Here I will share my adventures in building a compressed Arbutus Canyon Bridge. It exsists in the Malahat mountains on the Esquimalt and Naniamo on Vancouver Island, BC. I dont have any pics that I have taken or own, but there is plenty of reference photos if you click on this link.
As you can see, my starting point is 4 MicroEngineering kits. The 210’ kit, a 50’ kit, a bag of 85’ girders and an additional tower kit.
First step is to decide the compression I will need to use. As you can see, in RED sharpie I have marked the prototype length of sections and in BLACK what I am going to be using.
Now, I could have made this bridge WITHOUT compression, however, the towers are made with a 30’ support, not 50’. This would have required alot of additional lattice work…too much for my taste. So I used the limitation to figure out the compression.
Next is to trim 4 50’ sections to 30’ for the sections that sit on the towers. This is so the “taller” girders can be used in leu of the “short” ones included in the kit. Looking at prototype photos, taller girders were used.
Now, because I introduced 85’ girders and you will NOT be able to see into the box girders at all…I decided to just use joists to build the boxes and exclude the kit lattice. I measured the tower width as well as figured out the size of joist I needed.<
Thanks for your intrest guys. Im of the “if you cant see it, dont model it” camp. When the ties are on and the view point very restrictive, the innards will never be seen.
Anyways, here is the first tower. It still may get another story, but for now (after 4 hours work) it is ready for paint.
To continue, I wanted to share a few advancement with the project.
Firstly, I came up with a way to temporarily connect the bridge to the towers.
It is just some I girder with a bit of square styrene cemented to it. It keys into the top of the towers and allows me to pant then reassemble the different assemblies.
I put them in the tower tops dry (no cement) and then applied the box girders.
Cement is then added to the joint between the girder bridge and the I beam.
When removed, the I beam will remain with the bridge and is now keyed to the towers. That will come in handy later.
Next was the second tower assembly as well as the addition of extra lace to the 2 towers.
Compare to this previous picture and you can see what was added to the default tower as per MicroEngineering’s instructions. I am trying to add as much “flavour” or the prototype as I can (in Canada flavor is spelt FLAVOUR).
The 3rd and Last tower isnt as interesting im afraid. Its just a single flat and will be an easy build.
Next up is some initial paint. Im using cheap Walmart spray paints and Ill go over that next time.
The chopper’s cut isnt perfect as it is just forcing a razor through styrene. Because the hinge is “floppyish” the blade has an opertunity to wander. In terms of thickness, around 175 thou?
Now we will do a simple paint/weather to get these pieces looking a bit more non-plastic-y.
My primer coat is Krylon. It covers well and thinly. Great care is needed when dealing with rattle cans…make sure to rattle the can very well and TEST before applying on the model.
Base color is ModelFlex Weathered Black. Why this colour? Because its what I have on hand. I thinned it 5-1 with water and sprayed.
Last bit is the first step of weathering. Im using ModelFlex Rust…just cause. Its important that the first layer of weathering remain light in colour, or when I go in to add details it may not read…and you can always add more…not the case when you start dark.
Here are all of the pieces ready for assembly.
They are just dry fitted for now as I really want the deck seperate until I finish the track work.
Well folks, thats is all until I recieve my Fasttracks order. 1000 On3 cross ties and PC board ties. Im using the On3 ties because of 2 factors, 1…they have a rectangular cross section (.1 by .15 inches) which closely matches that used by CPR. 2…they are 1.75" wide…the width I need for the deck! Im sure to post pics of that disaster as it happens.
As per usual, comments and questions are always welcome!
The transition between the two different girder thicknesses makes it interesting - makes other long spans that use consistent span lengths (and thus heights) look boring in comparison. The finished product should be a sight to behold.
Dave,very Nice indeed but I got one of those "did I miss something " type questions , why do some of the X braces on the towers have upright members or braces @ center of X and some don’t ,some pointing up ,some pointing down , like a temporary support . are those prototype or temporary ? curious as I’m fascinated bye this type of bridge Jerr
