Westlake Publishing Forums

@Stuart, Russ, Barnay
Thank you!

@Russ
I understood your comment perfectly well.

A bridge also needs shoes. I could see the movable bearing in the drawings of the large lift bridge.
But how were the fixed bearings on small bridges designed around 1900? Roller bearings were installed from 1840 onwards, but as far as I could read, only on larger structures.

bewegliches_Lager (fspg2)



In a sketch from this period showing small bridges with a span of around 4.0 m, the following solution was proposed:

Fest_Loslager (fspg2)



Concrete or sand-lime brick blocks form the foundation on both bridgeheads.

Delvenau_Wehr_80 (fspg2)



In the model, they were made from ureol. Positioned in a small jig, they were drilled with a few holes.

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They are used to position four M1.0 mm hexagon screws from the base plate and a 1.5 mm thick brass rod in the middle.

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There are corresponding holes in the two long beams to hold them in place.

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The black spacer plate is made of HDF that has been planed down from 3.0 mm to 2.7 mm thick.

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The upper slide shoe and the lower mounting plate were milled from brass.

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Little by little, more and more individual parts came together.

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I painted the small parts with a brush.

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I used the spray booth to apply the gray primer and AK Interactive 3rd Generation Gray Green paint.

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Even though you can't really see it later when looking at it, the diagonal struts are still being installed... I had simply forgotten about them until now!

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After an ultrasonic bath, the small brass screws, washers, and nuts are currently drying before they can browning and be assembled .

That little bridge has a lot of parts and the model looks very solid and durable. -- Russ

Wonderful work, as always! And indeed: Researching the old technologies and production methods are important and exciting parts of our hobby!  So I am also gathering informations as much as possible on my harddisk as you do ! This is essential in understanding what isn't always visible in the photos of the original.

Here some samples  that helped a lot in my current project.

The small bridge was given four small feet that look identical on the outside.

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Most of the parts in this segment have now been glued in place. The first aging processes have also been carried out.

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At first, I wanted to leave the middle running boards between the tracks with boards running parallel to the track:

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Following the example of the planks on the lift bridge and the four side bridges, now there will be another layer of planks with brass profiles on the sides!

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The 1.5 mm thick and 8.0 mm wide wooden strips were grooved 0.8 mm deep on the back and glued to a 1.0 mm thick wooden strip with wood glue. After drying, I sawed them to a width of 21.7 mm on both sides using the rip fence on the sliding carriage.
Then, both outer sides were grooved 0.4 mm deep at the top and bottom.
Contrary to the model drawing, I am using U-profiles instead of L-profiles for the assembly. This makes it easy to insert the remaining piece into the brass U-profile and glue it from the bottom.

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The first treatment was again with black shoe polish, which I dissolved in isopropanol.

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After installation, the surface will show further signs of wear. More on that soon!

Your bridge is looking wonderful. It's amazing how much work goes into what seems like a simple project.

Stuart

My reaction is the same as Stuart's. It's a spectacular little bridge. -- Russ

@Stuart

QuoteIt's amazing how much work goes into what seems like a simple project.

That's absolutely right, I stopped counting the hours a long time ago. I just enjoy implementing new requirements as faithfully as possible.

The middle planks have been laid and glued to the sides with the U-profiles, as described above.
Small wooden strips inserted on both sides ensured that they were centered between the rail profiles. Once the wood glue had dried, they could be removed. An initial test run went without a hitch.

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I sawed the concrete cover plate for the side extension from a piece of Ureol left over from another project and processed the sides with the rounding cutter.
The surface will be given further weathering marks later.

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Now we continue with the railing:

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For the four curved ends of the railings, I bent two brass tubes (2.0 mm in 3.0 mm) pushed into each other into two semicircles on my roller bending machine.
Then I was able to saw the four quarter circles at right angles on the Böhler circular saw.

Delvenau_Wehr_101 (fspg2)



Since the railing supports had already been printed some time ago in a slightly flexible plastic, I sawed 2.0 mm and 3.0 mm brass tube sections to length.

