Semi-scale BR: an arched girder bridge
Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2018 1:31 am
Sadly my original, long-standing, trellis-derived bridge was on its last legs, getting a bit wobbly and has been replaced by this sturdy, if preposterously over-engineered, effort.
It’s cobbled together largely from leftover bits of wood I had in the shed (though I had to get some additional strip) so it wasn’t too much of an investment.
But, as always, I glanced at my drawing and measurements and launched into a frenzy of sawing, drilling, glueing and screwing without thinking it through - and found halfway through the first side that I couldn’t get the strip to bend and hold as I’d intended. Too late to soak it in the bath, or whatever you’re supposed to do, by then, of course.
So I didn’t quite get the curve* I was hoping for - but it’s not remotely to scale, clearly, so perhaps it doesn’t really matter. It’s all a bit ham-fisted but appears quite imposing, I like to think and is certainly ‘robust’.
I ought to have learnt not to be quite so impatient. But I haven’t. I make a mistake like this every time I make something: it’s a different mistake each time but it’s always because I get impatient, busk it or ignore the drawing I did six months previously.
Looking at the pictures, the screw heads seem disturbingly prominent too and demand to be disguised - in the flesh I don’t think they’re so noticeable. And I’ve used the same ‘Garden Shades’ Battleship Grey so it’s perfectly coordinated with the outdoor furniture.
*Battledown Flyover, obviously
It’s cobbled together largely from leftover bits of wood I had in the shed (though I had to get some additional strip) so it wasn’t too much of an investment.
But, as always, I glanced at my drawing and measurements and launched into a frenzy of sawing, drilling, glueing and screwing without thinking it through - and found halfway through the first side that I couldn’t get the strip to bend and hold as I’d intended. Too late to soak it in the bath, or whatever you’re supposed to do, by then, of course.
So I didn’t quite get the curve* I was hoping for - but it’s not remotely to scale, clearly, so perhaps it doesn’t really matter. It’s all a bit ham-fisted but appears quite imposing, I like to think and is certainly ‘robust’.
I ought to have learnt not to be quite so impatient. But I haven’t. I make a mistake like this every time I make something: it’s a different mistake each time but it’s always because I get impatient, busk it or ignore the drawing I did six months previously.
Looking at the pictures, the screw heads seem disturbingly prominent too and demand to be disguised - in the flesh I don’t think they’re so noticeable. And I’ve used the same ‘Garden Shades’ Battleship Grey so it’s perfectly coordinated with the outdoor furniture.
*Battledown Flyover, obviously