Bridges - in the flesh

The items I designed and printed through Shapeways for the T layout arrived yesterday.  Here are the photos:

The tunnel portals were printed as a four pack, but did arrive in two parts. Not really a problem, they were designed to be easy to split, and they were just that. The brick detail is there, but is probably too small to survive painting (0.1mm x 0.2mm).

The bridge over the roadway also was ordered as a two pack. It also arrived in multiple pieces. Unfortunately, it arrived in 3 parts, as two of the foundation pieces separated from the bridge decks. This actually is not a big deal, that connect was not particularly strong, and can easily be replaced when the bridge is installed. In fact, afterwards, during painting the other foundation on each bridge broke off. The beams on these bridges are very fine, and while one of the I-beam flanges generated a warning from Shapeways, it printed fine, and as long as they are handled carefully, they look very good.

The concrete viaduct came as one piece and looks very good. You can see that the tracks fit in perfectly. I did subsequently sand the angles between segments to soften the bridge facets a bit, but it looks very good.

The stone bridge also arrived in two parts, and came with a detail spur. The details printed very well, and the bridge looks very good. I will need to carefully clamp the towers together while gluing the halves together, but the stone details all look great. The track fits perfectly, and the alignment holes for the alignment pins also look great.

You can just begin to see the details when we zoom in like this. After unpacking and inspecting the models, I cleaned them with bestine, and then in an ultrasonic cleaner with goo-gone and water. The parts were then allowed to dry, and will be primed.

The concrete bridge was printed in PLA, instead of acryllic, so it was washed and I started to install it on the layout. I needed to modify several bridge piers, and found out that the whole bride was about 0.125" too high. So I had to trim every pier to get everything to fit correctly.

I need to repair the foundation scenery a little bit, but the bridge is coming together.

I also trimmed the first fascia piece last night, and so I can begin to see how the layout is going to look.

Still a lot to do before Friday, but it is coming together. Parts were primed this morning, and I expect that all of the priming will be done tonight. The bridge over the roadway will likely be fit into place tonight, as well as some final painting and weathering on the concrete bridge. Hopefully, the tunnel portals can also be installed tonight which will help complete the back left portion of the layout. More pictures tonight!