RFI: Using Central Valley girder packs in N-scale

My way of making girder stuff is with sheet styrene. A few bucks for a large sheet of styrene and start cutting and gluing. You won't get much cheaper than that. Styrene is a good media for doing modeling and will last a long time on the layout.

-- Why do penguins walk so far to get to their nesting grounds?

If you cost your time at $0/hour....

I prefer to think in terms of enjoyable hobby time per dollar. [...]

Commercial girder shapes are cheap enough, and have much finer dimensions than I could possibly achieve myself. That isn't really the issue. For me the issue is, how to model the fine lacing *between* the girders. I'm not cutting that stuff and gluing it myself. It's way too small to do in N-scale, and even if it wasn't, that's hundreds of pieces... maybe thousands on a large bridge. I don't have the patience for that in ANY scale.

I look at model building the way I look at managing a business. There's a time/cost factor that you have to confront if you ever want to get things done. Maybe not as much of an issue if you're retired, but I can't see myself EVER having that much free time, even in retirement. I want to get something up and running as quickly as possible, without sacrificing too much quality.

So, do I make it myself, or outsource it? What level of completion do I expect in the elements I use in my projects, and above all, what are my costs in time and money? (time and money are actually the same if you stop to think about it)

I love model railways, but I hate getting bogged down in fussy detail. My ideal would be everything ready to run straight out of the box- no swapping out wheel sets, no changing out couplers, no handlaying track and turnouts, no painting and decaling for obscure roads...etc....

For some people the challenge comes from building it all yourself. For me, the challenge is finding ways to avoid that. It's one of the major issues in N-scale I'd say, since most of the detail is so tiny you'd go insane trying to make it yourself.

Mac B.

Preferences dictate actions. There are those of us who enjoy the modelling mode even more than the "up and running" mode. In fact, I may die of old age before my curren layou is completed :-).

Don't really know what to tell you then. Showpiece models do take a lot of time to build and that is why they are showpiece models. The use of the CV parts will make the job a lot easier to do the model but you still need to cut and glue all of the pieces together. Personally, I enjoy the time spent making a model as it uses up time that I'd otherwise waste drinking beer or something else like that. Sit down in front of the TV and watch a game while building the model and you end up doing two relaxing things at the same time and you will quickly find that the time goes by and you have a nice model when you're done. Part of the fun of the hobby is figuring out how to build things and that thinking is different than work and the brain gets exercised in different ways that, to me, relieves the problems of work.

-- Why do penguins walk so far to get to their nesting grounds?

Don't get me wrong Bob. I like to build stuff too. That's just the problem - I have literally dozens of projects in various states of completion - some have been hanging around for years. I used to build model ships too. (rigging model ships is the very definition of tedious)

I have to be practical though. If I'm ever going to get a railroad up and running, I need as many RTR components as possible.

I realize doing the bridge first is coming at it ass-backwards, but I also know myself well enough that if I don't do it first, it will never get done, and neither will anything else. Maybe there's a general principle here? Build the big stuff first, and the little things will fall into place? Works that way for me at least.

Mac B.

When the big Revell model of the Cutty Sark first came out, I built one. Went through and setup all of the rigging so that it could be moved and every single line was there. Model lasted until one of my sister's decided to buy a parakeet. Guess the first thing that the parakeet landed on when it got out. The ship did get it's revenge tho and strngled the bird.

-- Why do penguins walk so far to get to their nesting grounds?

For reference, polar bear is trying to build this:

If he becomes increasingly erratic over the next while, shows signs of stress or obsession: I apologize; it's all my fault for sending him my train trip pictures ;-).

Those fine cross-brace box lattices can't be more than a couple of mm wide in N-scale -- pretty hard to build from individual pieces.

More (potentially) usefully: there was an article in MR recently about someone who had modelled the lattice-work in catenary towers by printing it out on transparency film, and gluing it to sticks of clear acrylic plasti.

-- Kizhe

Many years ago, I believe that E&B Valley RR co made catanary towers by painting the lattice onto square lucite rods. The theory was, you would concentrate on the lattice and not see the rod.

I th>> >>

Yeah this stuff:

but look at the price: $21.29 And it says : To be discontinued. Gee, I wonder why.

You're right about their website too. Functionally illiterate.

When you get down to N-scale, hand making bridge lattice is a one-way ticket to the funny farm.

Mac B.

Thanks Carl. I've never seen these things - but just going by the photo, which shows a man's thumb alongside the product...

look about right. I don't have exact dimensions of the bridge yet - still waiting for those - but I think they can be used. Any chance you could measure the width of the two lattice sections and post back?

From my rough calculations, it looks like I'll need about four packages to do the legs. That's under 50 bucks. I can live with that. The smaller lattices look about right for the cross members, but there's way too few of them, so I'll have to find another solution there.

That way lies madness.

Those are good ideas which I'll have to look into. I experimented a bit with plastic window mesh. It's too small for what I'm doing, but if you cut it carefully at a 45 degree angle, you get nice stretches of X bracing, and even smaller V bracing. These would work for an N-scale highway bridge, or for jazzing up a Kato truss bridge.

I think aluminum mesh is what I need for the cross braces. I just need to find somewhere that sells it in sheets.

Mac B.

I considered that actually. Probably a good solution for catenary, where you need lots of them at a cheap price, but I don't know how it would look on a center-piece model under close viewing. Another potential problem is diffraction/reflection when using floods or flash. I guess you could clean that up in photoshop, but It's kinda nice to have clean negatives.

There's a wire mesh out there with the right dimensions. I just have to find it!

Mac B.

I've looked at the ME trestles, and they're not really suitable. Aside from the high cost, they'd need too much bashing. The Algoma trestle is an old one, built in 1911, so it's fairly heavy. The cross-bears are all V box lattice, and the legs are heavy C girders with X bracing. All riveted, of course.... and no, I am not counting them!

Actually, I DO plan to build the whole thing! I have an escape route though. There's another trestle on the AC - same vintage and design - which is shorter. If I burn out, I'll model that one. Sneaky, eh?

My idea of selective compression is to build the Algorail, which is 90ft shorter than a standard (730ft) laker . That way I can knock 100 ft off Michipicoten Harbour without anyone noticing

N-scale allows you to think big. Long trains, wide expanses of scenery, dramatic shifts in elevation, large structures. It's possibly the only advantage it has, so it would be a shame not to use it.

Mac B.

Using the tried and true squinty eyeball method and a plastic school ruler for precision measurements, the widths are 1/4 inch and 1/8 inch. Carl

true, but stealing from other scales is sometimes the only way to get what you want. In HO those are light trusses. In N, they might be trestle legs, engine house roof trusses, or even supports for a NYC subway viaduct. In O they might be a pedestrian overpass, radio mast, highway sign bridge, or construction scaffolding.

I recall many years ago an HO layout that used N (or was it Z?) to represent an amusement park train ride. Very effective. Using models from other scales is also a good way to force perspective - an n-scale cabin way up on an HO mountainside of progressively smaller trees, for example, or a 220 scale trawler on the far side of an n-scale fishing port, with a 144 scale float plane in the foreground.

Mac B.

Thanks Carl. 1/4 may be a tad wide for the legs, but I'll have to wait until I get the dimensions to know for sure. From the photos, the legs appear to be about the same width as the steps on a GP9 - around 3/8 inch. The lattice is on the side though, not the facing edge which is solid channel-girder, so I *might* get away with it.

Mac B.

Hey Mac, if you really want to "go nuts", get the photo-etching system from Micro-Mark and make your own girders in the exact size you need.

Peteski