
http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/image/137618530  (that's a John Sing photo)

[seusscaboose]

Compare to the 1925 view:

what is that on TOP of the bridge?

[randgust]

Ornamental builders plates!  Both ends!

http://historicbridges.org/truss/hickory/p1010016.jpg

Front side was builder (Groton, NY not CT) , back side was "Hickory Bridge Co.".

http://historicbridges.org/truss/hickory/plaque.jpg

Both have been saved.   One is on display by the township building in West Hickory, the other is hung on the side of the restored tollbooth at the Forest County Historical Society in Tionesta.

I figured I'd make a decal or something and mount it on brass - not etched or anything.   Final details.

For bridge junkies only:  http://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news/local/2016/10/27/bridge-past-groton-companys-structures-remain/92838794/