My Model Railroad Question

My Model Railroad Question - MyMRQ.com
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Writer Dennis From Alaska
City, Country Girdwood
State/Prov AK
Scale Any
KeyWord 5 Minute Project
 

Summary

Building A Layout And Don't Know Exactly What You Want?? Good!! Then Build Temp Bridges Until You Do! Let Me Show You How.

I finally did it! I got started on that new addition to my N-Scale layout. My wonderful wife has more than once reminded me how much fun it would be to actually start construction rather than just talking about it. And she was right!

The plans for my addition are rather “fluid”, and seem to change from time to time. After all, it’s a “hobby”, not a “project”. Anyway, I’m planning to scratch-build all the bridges that will end up on the addition. The problem here is I’m not real sure exactly where, how many, and how long they should be. If I spend a bunch of time building nice bridges, and then they end up not fitting the plan…… Hummmmm….

The solution, of course, is to build quick temporary bridges until I figure out exactly what I want. I found I could build a small temporary bridge in about 5 minutes that will serve nicely until I get around to building the permanent ones. Let me show you how I build them.

What you’ll need is some flat stock balsa wood, a sharp knife & straight edge, sandpaper, black paint & small brush, and a glue of your choice. I like to use Super Glue (CA) for these types of projects.

You start by cutting out a strip of wood a bit wider than your track, about as long as you think the finished bridge should be. Next, you cut out two more sections of wood the same lengths that are about 1/4th as wide as the bottom. Be careful with the cutting to make sure all edges are straight and square.

Take the two smaller sections of wood and round the edges of two apposing sides. You don’t need to be too exact with the rounding of the edges, as it’s only a temporary bridge anyway.

Now you glue the smaller sections of wood to the OUTSIDE of the larger section, rounded sides up. At this time you go and test the bridge to see if it’s the correct length. Bridge too long? No problem, just cut one end a bit shorter and round off the edges again. Is the bridge to short? No problem, they’re so quick and easy to build that you can have a number of different lengths already on hand.

And finally you paint the bridge black. If you want to get real fancy, you can add a decal and some weathering. But remember, this is only a temporary bridge that will be replaced “someday”.

And there you have it. A nice temporary bridge that is flexible in length that only takes about 5 minutes to build. I enjoy playing with these bridges in different areas and different lengths on my layout. They’ve helped me a great deal in planning my new addition, and I’m sure they can help you also.

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