Fantastic!
Amazing Ray. I wish I had your eye when it comes to painting. You really know how to make styrene look like real wood.
All my modeling came to a screeching halt a couple weeks ago when Cris ended up in the hospital for 9 days following complications from a colonoscopy. She’s home and doing much better now, though she still likely needs surgery for another issue. Anyway, I’ve finally finished up the trestle from the mine to the top of the mill.
I installed Grandt Line nut/bolt/washers, and touched up the paint as needed. I also painted some “nails” onto the planks:
I built a bent to support the middle of the trestle. Like the stringers, the bent is made of styrene, textured and painted to look like weathered wood. The NBWs are from Ozark Miniatures:
I had planned to make cast concrete footing for the trestle bent. However, I decided instead to just cement in some additional rock under it, then build up the ground around it using tinted mortar:
Here are some shots of the finished trestle. I may still add some braces at a 45 degree angle, between the bent and the stringers:
And just for fun, here are some pics I shot this evening:
Enjoy!
Sorry to hear about Chris, Wish her well from Marilyn and I.
Great looking finnish up on the mine…. WOW!
Damn you’r good, and an inspiration for the rest of us mortals.
Whats next?
Keep it up Ray!!!
Outstanding as always!
That sure looks like Matt Doti operating Cristine .
I hope your brother got out of the canyon before dark!
My Ipad ate my note!
I’m glad to hear Cris is doing better.
Are you using wood or styrene for your trestles? If you are using styrene, what size are your "timbers?’
It’s just awesome, Ray… What a beautiful model!!!
Glad Cris is getting better… That’s a bummer when a routine procedure goes sideways…
Thanks guys, for both the kind word and the well-wishes for Cris!
Doug, this trestle is the first I’ve done using styrene. The timbers on the bent are 3/8" square. The stringers are 3/8" x 5/8". In both cases, I had to glue two different strips together to get the size I wanted. The ties are Sintra.
That looks great Ray, well done.
Just wonderful. Your attention to detail is just amazing. I would love to see it in person.
Ray, have you ever done a how-to on your painting techniques? (note CORRECT spelling 
)
I’d love to know how you achieve some of your effects.
Phil, I had a two part article in Garden Railways, Dec. 2012 and Feb. 2013, titled “Build A Rustic Structure”. It showed how I built and painted my miner’s cabin.
That same cabin was also featured in the “From Styrene To Wood”, in the Modeler’s Annual, winter 2014. In addition, that article also showed how I built a heavily weathered cabin wall, board by board, with each board textured and painted to match the prototype.
The mill trestle was done in a similar manner, except that I mostly used latex house paints instead of acrylics.
Ray, thank you. i have both of those issues so you have assigned me homework!