Summary/overview post:
This corner module represents the Milwaukee Road bridge over the Yakima River and the Northern Pacific . Today this location is part of the Iron Horse Trail and can be accessed from Easton, WA or Lake Easton State Park. The module was built from leftover plywood instead of a kit (more challenging that way). The track had the rails painted and the ties drybrushed and it was ballasted with a mix of NP gray and cinders which would be correct as NP used coal and it was also an attempt to mostly closely match the Kato speckled roadbed.
Landforms were built from pink insulating foam covered in Scuptamold while the riverbed was made from "tapeshell" (masking tape with plaster gauze on top plus more Sculptamold). The Sculptamold was colored using various washes of acrylic paints and india ink. Next, layers of dirt was added in various grades, static grass of many lengths, brands, and colors, turfs, tufts, foliage clusters,bushes, brambles,etc. Trees are a mixture of re-flocked Heki firs, Grand Central Gems pines and firs, bumpy chenille "baby trees" , JTT deciduous scrub trees, plus some unknown made ones that I picked up along the way. The river was made from layers of clear and dyed acrylic gloss medium.
The bridge is a combination of materials and sources based on the actual prototype pictures and of typical Milwaukee construction for the details (i.e attachment of the catenary supports to the through and deck girders). The visible abutment is the new Walthers kit recently released, while the piers are carved from pink foam and smoothed with spackle. The bridge superstructure is made up of a Atlas through girder and a deck girder made from an old Model Power through girder bridge plus ME viaduct bracing and tower parts and assorted sheet and strip styrene for gussets, walkways and railing posts. The catenary supports were built from ME viaduct parts while the single pole was made from a medical dowel, music and brass wire following an article in the most recent NSR mag. The catenary wires were made from 0.015 phosphor bronze wire (also used this on the bridge railings) that were put into a jig in order to attach the hanger wires to the messenger and trolley wires. Everything was painted in flat black and given a even coat of various weathering powders to give that "deferred maintenance" look.
Overhead, angle and close-up shots:
