sailormatlac 2014 kitbash challenge

[sailormatlac]

Nothing fancy here. I need a deck bridge over Malbaie River on the club layout.

I've been wanting to model this bridge since I saw it as a teenager in the late 90s. The prototype is located over Malbaie River, in Clermont, and is an essential link to get access to the paper mill since 1909.

I recently ordered a pair of 85' bridge from Micro Engineering, thinking I would simply build it per instruction. However, a recent visit at Clermont shown me the bridge is a skewed one. Thus, I decided to tackle the challenge of modifying the original kit, add a walkway along the bridge (as per prototype) and scratchbuilt concrete piers.



So far, modifying the bridge was an easy affair. No need to hack and saw the parts, I just glued them together differently to get a nice angle look. The bridge will be painted black... heavily weathered black with peeling paint effect if I can manage it. I'm not very fond of ME bridge track. Honestly, I don't understand why they make it in such short lenght, except to safe package.I already can see a challenge there.



Matt

[sailormatlac]

I determined ME bridge flextrack was unsuitable for my project. I need to bash it and delrin isn't the best material to glue things on. Also, I find the wood grain to be unrealistic and I wasn't very excited about having 3 rail joins on a 24" long bridge. I had a few Central Valley bridge ties and decided to use them. It will be also easier to install Peco Code 83 rail on then and Code 75 rail guard. Also, CV ties width is closer to the prototype than ME.



Clermont bridge have a wood plank walkway on a side. This walkway is bolted on longer ties every 5 ties. I cut a few CV bridge ties in halves and glued them on the bridge ties.



Then, I glued the bridge ties to the bridge itself.



An interesting detail of this bridge is how the ties extend well over the concrete abutment. I don't now the exact reason for this detail, it is quite a rare sight, but I thought it would give some personality to this project.

Railing will be made out of styrene, Evergreen or Plastruct, but I need to buy some more at the LHS. I'm not sure if I will make the plank in wood. I prefer to use styrene because the glue bond will be far better.

Matt

[sailormatlac]

The bridge is coming along nicely. Using 1.5mm, I built the concrete bridge abutments. I initially thought about using MDF, but the intricate wedge shape of the prototype would be tricky do to with precision.





Walkway and railing were done with Evergreen styrene strips previously distressed using a metal-cutting saw blade. Extremely effective and quick to give some texture. My only regret is to have used a little bit thick strips. Maybe I should have use thinner styrene, but I was concern about rigidity. Anyway, everything will be almost black and dark brown once painted, so it should be a problem.





Next step is to glue rails and guard rails, then paint and weather everything. I want to use Gordon Gravett's talc on fresh gloss paint trick to make the concrete abutments look like old weathered cement and aggregate. Hope it will turn out nicely.

Matt

[sailormatlac]

Painted and weathered the bridge and concrete abutment this afternoon. I only need to paint the deck and wood parts.



Bridge abutment are made of styrene and painted with Humbrol gloss enamel covered with talcum power (to give some texture to the styrene). They will be eventually painted and weathered according to prototype.

Abutments were later sprayed with a custom mix of Tamiya (white + black + red + yellow) then weathered. I'm particularly satisfied with Gordon Gravett's technic of talcum over gloss paint .It really gave a realistic concrete texture that had enough tooth to receive weathering.

The bridge itself was painted using cosmestic sponge and artistic acrylic paint. Black, brown and rust colors were used and applied in several coat to mimick a rusted steel girder and its peeling paint.

When everything was dry, I generously weathered part with several washes of oil paint. So far, so good. The next step will be to use pastel chalk and complete the work. However, that will be done when the bridge will be permanently installed on the layout to make sure everything is blending together.



I tested the bridge yesterday evening and we built the remaining roadbed.



Matt

[AF350]

Nice work

[Tyson Rayles]

Good looking bridge!

[Ralph]

Looks great! Thanks for the tips about painting the abutments!

[faraway]

The dull paint and the weathering (and the red engine) is perfect.