The corner area diorama that I am planning for my layout will have a small creek running through it. I decided that a man bridge over the creek would be a nice detail to add for the overall look of the diorama. The diorama will have structures on both sides of the creek and the little people needed a way to get from one area to the other, so...
Here's a look at the overall area with a paper template pinned to it for the future creek bed. The tan surface is a sheet of homosote. The homosote has been cut to fit the space available space for the diorama. The edges have been shaped to slope down to the existing finished areas next to it. I'll go into more detail about this when I start the diorama build thread.
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The piece of white cardboard shows the location of the man bridge.
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Here's a full size drawing of the footprint of the man bridge. It's about an inch and a half wide by six inches long.
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Here's another drawing. This time it's an elevation drawing of the bridge.
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Here I'm starting to fill out the elevation drawing which will give me a template for the bridge construction. I decided that the bridge will have three sections. A flat central area with two angled side sections.
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To this point, everything is just an idea in my head. These pictures show my process for getting from the idea stage to an actual thing.
The main support beams for the bridge will be 1/8 square strip wood. I laid some pieces on the drawing to try to get an idea of angles for the bridge.
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The yellow highlighted lines are the side profile for the bridge. The idea is starting to take shape.
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I cut some of the 1/8 strip wood. This shows the shape of the three sections. The middle flat section has square cut edges, but both side sections have angled cuts at both ends.
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Here I've started building the flat central section. As you can see it will have five support beams going lengthwise. The spacing between the beams is the width of the 1/8 square strip wood. I'll explain why in a bit.
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I'm using 2x12 strip wood for the platform boards. I used full strength wood glue to attach the boards to the beams. I used my #11 blade to distress the ends of the boards and also the sides in some locations.
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That's it for now, more later.
Howdy Jeff,
I like the paper template technique for laying out the creek bed and developing the bridge. The design looks terrific. Following along...
Have fun,
mike
Jeff,
Looks good at this point. Anxious to see this all come together.
Tom
Jeff nice start. I like the way you drew up the plans for it.
Jerry
Jeff, this will be an interesting project to follow.
Good start.
Quote from: friscomike on June 25, 2025, 09:01:48 PMHowdy Jeff,
I like the paper template technique for laying out the creek bed and developing the bridge. The design looks terrific. Following along...
Have fun,
mike
Hello Mike, the paper template helps me to visualize the bridge and I am having fun.
Quote from: ACL1504 on June 26, 2025, 12:26:22 PMJeff,
Looks good at this point. Anxious to see this all come together.
Tom
Hello Tom, thanks for looking in
Quote from: Jerry on June 26, 2025, 02:46:13 PMJeff nice start. I like the way you drew up the plans for it.
Jerry
Hello Jerry, I always do scale drawings for my scratch builds. They give me a blueprint for the build.
Quote from: Rick on June 26, 2025, 04:41:47 PMJeff, this will be an interesting project to follow.
Good start.
Hello Rick, thanks for taking the time to check out my little build. Sometimes, for me, the small builds are the most interesting ones.
The central section is done and I'm using it to make sure that the support beams line up with the ones on the end section. You can see the pieces for the other end section just above the paper.
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The three sections are done and I have them in position on the template. Next I will glue some more 1/8 square pieces in the spaces between the support beams of the sections.
I have no idea if this design is in any way prototypical. All I know is that I didn't want any support piers under the bridge in the creek.
I glued two sets of "ties" between the central section and each end section and then two sets of longer ones between the two end sections.
This method gave me a nice solid bridge structure.
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Here's a look at the underside of the bridge after all the glue dried.
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And here's a look at the top of the bridge at this point. Next up, the railings.
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That's it for now, more later.
Neat project! I rode a bicycle off one of those as a young kid. A smaller version over a stream with no guardrails.
Hello Philip, I hope that you landed in some water when you rode your bike off of that bridge. Guardrails are coming for mine.
Moving on to the railings for the bridge...
I laid out the railing post positions on my drawing. I used 1/16 square strip wood for the posts. I cut them longer than needed so that I would have some wood to tape down onto the drawing.
Here I'm trying out some 2x4 strip wood for the rails.
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The rails have been glued to the posts and to each other with a little dab of glue on the ends.
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This method allows me to do all of the fiddly work on a flat surface.
