Hello,
Does anyone have a step by step instruction guide on how to build an HO scale modern concrete 4 lane highway overpass? I have tried looking at using the Rix Product bridge kit but it does not look realistic to me and is only 2 lanes wide. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Nad
What about is doesn’t look realistic? Looks pretty nice to me, except that maybe the support piers could stand to be modified.
http://www.rixproducts.com/6280113.htm
So far as two lanes wide goes, many of the highway overpasses I’ve seen are really a bridge with two lanes going in one direction with another parallel bridge of two lanes going in the opposite direction.
There really isn’t a good looking kit to put together for a concrete highway overpass. You’ll have to build one from styrene plastic or even card stock. I put two in on my layout and used my imagination with a picture of one that i took from the freeway. Check out the evergreen or plastruct websites to see what they offer in styrene plastic and the rest is up to you. I believe the only one I reciently saw which had a step by step procedure appeared in Pyke’s " How to Build City Scenery" published by Kalmbach. I didn’t like the overpass in the book because it was too 20 - 30’s looking. I model modern day stuff and it didn’t meet my needs.
The two I have are Rix but have four lanes instead of two, plus some modification to the understructure. One of them is a fairly long one over several rail tracks. They look good enough for me.
Bob
I really like my Rix modern concrete bridge. Its not detailed yet but when done should look convincing.
Couldn’t you just buy 2 Rix kits and join them along the center to make a 4-lane…?
Dosn’t Walthers have highway overpasses in their Cornerstone building kits?
westshorefan
Here is my over pass. It’s made from styrene and wood. I actually didn’t think it was all that hard to build. I just found a photo of the real one that I want it to look like and let me mind do its work. Since it is an overpass for a freeway, I have two bridges going over this dirt road. You will find that most freeway bridges are like that. Most bridges are 2 lane bridges, but since its your layout, your world, you can do whatever you want.
This is kind of an old strange lighting photo:
This is probably one the best looking modern highway bridge I have ever seen. This was on one of the layouts on display at the Amherst Show.
CSX road slug has a good suggestion, put two RIX bridges side by side and double up the barrier (I believe their barriers allow that).
OR
Use RIX components (beams, barriers) and sheet styrene to build your own.
OR
Build it from card stock using the printable PDF available from from Scalescenes since you print it out, you can make it as wide or as long as needed. You can also change the support piers to solid from the column style.
In any case, you should go out an look at existing bridges.
Alan
Made this modern overpass using bridge a girder design. I made the girders on a slight curve as prototype bridges are done. Rix bridge parts were used for the road and concrete side rails. The bridge is a low relief type structure at one end of the layout.
That is what I’m looking for! Like all the posters said, I could put two bridges side by side for four lane traffic. Do you have anymore pictures? Can you give me some direction on how you made your?
Thanks,
Nad
Nad, I used .030 Evergreen styrene sheet to make the needed pieces for the bridge, starting with making four girders first, having a slight curve in the beam. It was an easy model to make, took only a few evenings work.
It´s not H0 scale but maybe can give you some inspiration:
http://www.fremo-net.eu/index.php?id=1388 / http://www.fremo-net.eu/index.php?id=1379
The bridge is completly scratchbuild from styrene. The following materials were used:
0.08 in sheet for the deck
0.04 in sheet for the abutments
0.02 in sheet for the piers
0.04 x 0,04 in strip for reinforcements in piers and abudments
0.1 x 0.25 in strip for the bridge beams
0.08 x 0.2 in strip for the railing
0.02 x 0.08 in strip for the crash barriers
0.025 roun rods for the crash barriers
The bridge was painted with Tamiya colors. For masking the highway markings I used Kyosho Micron Tape 0,7 mm.
The bridge deck is 2.75 in wide, the bridge fields have a length of 4 in.
I thought these looked pretty good for modern bridges.http://www.scalebridge.com/Home%20Page.html
John
Now that is a couple of nice overpasses
Nad,
in the meantime I added a tutorial for my N scale bridges. It should also be useful for an H0 version. Here is the link: http://www.fremo-net.eu/index.php?id=1379&L=6
I’m sure Nad has built his bridge by now, but I thought I’d throw this out there as I found it online while doing a similar search.
http://www.scalescenes.com/products/R012-Concrete-bridge
They are pdf file that you buy, download and then use as many times as you like! The concrete texture is bang on, and once you attach the printed images to cardstock, it has full scale depth, edges, corners…it looks like a true custom structure.
There are a bunch of structures to choose from, and you can even download the “textures” themself to allow full kitbashing and scratch building possibilities. The structures even have interior detail that can be seen through the windows.
The site has 4 free sample structures that can be downloaded, printed and built as many time as you’d like. Once you download a structure, it’s yours forever, no time limit on the file.
The biggest downside (for me at least) is that it is mostly British structures, but I think with just a little ingenuity, they could easily be made to fit a North American layout.
I haven’t built any of the structures yet, but I did download one of the free ones and have printed it out. The detail looks amazing! Best of all, it’s a cardstock structure that isn’t flat!
I should state that I am in no way affiliated with this company, I just found them during my Google searches and thought I should let people know about it.
I’m thinking that if he gets enough business from North American customers, we might be able to put in requests for North American type structures.
So have a look!