Cisco Bridges: a new layout concept

[Scottl]

Thanks Chris!  Putting the locomotives on it today really make it seem a lot more substantial.  I am not far from getting the trains running again.  Just a few more feet of ballast work, painting a bit more foam and the river, and the bridge railings.  Then I can get working on that 8-40CM (still can't decide if it will be BC Rail or CN ).

Scott

[Santa Fe Guy]

Looking good Scott.
Rod.

[Scottl]

Finished the basic scenery for the Cisco scene today and painted the last of the track in the back.  Everything is now drying.  I think the rocks need more black stain, the last ballasting needs to be done and the river painted. And trees, lots of trees!





The test colors for the river are on a board in the photo- nothing yet that seems right. The base color with some black added is darker (blue arrow), but the tone of a bit of green added seems better (red arrow).  I'm still fussing with it but not in a rush to paint.



Pulling back to show the scene in the room.  We had visitors for dinner last night, and the six-year old daughter barely had her jacket off before she wanted to see the "trains."  Apparently she has been talking about them to anyone and everyone who will listen.  Next time I think we will be able to run a train for her .

[Jeff AKA St0rm]

I bought some Pliobond but I can't say I'm a fan, and the addition of heat with a soldering iron left me hesitant given how much I have put into this bridge.  In the end I used CA and followed with accelerator brushed on and tacked it down as I went along.

Thanks for following.

I have to add code 40 guardrail to my bridges as well, Did the CA hold well? will it stand up to bumps and grinds?

[Scottl]

I did a test on some spare track first.  The CA locked it down and it took a pair of needle-nose pliers to remove it.

As Dave reported, it was a pain to secure.  I tacked it down progressively, and had a second set of hands brush liquid accelerator on the tack points as I went.  Then I back filled to secure it all.

[garethashenden]

Then I can get working on that 8-40CM (still can't decide if it will be BC Rail or CN ).

Scott

Make two, one of each.

[Donald Jacques]

Hey, Scott!

Your bridge and scenicing are looking great...will you be thinking about adding the CP bridge any time soon?  You know, one of the most thrilling rail watching event occurs when two trains are crossing the river (on the two bridges) at the same time!  Hopefully, one day, my two Cisco "bridges" will get past flex track nailed onto strips of 1" x 2"!

Thanks for showing the way!

Don

[Scottl]

Hi Don,

Thanks!  Unfortunately, I ran out of space to do the CP bridge- the room is just too tight and it would have been damaged by someone walking into it.  I'll have to fake it with my short length of the CP mainline

[Scottl]

This week was busy, so all I was able to do was finish the ballast and some fine tuning of minor details.  I also tested a range of river water colors and settled on a grayish-brown with a green tone.  After it was all cleaned up, out came the trains, led by a few new units that appeared over the last few months. 







Playing with lighting to get the sunlight and shadowing effects that are the norm in this setting



I have a lot of trees in prep, but I need decent weather for spray glue and paint applications.  We might get a thaw at some point, but it may need to wait until spring!

[Scottl]

Just to clarify, the river is not painted, but there is a test patch to look at, marked here with the arrow.  Opinions?

[mark dance]

Nice deep scene Scott...beautiful!

md

[Philip H]

I'd say you won the internet this week.   :face palm:

If that scene doesn't make TRackside Photos in MR when its done then we really have no hope.

[davefoxx]

Scott,

The scene is coming together beautifully.  I love it!  Unfortunately, I can't help on the color of the water due to colorblindness.

DFF

[Scottl]

Thanks everyone.  I have not really considered submitting a picture for a magazine, but I think there was talk of a "Bridges of BC" article amongst TRW modellers at some point.   There are some amazing bridges that have graced this site over the past year or so and it would be neat to see them all done.

The river paint color is tricky as it is defined by the sediment load in the Fraser River, which varies from very high in the spring, to low in the fall and winter.  In the low case, the river is almost a green color and you can see some depth in the water, but during spring, the brown color dominates and the river is so turbid it is completely opaque.  I'm aiming for the latter and the color I tried out on the layout was the one of the mixes from a few hours of combinations.  It was so good to my eye that I brushed some on to see how it would look next to the rock.  It is a light brown latex wall paint base with equal amounts of black, raw umber and pine green added. 

I need to paint that river, there are some blood spots upstream of the bridge that need to get covered    I probably need to prime those...

[MichaelWinicki]

Geez that's impressive Scott!



Luv the way the backdrop blends in.