clive_t's Garden Line - The Fall and Rise of the Scampington Chipside Garden Railway

Thanks all, for your kind comments!

I received this through the post today:



Unfortunately it's all moulded in one piece, so my plans to use only the required components have all gone awry. No matter, I just need to take a hacksaw or sharp blade to it, and do it that way. Sad to have to do something so drastic to a £25 model, but needs must and all that! That will most likely be tomorrow's mission, should we choose to accept it...

 

The span is 18 inches, width 6½ inches and 'height' 3½ inches

 

Thanks Paul, yes I am quite pleased with the moulding detail. Of course, it's waaaay too plastic-looking and clean... can't see that situation lasting, to be honest!

 

Just as well, I'm going to be adding a considerable number!

 

Bit of a change of plan due to today being the last chance I would have to work outside given the imminent arrival of some characteristically appalling weather over the next few days. Bridge surgery can potentially be an indoor thing, so... first some more clearance around the approach to the pond bridge:





I was going to dig out some soil for a celcon block track bed, but I noticed whilst taking the track up that the wooden deck that spans the pond was looking in an even more dodgy state than I had thought. So, yet another diversion. Fortunately, I had enough C-Section studwork to make up a replacement. Well, if an idea is that good, why limit yourself to applying it only once!

The old bridge:



I started assembling the C-section replacement using the old bridge as a guide:





Finally, the replacement back in place across the pond:



Yes, there is really a pond in there somewhere!

 

Thanks gents, for your comments!

Lol yes this particular structure was completed in a few hours unlike the several days needed for my previous offerings! I still need to cover it with some kind of mesh (possibly with some railings down each side) to prevent expensive locos going 'swim-about', but as for stability, it's perfect!

 

Another update, back to the plastic bridge. I used a panel line scribing tool (beloved of plastic model purists who regard raised panel lines as a mortal sin!) to remove the deck section from the two sides:



Just laying them loose in the location where they will eventually ply their trade:



I was then able to measure and mark the required lump of uPVC, and cut it out:



A quick clearance check with my longest item of stock:



I'm happy with that! I now need to modify the bridge girder sections slightly to take away the plastic toy-like look on the side nearest the track, then I can glue it all up and prime it all ready for painting etc.

 

Funny you should ask, Paul...

Here are the girder sections as of a few minutes ago, part of the way through that process:



It's just some bits cut from some scrap styrene sheet, with 'rivets' impressed using an embossing tool. A bit more to add, but I will have to defer that to tomorrow as I am currently seeing double after wearing my head-mounted magnifier for the past 4 hours!

 

The bridge progress has scuttled along a fair bit during yesterday. The rest of the riveting was applied to both sections. I also fitted some additional strips of styrene at the base, to hide the rather ragged appearance resulting from my unceremoniously parting the sides from the deck:



Next step was to glue these girder sections to the replacement uPVC deck. I used Gorilla glue for this, it's really weird stuff as you have to spray one side with a fine mist of water, and apply the glue to the other side before bringing the two pieces together:



The glue expands as it cures (about 3 hours at room temperature), so I ended up with lots of little splodges of foam-like plastic which needed the attention of a scalpel to remove. Tedious, but doable, and the bond appears to be pretty effective!

The resulting bridge structure looks like this:



Hopefully today I will get it spray primed, and see how it's looking for the next stage.