The Atlantic and Southern Build, Part 1

[ACL1504]

I then placed a weight on each side to hold the track in place while I took some measurements.



Prior to taking the measurements, I made very sure the track and bridge were level.





More in a few.

[ACL1504]

I decided to make the abutments out of sheet styrene. I haven't worked with styrene in about seven years or so and I wanted to get my hand back into the  feel of working with it.

I used some old Evergreen Scale Models sheet styrene #9060, plain in 060" or 1.5 mm thick.



I used  #106  .010 x .125 styrene strips for the trim. I forgot to photo the #196  pieces used for bracing.



A little fast forward here and you can see I've started to build the concrete, er, styrene abutments.



Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

I basically built a box. The track will lay on the cork and the cork will lay on the top deck of each abutment.





Fast forward once more and you can see the abutments are finished.



I did forget to mention the paper banks were cut away so the abutments would fit as if built into the banks.

More in a few.

[ACL1504]

It's hard to show you the detail on the abutments until they are painted. They will be spray painted with Floquil Aged Concrete and weathered. You can see some of the detail in the photo below.



It's level and fits.

[ACL1504]

 

Some of you may remember my high trestle and girder bridges from the old layout. In the photo below you can see the three span double track girders in the right of the photo.



I cut one of the girders free and this is the one I used for the current project.

Cost of materials for the bridge        -   $6.00
Planning the bridge span                   - two hours
Actual time spent building the span  - five hours   
Cost for the entire project                  - Priceless

[Twist67]

Hi there,

Tom,very nice work on that river.....I´ve never seen working with paper for the river banks but it looks like a good idea for that.

Will be a fine scene when finished.....

Cheers,Chris

[bparrish]

Great progress...

thanx
Bob

[deemery]

I did a 'how I do it' on making styrene look like concrete over on RR-Line:  http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=45053  (The images are temporarily off-line, they should be back up later today.)


dave

[ACL1504]

Hi there,

Tom,very nice work on that river.....I´ve never seen working with paper for the river banks but it looks like a good idea for that.

Will be a fine scene when finished.....

Cheers,Chris

Chris,

Thanks for the very kind words and stopping by to check in. I got the paqper from Lowe's but Home Depot carries it as well. They call it contractor's paper.

I have more to show about the paper and the banks but haven't uploaded the photos as yet. I'll get to it eventually and probably later this evening.

Tom

Tom

[ACL1504]

Great progress...

thanx
Bob

Bob,

Thank you and I appreciate you checking in on the progress.

Tom

[ACL1504]

I did a 'how I do it' on making styrene look like concrete over on RR-Line:  http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=45053  (The images are temporarily off-line, they should be back up later today.)


dave

Dave,

I remember reading you post on RRLine last month. Thanks for the info and as of this post the pictures are still not available. Oh wait, it's already June so make that two months ago. Where does the time go?


Tom

[ACL1504]

I painted the river bank with Elmer's white glue this afternoon.  When the glue is applied the paper gets very limp/saggy due to the water content in the glue. However, when dried. it's very hard and stiff. Most importantly is that the glue seals the paper.

I like the glue on paper for adding scenery material later. When the dirt or any scenery material is applied and a wetting agent is used, the glue softens, blends with the scenery and wetting agent and hardens again.





When the glue dries, I get a picture and post it tomorrow.

[ACL1504]

The glue on the paper banks has dried and now I'll cover the river bottom with a dark earth color. I used Woodland Scenics Earth Undercoat. It's just a dark brown color. This river will be a muddy one so I chose the dark brown.



It took two coats to cover the plywood base.



I pulled out the good ole air brush and sprayed the concrete abutments with Floquil Aged Concrete. I'll let them dry and cure a few days and then the weathering will be applied.

[ACL1504]

I'll back up here a little and say I built the other concrete abutment. You can see it in the photo above and below.



Also, I discovered the bascule bridge sits a little low so I cut four pieces of .060 styrene and glued them to the base of the four bridge posts.

[ACL1504]

I repainted the four round supports under the bascule bridge Floquil Aged Concrete; however, not shown in the photos.