Building an E&N curved steel viaduct

[Cajonpassfan]

Yup, installing bridges is a challenge, something always goes awry even if a little, no matter how careful one is.
The footings look amazingly realistic. Truly very very nice.
A question though: is the flow line under the tower on the prototype?
Great progress!
Otto

[craigolio1]

Yup, installing bridges is a challenge, something always goes awry even if a little, no matter how careful one is.
The footings look amazingly realistic. Truly very very nice.
A question though: is the flow line under the tower on the prototype?
Great progress!
Otto

Thank you. I sure am learning a lot.

Yes the flow line is under the tower a bit closer to the legs on the left when viewed from the aisle. In this picture you can see the creek.



Here it is from another angle.



Craig

[Cajonpassfan]

Thanks Craig, I shouldn't have doubted you   I didn't realize the creek is quite tiny.
Otto

[craigolio1]

Thanks Craig, I shouldn't have doubted you   I didn't realize the creek is quite tiny.
Otto

Indeed there are two huge bridge crossings within a mile of each other on this line. Both over tiny creeks. Seems anticlimactic. Like I big bridge crossing deserves a big river.

[Cajonpassfan]

Ha! That's the price we pay for proto-based modeling, and with sticking with following the actual prototype rather than "enhanced" fantasies.
I love what you're doing there!
Otto

[craigolio1]

Ha! That's the price we pay for proto-based modeling, and with sticking with following the actual prototype rather than "enhanced" fantasies.
I love what doing there!
Otto

Yep. But I’ve never modelled a rushing mountain creek so this will be new and fun.

Today I worked a bit more in it.

So it turns out that when I removed the wooden form that I was using to hold the bridge level, the bridge stayed level! It did not go back to the slightly bowed state it was in. So I’ve decided to store it with the wood form attached to it to hold the correct shape until it’s time to install it.

I poured a couple more supports for the north end as I saw from photos that they were taller than I originally estimated.




I did some more reshaping of the canyon to better match the slopes I see in my pictures.






And on the south end I installed some foam shims to bring the supports up almost to the bottom of the tower.



Once dry those will shimmed your to level with styrene.

And so here is the canyon in its final shape with the bridge and almost all of the supports in their final locations.



Craig

[Dwight in Toronto]

Damn, that’s nice!

[Scottl]

Wow, this is looking excellent!  I really like the weathering on the bridge and the cement pylons.

[craigolio1]

Thanks everyone.

Today I was painting some passenger car bodies white, and ended up with some swamp water that was perfect for a fading wash so while I had the airbrush out I hit a scrap piece with a mixture and was pleased with the result.

So I gave the concrete pieces a more aged look

The crumbly looking piece is regular. The rest have the wash.



Craig

[peteski]

The color of the crumbly piece up front looks most aged to me.  Maybe because it is crumbling.

[craigolio1]

The color of the crumbly piece up front looks most aged to me.  Maybe because it is crumbling.

Perhaps. I can assure you it was poured only weeks ago.

[craigolio1]

I finally got around to painting the concrete. I dry brushed two different shades of grey, then black, and a bit of white. The concrete in this area collects a lot of mosses and lichens. Especially a crumbly little black lichen which is why I dry dry brushed the black heavier in spots.







The next step is to added some rust streaks and fine foams for the moss.

Craig

[craigolio1]

And here they are complete.

I did a bit of rusting with pan pastels and then added a bit of fine ground foam for moss. I mixed two colours of green and a light brown.

Here they are oriented as they will be in the scene. (I numbered them and drew arrows on the bottoms so I’d know which way they go). The ones that have a lot of moss on surfaces will be especially buried in the forest.



In actual fact, most of these shouldn’t even be visible, the forest will be so thick.



But I’m not going to model it THAT thick. I need to be able to see the trains.

Here’s a few closeups.









I need to find a away to add some ferns. Maybe individual little bits of floral moss?

I’m pleased with how these turned out. Time to move into finishing the landforms and then these can be installed.

Craig

[Lemosteam]

Those look AMAZING!  I can't wait to see the full installation. 

[craigolio1]

Those look AMAZING!  I can't wait to see the full installation. 

Thank you! I’m very pleased as well. But I’m going to revisit the rust. I want it to be a darker more brown, 80 year old rust. This looks too fresh.

With this bridge scene I’m realizing that it’s not just a bridge. It’s a combination of many individual detailed models in an assembly.