Bridge Extensions

The Faller 282915 arch bridges supporting the track over the valley are not long enough to reach from cliff to cliff.  So I laid down lengths of Faller straight steel bridge (282901) and curved steel bridge (2903) on top of the track loop.  I used the hot-wire foam cutter to cut each piece to the desired length - long enough to reach from each end of the arch bridge to 2 to 2 1/2 inches onto the top of each cliff.

I painted several of the pieces of girder skirting which "supports" the bridge extensions with silver paint. When it was dry I cut pieces to reach from ends of the arch bridges to the cliff faces and glued them into place

Because the track seems to be excessively elevated where it crosses the highway in the lowlands, I decided to try putting the track up here down with glue.  I tested both the Scenic Glue and Maxi-Cure cyanoacrylate glue with short pieces of Z scale track on a piece of scrap foam.  After drying overnight, both seemed to hold the track tightly to the foam.  I decided to use the Scenic Glue to fasten the highland loop to the foam.

I outlined the entire track loop with a pencil and marked the extent of the steel bridges. The area where the bridge extensions would lie on the ground were also marked with a pencil.  Because the bridge extensions hold the track up off of the ground, a little trough had to be made. I used an X-Acto knife to cut along the edges of the trough and from side to side to divide the trough into quarter-inch segments for easier removal.   The X-Acto blade was too short to cut from the cliff face to the end of the trough, so I used a kitchen steak knife to remove each segment of foam.

I painted the troughs with Stone Gray from the Earth Color Kit.

When the track is set into place the feet of the arch bridges are just a little off of the ground.  So I cut 1/2x1-inch pieces of cardboard to support the bridges. These will be glued in place after the track is put down permanently.