Coffee Table

[cookyy]

GOOD DAY TO ALL
I'M STARTING TO BUILD A LAYOUT UNDER A COFFEE TABLE THAT IS A 42" HEXAGON . I HAVE MOST OF THE LAYOUT ROUGHED IN . A MAIN LINE RUNS AROUND THE OUTSIDE THEN TURNSOUT INTO A HELIX THAT CLIMBS A GRADE OF 3% . AT THE TOP THERE IS A BRIDGE SPAN OF 13" THIS IS IN A CURVE AND OVER THE DECENDING TRACK.
THE BRIDGE IS THE PROBLEM BEING THAT IT IS CURVED I'M UNABLE TO FIND A UNIT BIG ENOUGH OR CURVED ( AT THIS TIME STICK BUILT IS OUT ? ) PLEASE HELP
THANKS JOHN

 

[sumpter250]

John,
If the radius of the curve isn't too small, you could run your curve through a "double track" bridge(or pair of them), instead of over a trestle, or viaduct.
Pete

 

[cookyy]

PETE THANKS FOR THE INFO , THE ITEM YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT IS THERE A STOCK# PLEASE ADVISE THANKS JOHN

 

[Tyson Rayles]

John, Welcome to the Gauge! What scale, how long does the bridge need to be, what is the radius of the curve?

 

[sumpter250]

John,
I am assuming that you are building this in N scale, and being primarily an HO modeler, I'm not that familiar with the products available in N. you might try www.walthers.com, to see if there are any bridges there that would suit.
The biggest problem with commercially available kits is they rarely fit the area you want to use them in. You either have to build the scene to fit the product, or modify the product to fit the scene. For example, Atlas has an N scale viaduct kit, #2826, that might be usable, except it probably isn't tall enough, and would have to be cut to conform to your curve.
If you hadn't stated "at this time stickbuilt is out" I could offer a lot more ideas. For me, most of the time "stickbuilt" is in.
Hoping that Walthers has some answers for you, good luck,
Pete

 

[billk]

You might be able to kit-bash two (or more?) bridges together to get what you want.

 

[cookyy]

GOOD TO ALL
TYSON RAYLES MY SCALE IS " N " SPAN 13 " RADIUS IS ABOUT 23 "

 

[cookyy]

PETE
I WILL LOOK INTO THE INFO YOU GAVE ME
THANK YOU
JOHN

 

[Tyson Rayles]

John 23" is very broad. Atlas makes a plate grider bridge that is 5" long, I would use 3 of these and cut the 2 on each end at about a 10 degree angle where they meet the center section. Just remove the track that is on them then lay flextrack over the completed bridge. BTW these are single track which should be fine on that wide a curve.

 

[cookyy]

TYSON RAYLES
GOOD IDEA I DIDN'T THINK OF CUTTING THE BRIDGE DECK MAKES GOOD SENCE I WILL GIVE IT A TRY...
THANKS AGAIN
JOHN

 

[sumpter250]

Just a thought,
23" radius, 13" span, a double width bridge (13" long) could carry the curve, with support only at the ends of the bridge. Shorter single width bridges, at angles, technically would require support at each bridge joint. This could be accomplished with simple steel bents, stone abutments, or cast concrete.
The concrete abutment behind the sailboat (HO scale) was built from broom handle, and balsa sheet.

 

[Steam Donkey]

Sumpter's Boat

Hi all, my appologies to Cookyy for breaking the cardinal rule of not deviating from the thread topic, but, Woh......Sumpter...what a yacht! Did you build that schooner yourself???? What a beauty, the skipper must be real proud when he participates in the commodores sail past. What is she....50-60 feet?

BTW, you wouldn't know where a guy might find any plans or HO models of an old circa 1920s lumber schooner....would you?

Stan

 

[Ralph]

Sumpter,
I really like the bridge abutment! I'm always impressed by effective models that are constructed from readily available materials like a broom handle! Cool!

Cookyy,
Best wishes on the bridge. I hope you post a photo of the coffee table layout. The track plan has me fascinated!
Ralph

 

[cookyy]

GOOD DAY RALPH
PHOTOS WILL BE POSTED AS SOON AS THE SHUTTER BUG GETS ACTIVE .
AT A LATER DATE I WILL ASK FOR HELP ON POSTING THE PHOTOS.
JOHN

 

[sumpter250]

Ralph,
Never throw anything away, nothing is what it seems.

Steamdonkey,
PM'd you info on boat, glad you liked it.
Pete

 

[kf4jqd]

Coffee Table RR

I am glad to see someone else is doing the samething I am doing. I am building a coffee table using N scale. I'll have to feep everyone posted. One thing, I wont be building it until we move. That doesn't look like until next summer. So I am buying N scale but still working on HO.

Andy

 

[cookyy]

HI ANDY
I FOUND THAT THE PLANNING TAKES AS LONG AS THE BUILDING OF THE PROJECT IT'S SELF. I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON MY PLAN FOR ALMOST A YEAR BECAUSE OF THE SIZE OF THE CASE . DRAWING ON LARGE SHEETS OF PAPER THEN CUTTING OUT THE PLAN PIECE BY PIECE TO MAKE SURE THAT THE IDEA AND THE PLAN , ANDTHE SIZE RESTRICTIONS ARE COMPATABLE....( A LARGE TRASH CAN WILL HELP WITH ALL THE @#$#@%^$^&&^) BE GREEN RECYCLE.
YOURS
N IN A CAN JOHN

 

[cookyy]

PETE
I 'M KIT BASHING ALL READY ( AND IT ONLY TOOK A WEEK TO GET UP THE GUTS TO DO IT )
Q. IS THE PIER IN THE PHOTO HOLDING UP AN ARCH ?
Q. DO YOU HAVE A PHOTO OF THE BRIDGE AND PIER ?

PS NICE BOAT TOO

YOURS N IN A CAN JOHN