Very nice Jon! Did you put a sealcoat over the vinyl lettering?
Can you tell me about your patent spray rust?
Thanks
Jason
And the bridge looks nice!
Dan Gilchrist said:
Very nice Jon! Did you put a sealcoat over the vinyl lettering?
No. It’s professional 7 year sign vinyl - doesn’t need sealing. As you will see further down, it held up better than the paint!
Jason V. said:
Can you tell me about your patent spray rust?
Thanks
Jason
Sure. It’s a very simple process. Paint full coverage with a red oxide primer. I like Krylon’s Ruddy Brown, but they keep changing. The last two cans I bought were not called that. As soon as the primer is down, I mist with a flat or satin black, It’s more technique than materials. Stand way back (two-three feet) and give short spray bursts of black. Keep moving and go lightly. You can always come back and hit it again if needed.
I need to credit Marty Cozad for the idea and masking techniques to paint rail with ties. I have a thread on it here somewhere - will try to find and ad a link in this reply.
To bring this page current
Jon Radder said:
I can’t believe Indian Hill Bridge has been out there over 3 years and survived through three winters.
It suffered a bit of damage from clumsy me while moving a bunch of materials to clear our patio and walks to be repaired. I didn’t lift my foot high enough and caught the deck tearing it loose from the girder at 4 of the attachment points. The ties that were screwed down stayed in place tearing loose from the guard rails and the rest of the deck. An easy glue and pin fix, but other items need addressing, so I lifted the bridge last weekend. The deck was removed for repair while the beam was cleaned up ready for re-attachment of several of the styrene parts. It will also get some paint touch up and maybe some weathering.
Film at 11 (tomorrow).
I had the film before 11, but fell asleep editing the pictures :o Better late than never I guess !
This is the issue that demanded repair. The ties that were screwed to the beam stayed firmly in place while the balance of the deck and rails lifted when I caught it with my foot…
While it’s inside, I’ll address some of the glue and paint failures. Looks like water intrusion, and possibly freeze-thaw, caused some of the styrene to de-laminate. I originally used two-part epoxy. For repairs I’ll use Fuze-It construction adhesive. I must have been in a hurry when I painted originally, because I don’t think I used an etching primer. I paint aluminum sign components at work and have never had a paint failure like this.
I kind of like the natural weathering (dirt) which will be left in place and possible enhanced a bit. Might break out the air brush that has been in my closet for 10 years!
Styrene at bottom de laminating / paint failing…
Today is a day off as I’ve cut back to 32 hours a week. I have some paint work to do on the house, but I should be able to make some progress on this project over the next three days. It needs to get back in place before winter so I can run the first train since last fall.
I didn’t take any pictures of the repairs indoors before it was re-planted today. As mentioned above; the de-laminating styrene was re-attached withe Fuze-It construction adhesive. Small angle details were re-attached with E-2000. Cedar deck repairs were made with Titebond III and headless pins. I used two different colors of black acrylic paint to brush repair all the spots where paint had peeled off. From a few feet away you don’t even notice. Once it has been out in the weather for a while it should all work together.
Here is how it looked this afternoon after re-planting…
During the three months the bridge has been out, the root grew back into the path of the bridge making re-installation impossible. My reciprocating saw with a demolition blade took care of that in short order…
Also during that time, the track has shifted. What used to be a tight fit is now just barely close enough to clamp. I won’t run a train over this until the gap can be all but eliminated…
If the snows hold off for a few more weekends I might just have some operable track before trains are annulled for winter 
This thread turned up under ‘new’ 13h ago - so I assume you were fixing pictures?
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Yes. Spent most of last evening fixing every post I made in this thread. Been slowly working through all of my old build threads to bring the pictures along to the new software.
For some reason, if one edits a post in an old thread it will come up in the New list.
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