Building the Canyon Diablo Bridge


Good on you, KEN! I had not even thought about the UV effects on the plastic.
I use Xylene bought at HD for cleaning the sprayer.

From another blob!
Xylene is VERY good for cleaning up spray equipment after using Epoxy paint. Much better than Acetone (in My opinion) and is slightly more safe than MEK, but more expensive than either MEK or acetone. Smells really really bad though.
Yes it is a good fuel additive that I have used in some of the racing events. No, I will not devulge the formula nor percentages.
Acetone/MEK and xylene are different types of solvents. Acetone works best on laquers such as dope. Xylene is more of a hydrocarbon solvent and would work better on stuff like alkyd enamels/epoxyies and maybe two part urethanes(that haven't set up).
 
My 2¢ worth coming from 40+ years in the window business. Any tint or film applied to the glass will void your manufacturers warranty if that is any consideration to you. Watch your films though. There's Low-E films that block heat but not sunlight. There's gray films that block sunlight but not heat. There are now composite films that block both. Those are most likely the best for your situation. Shades or blinds are another option.
 
D&J RailRoad said:
I have acetone on hand, so I guess I'll just use that for the clean up. I can just step outside the sliding door there to do that.
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The solvent for Trucolor Paint is acetone so you are good to go. I also use the acetone to thin the paint a bit when I use it in the airbrush. I haven't had the same success as others shooting it straight from the bottle. I have a little pipette which seems to be the perfect amount to thin the paint.
 
Did a little spray painting this morning. This is how far one jar of Tru Color will go. I'll have to go back over this section after I turn the bridge over.
This is very tedious work as the white plastic really stands out once the black is on it.
I mixed 5 drops of TC gloss white into the jar of Tru Color paint then shook it up for a little while to mix.
The spray gun worked fine but started jamming up when I was getting near the end of the jar.
Clean up has to be with Acetone. Water doesn't touch Tru Color.
I'll do some more painting tomorrow. The glare from the sun light coming in the sliding door window made it difficult to see where paint was needed.

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I'm going to try to make the caisson footers from a silicon mold.
I whittled out the stair steps to this block of wood and cut it to the shape of the real bridge footers. The silicon, Max 30 for the mold is pretty expensive. Over $100 for a one gallon tub of it. I'm still looking for other options. I'll only need about a quart of that for the size of the mold block I'm making. Once the mold is made, I'll cast the actual footers using the Woodland Scenics casting plaster. Hopefully it won't crack when setting due to the thickness of it. I suppose I could put an insert into the mold before pouring the plaster so the final footer is hollow.
Yeah, there are a few deviations in the steps but considering the rule of HO scale modeling, what can be recognized from a galloping horse.

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I had started building the canyon a couple times now and then discovered errors I hadn't worked through , i.e. benchwork on each end was not parralel to each other, canyon walls started to high on each side and canyon bottom wasn't deep enough. There were a few other minor ussues that had to be resolved as well with paper and pencil. Got those done.
Now, for the third time, the canyon bench work is started. The two 2x4s that are hanging down from the temporary bridge mark were the feet of the bridge will be when it's installed. This is a precision measurement because a single pin will have to line up with the bottom points of the bridge and the footers.
Blue insulation board will be laid on the 2x4s to form the canyon then a liberal few layers of wall plaster will be applied for the actual rock of the canyon walls.

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