Inserted wires connect them to each other and to the supports.

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Once again, an HPL template ensures clean, right-angled installation.

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Loosely assembled, an initial fitting test of the new parts was carried out on the bridge.

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 fspg2,
It is always a pleasure to see and study your progress.

That figure image can be readily used to produce a figure suitable for the scene.  Attached is 3D printable, ready to go.

2-3 minutes work.

Not only is the model virtually perfect at this stage but Lawrence's contribution frosts the cake. That's what makes this hobby great. -- Russ

@Lawrence
Thank you so much for the screenshot of my dad and your fascinating post on AI model generation!

I just did a quick test run with Meshy5.
Even though the first result from the free version still has quite a few errors, it's amazing how fast AI generation technology is advancing.

Test_Meshy_AI_01 (fspg2)



Now let's move on to a bit of terrain building.

Styrodur not only helps save weight, but it's also easy to shape with a craft knife.

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First, I glued together a vertical frame using 2-cm-thick panels. Then, using a hot cutter, I cut out strips of Styrodur about 3.0 mm thick and glued them on to shape the terrain.
I coated the finished terrain with waterproof wood glue and covered it with kitchen-grade crepe paper.

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I had previously glued together small openings (10 cm x 10 cm) in the four corners using leftover pieces of Styrodur, so that I could reach the connecting screws from below by hand during assembly and disassembly.

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In the prototype, the lower section of the embankment was reinforced with large stones.

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To recreate the structure on a 22.5:1 scale, I'm still looking for suitable small stones.
Unfortunately, decorative stones from florist supply stores aren't flat enough when glued side by side.

The embossed paving stones would unfortunately only be a stopgap solution. Let's see if I can achieve a better result by engraving thin Styrodur sheets...

UIferbefestigung_3 (fspg2)

Quote from: fspg2 on March 25, 2026, 07:36:05 AMTo recreate the structure on a 22.5:1 scale, I'm still looking for suitable small stones.
Unfortunately, decorative stones from florist supply stores aren't flat enough when glued side by side.

I'm sure you'll come up with a great solution. Some thoughts that come to mind below, but I haven't tried any of them.

People do amazing stuff carving styrofoam.

But the small stones look good.  How about laying them upside down? Lay them as you have on a flat(ish) surface. Fix them with something temporary (No suggestions from experience, but I have no doubt there are materials around (silicon rubber/ gelatin/alginate/microwax? even water if your permanent resin floats). Then apply a permanent backing (resin of some sort). Remove the stone sheet and wash out the the temporary fixative.

OR:
Lay your stones on styrofoam sheet. Possibly use a somewhat flexible adhesive like a gem adhesive. After that's set up press the assembly between plates to generate a flattish exposed surface by forcing the stones into the styrofoam.

I haven't tried this first method, but have seen flat stones done this way and they looked good:

1. Pour plaster a little thicker than the stones you want to model onto a smooth surface like glass or a cookie baking sheet. Use a waxpaper lining so the plaster doesn't stick to it. After the plaster has set you can flex it to break it into pieces. You can then break those by hand into stone sized pieces and then quickly sand/chip some of them so that tops and bottoms are no longer parallel.

2. Here's a method I did use to make styrene stones for a pair of bridge abutments (HO scale):
I had scrap of white styrene 0.08in thick salvaged from a store display rack. I sawed pieces about 3 in. square and clamped about an inch depth of one side in a vise then grasped the opposite side with locking pliers and forcefully bent it until it snapped. Those chunks were then picked at, gouged, scraped etc. with various implements of destruction until a suitable surface evolved.

I have been watching videos on YouTube of folks carving stones in foam (thanks Sir Nick!)
Someday I may post my efforts...
MJinTN

One technique I have tried to get a nice flat surface with stones was to use Milliput (2 part epoxy putty) as a bed to hold the stones in place, and then used a block of wood to tamp the stones so that the tops are all at the same level and flat. One the Milliput had dried I sanded the surface slightly to simulate weathering and wear.