Semi-Circular Brick Arches

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Steve Carter
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Semi-Circular Brick Arches

Postby Steve Carter » Tue Jul 29, 2014 9:48 am

Some of you may have seen SLAG’s new under construction Group layout ‘Bankside’ at this year’s AGM?

You would have seen the card mock-up of what will be the backscene which is a railway carried on a brick built urban viaduct formed by semi-circular arches.
Well it’s time to consider construction of the viaduct. We are considering using 40 thou styrene sheet for the main structure and then overlaying SE Finecast brick sheets.

One problem is how we can model the 5-ring brick arches that present a face of headers at the face of the arch?

I considered scribing these but there are 12 arches to do and that’s a lot of scribing?

SE Finecast do a sheet containing segmental arches but not semi-circular arches for viaducts. I intend have a chat with Dave from SE Finescale at Scaleforum to see if they could do a semi-circular arch if another suitable solution cannot be found.

If we could manage to draw a brick arch (I’ve never used CAD type software) then would etching or laser cutting may be an option to match the SE Finecast brick sheets or does anyone have any other suggestions/ideas please?

Thank you in anticipation

A desperate Steve
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Steve Carter

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John Bateson
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Re: Semi-Circular Brick Arches

Postby John Bateson » Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:44 am

Steve,
From what I have seen at Scalefour North, I will never scribe things again. Definitely a job for a laser. I think Tim Horn is the guy to talk to?
John

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Slaving away still on GCR stuff ...

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Rod Cameron
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Re: Semi-Circular Brick Arches

Postby Rod Cameron » Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:54 am

Laser cutting might do it, but for the Ouse Valley Viaduct (37 arches, both sides) we had them drawn and etched. The etching is in two layers to provide the relief. Also needed for the apertures in the arches, you probably don't have those.

msg-6728-0-19010000-1313154188_thumb.jpg


msg-6728-0-17952900-1301686285_thumb.jpg
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Tim Horn
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Re: Semi-Circular Brick Arches

Postby Tim Horn » Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:58 am

Hi Steve,

(Thanks John) I'd laser it, just need a pic or two if possible or dimensions required, or if you can provide a drawing .dxf I'll give it a go.

I can't promise a quick turn around as I'm tied up with baseboard cutting (quoting people 4 to 5 months now for buildings work which I need to draw up), but I can help where and when I can :) Brian Hanson (Shawplan/Extreme Etchings) could also give it a go if you need it done fairly quickly, although I'm not sure on Brian's timescales.

Cheers
Tim

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Guy Rixon
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Re: Semi-Circular Brick Arches

Postby Guy Rixon » Tue Jul 29, 2014 1:56 pm

Laser cutting is probably the way to go, but you could also consider making them on a die-cutting machine. The Silhouette cutters are supposed to be able to engrave lines in plastic card.

My wife has a Silhouette die-cutter and she's away this week. I am planning to try it out on plasticard engraving...

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Rod Cameron
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Re: Semi-Circular Brick Arches

Postby Rod Cameron » Tue Jul 29, 2014 2:39 pm

I may be wrong, but I think you need a specific engraving tool for that in the Silhouette.
Rod

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David B
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Re: Semi-Circular Brick Arches

Postby David B » Tue Jul 29, 2014 3:17 pm

Engraving on the Silhouette is done with a diamond pointed gadget and is better on metal. A knife is not as good because it does not remove any material, it merely parts it.

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Paul Willis
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Re: Semi-Circular Brick Arches

Postby Paul Willis » Tue Jul 29, 2014 5:03 pm

Just an observation on how healthy this Society is...

In under a day from a question being posted, there are a number of alternative solutions, and offers to help as well. There aren't many places that are so responsive and helpful.

Thank you all for being part of it :-)

Cheers
Paul Willis
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Beware of Trains - occasional modelling in progress!
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Steve Carter
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Re: Semi-Circular Brick Arches

Postby Steve Carter » Tue Jul 29, 2014 5:19 pm

Flymo748 wrote:Just an observation on how healthy this Society is...

In under a day from a question being posted, there are a number of alternative solutions, and offers to help as well. There aren't many places that are so responsive and helpful.

Thank you all for being part of it :-)

Cheers
Paul Willis
Deputy Chairman


Couldn't agree more Paul, hence why I posted my question on our forum
:thumb

I am grateful for all the helpful answers and offers to date.

A lot of food for thought that should occupy an hour or so at our SLAG meeting next Monday.

Heres to the No.1 Forum

Cheers

Steve
Steve Carter

Mark Tatlow
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Re: Semi-Circular Brick Arches

Postby Mark Tatlow » Tue Jul 29, 2014 9:14 pm

Steve

Another option is to the use the Wills Finecase embossed brick-card.

Available here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/South-Eastern ... 4acdb1104f
Mark Tatlow

JFS
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Re: Semi-Circular Brick Arches

Postby JFS » Wed Jul 30, 2014 7:25 am

Steve,

My layout has a brick arch retaining wall running along about 4 feet of its length and it is quite a job. A lot depends on how much detail you want - in my case, because the layout is shallow (ie the walls in question are not far from the inquisitive noses of fellow society-members) I wanted full detail including the queen closers at the corners of the reveals.

I used two approaches - firstly, for two short lengths, I "cut and shut" from the SE Fine cast sheets mentioned by Mark. They are very good and a LOT quicker than hand scribing - but you are a bit limited to the design "as-is". If you get into a fair bit of "cut-and-shut" as I did, it takes a fair bit of time.

For the long lengths, I drew up a design and had them etched in Nickel Silver - it is by no means cheap but is a lot less costly than might be feared - and building the thing then takes a few minutes only.

Here is a pic of the trial etch. (including another building I did at the same time - which is only an inch from the same inquisitive noses)

etched brickwork.jpg


I should mention that I did consider lasering the whole thing but in my case (though it is not easy to spot in the pic) the infill wall is actually curved which precludes an MDF-based solution. Plus there are a LOT of corners!

Now it is all painted I hope it is hard to tell tell which bits were done which way. At least it will be after I have done the weathering job on the wall which is still straight-from-the-the-brush in this shot

Former E S.jpg



The arches on the former loco shed are etched BTW, but the rest of it is cut-and-shut SE Finecast.

And here is the key issue in all of this for me - which ever alternative you choose, give very careful thought to how you will put it all together - if you etch this and laser that and plastic sheet something else, it must somehow come together in a structure with no visible joints and which will remain stable without the joints creeping apart. And therein lies the key in my experience.

If you would be interesting in getting some more of this stuff etched just let me know.

Good luck!
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Steve Carter
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Re: Semi-Circular Brick Arches

Postby Steve Carter » Wed Jul 30, 2014 8:20 am

Thank you all for the many suggestions and ideas.

Marks suggestion about the SE Finecast arch sheets made me realise that I should have included some examples of the type of arch we are looking to model as the sheets have segmental arches, which we are using in some places, but don’t cover semi-circular viaduct arches with 25 foot spans. So, better late than never, here’s a couple of pictures showing what we are looking to achieve for ‘Bankside’.



Bricklayers_Arms_Branch_Line.jpg




Ewer_Street_Southwark_Depots_3.jpg


Thanks again for the fantastic responses. So many things for us to consider!

Steve
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