The Little Rock Line

[C855B]

I've been working on the same bridge this week, but at a more glacial pace than Allan. I'm using plastic glues and not CA, so I have to let it sit for the welds to cure before moving on to the next step. No matter, plenty of other layout work at hand.

I appreciate the tip on brass rods instead of the supplied thread, which at first glance appeared to be a tedious and aggravating task. I might use piano wire since I have small sizes on the bench that I'm not otherwise using.

[wazzou]

I'm sure the brass is fine, but the thread isn't difficult.  CA it at the bottom. Go over the top and CA again.

[lajmdlr]

Hoggers hated switching w/ F units because it was TOO hard to see the guys on the ground giving him signals.

[Bendtracker1]

That's a really nice bridge Allen

Yeah I'm really happy with it Philip.

[soo]

I think the bridge looks great!!

My pops, before he died two months ago had a saying...
You cant satisfy all the people all of time..so...( insert favorite expletative here)..... ______ all!!!

I know, I know...better modeling through peer pressure. And i also know this is not a touchy feely kumbaya forum.

Maybe i need to take some more "happy" pills..lmaooooooooo.

Still..great work!!
Y-it

[Bendtracker1]

I'm using plastic glues and not CA, so I have to let it sit for the welds to cure before moving on to the next step.

Well I'm not using CA, I don't know what you're using for plastic glue, but my welds are solid in less than a couple of minutes.

a tedious and aggravating task.

Really?  As Bryan pointed out it's a pretty simple task.  Glue, thread, glue.
I chose the brass rod because thread has a tendency to attract dust.

[Bendtracker1]

I think the bridge looks great!!

Thanks Y-it!

My pops, before he died two months ago had a saying...
You cant satisfy all the people all of time..so...( insert favorite expletative here)..... ______ all!!!

My father must have know your father!! LOL

I know, I know...better modeling through peer pressure. And i also know this is not a touchy feely kumbaya forum.

Maybe i need to take some more "happy" pills..lmaooooooooo.

Still..great work!!
Y-it

Got any extra of them happy pills?

[Bendtracker1]

Hoggers hated switching w/ F units because it was TOO hard to see the guys on the ground giving him signals.

Yeah, well this ain't the Burger King layout, they get it my way, or they can go home!   

[soo]

Andy, I get your point about switching with F's. Very valid point. Can't get silk from a sow's ear. Deal with the hand your dealt. The main thing...this is the Rock Island....where men were men..and sheep were scared.lol
Allen, good point about the dust collection...never thought of that.

Y-it

[C855B]

Well I'm not using CA, I don't know what you're using for plastic glue, but my welds are solid in less than a couple of minutes.

Faller Super Expert. It takes a few minutes before the bond is solid enough to stress. I assumed you were using CA since there were two bottles of it in the picture.

[Bendtracker1]

With the truss bridge complete, I turned my sights to the bridge track. After getting the rails and guard rails installed it was time to paint them. I started out spraying them with some Rustoleum satin London Grey as a base coat.



Once it was dry I decided to try out some Pan Pastels. I started out with a Black that I brushed down the middle and followed that with a Dark Brown on the outside of the rails and ties.  I think I'll go back and touch them up with a couple of different shades of brown to get some variation in the color of the ties and planks.



More on the Blog...

[Philip H]

I don't know Allen - perhaps dab a bit of rust on random bolt heads and call it done.

[Bendtracker1]

I don't know Allen - perhaps dab a bit of rust on random bolt heads and call it done.

You're probably right Phil, but I can't leave well enough alone.
I'll add some rust to the random bolts as you suggested (good call) and then I'm still gonna mess around with some other colors and see what I can come up with.  Just a few spots to break things up a bit.

[Chris333]

Nice work. Krylon also make a chalk board paint called anvil gray that works good too.

[Bendtracker1]

After getting the bridge built and the bridge track painted it was time to get the bridge itself painted.

I painted the deck bridge black and weathered it using the salt technique.  I was unsure on what I wanted to do with this bridge, so I started snooping around on Google images.  I seen more that were rusted overall rather than painted so I decided I would give it a try.
I found a guy who weathered his in the same way, looked fairly simple so I thought I give it a shot.

His method was to paint it with a rusty color first then come back and paint a mixed coat of black over the rust.  He gave KIND of formula for his paint mixtures, so I had to wing it.

Here is the Rust coat.
I started out using Floquil Boxcar Red and added a bit of Oxide Red.



The Black mix was Engine Black mixed with a light gray and some brown.



Well this came out a little too brown and after chatting with @parkerlocoworks, he agreed.  He told me that I should try one of two things, come back with a darker black paint mix and overspray the bridge again, or maybe with the new mix, I should use a cosmetic sponge and try dabbing the paint onto the bridge.

After assessing his ideas, I decided to attack with Pan Pastels first.  If I didn't like the results then I could always paint over it.
The Pan Pastels worked OK, but one problem with them, once I applied a light coat to seal the Pastels, they faded enough that they weren't obvious.  So I went back over it again with a much heavier application and then when I sealed it, they were visible enough to give a nice mottled color.  It could probably stand a bit more black.



The one drawback to airbrushing, is it doesn't give a sharp edge to the black like the salt technique or dabbing it on with a sponge.  But in a lot of the pics I seen on Google images, the bridges were pretty evenly colored like this.

There a few more pics on the Blog...

Next up, the abutments and piers....