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Here I've used my chisel blade to start to trim the tops of the posts
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And here the bottom of the posts have been trimmed along the top of the yellow highlighted bridge profile on my drawing. This gives me posts with the correct angle cut when gluing to the bridge surface.
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That's it for now, more later.
Looks good, Jeff. You may not have a prototype, but it looks like a realistic bridge to me.
George
Howdy Jeff, you make the build look so easy. Excellent work with the design and construction. It looks like it will hold more than a few people! Have fun, mike
Those railings will look fantastic, and really finish off the bridge!
dave
So long ago I don't remember. Nice work on the rails!
Well done Jeff.
Tom
Nice work Jeff. Plans are always handy, and help making changes as you go.
Rich
Beautiful work Jeff.
Jerry
Quote from: GeorgeD on June 28, 2025, 10:20:51 AMLooks good, Jeff. You may not have a prototype, but it looks like a realistic bridge to me.
George
Hello George, thanks for looking in and for the kind words
Quote from: friscomike on June 28, 2025, 11:41:15 AMHowdy Jeff, you make the build look so easy. Excellent work with the design and construction. It looks like it will hold more than a few people! Have fun, mike
Hello Mike, if you spend a little time on planning and design it helps make the construction process go a little easier. I learned that in a lifetime of real work and it applies to our hobby as well
Quote from: deemery on June 28, 2025, 12:19:57 PMThose railings will look fantastic, and really finish off the bridge!
dave
Hello Dave, railings on a bridge are like exterior stairs on a building, they provide a nice looking finishing touch and are always worth the effort.
Quote from: Philip on June 28, 2025, 03:36:58 PMSo long ago I don't remember. Nice work on the rails!
Hello Philip, thank you for the interest and the feedback, it always helps that someone is taking the time to comment
Quote from: ACL1504 on June 29, 2025, 08:19:27 AMWell done Jeff.
Tom
Hello Tom, thank you as always
Quote from: Pennman on June 29, 2025, 09:27:07 AMNice work Jeff. Plans are always handy, and help making changes as you go.
Rich
Hello Rich, we all know that a good set of instructions make the difference when building a kit. I try to spend some time, when doing a scratch build, to help myself out with a good scale drawing.
Quote from: Jerry on June 29, 2025, 09:43:10 AMBeautiful work Jeff.
Jerry
Hello Jerry, thank you for the nice comment
Continuing on...
One of the railings has been glued on. My bridge deck is 11 scale feet wide. I set the railing 2 scale feet in from the edge to give me room for a set of braces for each post.
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I cut some of the 1/16 strip wood that I used for the posts to 3/8 inch long pieces and then used my chopper to cut a 45 degree end. Then I glued them in place using my tweezers to help. You can see the difference in this picture, one side has the braces and the other does not.
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The braces were a little like rafter tails. Small pieces that are difficult to place correctly, but they look good when done so they are worth the effort.
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With both railings and the braces glued in place I still have 7 scale feet in width on the bridge between the railings. I think that it looks alright.
Here I've used my trusty A&I solution to age and weather the wood.
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That's it for now.
Jeff what a wonderful job you did on those angle pieces. Fact is the whole thing is looking terrific.
Jerry
Jeff, that looks excellent!
Good looking bridge, Jeff.
George
Gret work on the bridge Jeff.
Quote from: Jerry on June 30, 2025, 06:49:09 PMJeff what a wonderful job you did on those angle pieces. Fact is the whole thing is looking terrific.
Jerry
Hello Jerry, sometimes the little details stand out more than anything else. I had a lot of fun with this little build and am very happy with how it turned out.
Quote from: Rick on July 01, 2025, 06:51:30 AMJeff, that looks excellent!
Hello Rick, thank you very much
Quote from: GeorgeD on July 01, 2025, 08:34:34 AMGood looking bridge, Jeff.
George
Hello George, I appreciate the encouragement
Quote from: elwoodblues on July 01, 2025, 08:37:05 AMGret work on the bridge Jeff.
Hello Ron, thanks for looking in and for the kind words.
Nice work on the bridge, Jeff.
If it were me, I might have miss-placed a board or two and have a man stepping over the holes in the planks.
Rich
Neat bridge and build Jeff, I'm looking forward to seeing it incorporated into the scene..... 8)