Plastruct O Scale Truss Bridge Kit

I don't have pix sorry, BUT their instructions are very clear.  Take your time.  Get familiar with all of the parts BEFORE removing them from the sprues.  Clean all the flashing.  Take your time (second warning). 

Have some items to help you keep everything SQUARE during assembly and glue drying.  Don't try and do it all at once, letting the glue dry is very important. 

It makes a most impressive item for any layout.  A real work of art.  Have fun.  Russ

I made mine taking the HO kit plans (there was no O scale kit at the time) and having them enlarged to O scale.  From that a BOM was made and parts ordered from Plastruct.

I second what Russ said.  Also, dry fit the sub-assemblies and work from 1:1 plans--photocopy what Plastruct supplies.

My biggest mistake was using the paper diagrams for the gusset plates and using the pieces of paper to transfer the shapes to sheet styrene.  The paper is too flimsy to hold its shape consistently, or I was too impatient, when tracing the shapes on sheet styrene--the result was inconsistent dimensions/shapes.  Would have been better to trace the patterns once on sheet material, then cut out the shapes and use the shapes from the sheet material as the patterns for the rest of the plates.

Trainman2001 is an exceptional modeler who took the O scale kit and turned it upside down.   Hope he'll chime in with some tips.  One that he provided in another thread is using Archer decal rivets.  I used a nail head to create rivet impressions, but not nearly as convincingly as the rivet decals.

Last point, I did get a set of O scale directions last year in order to repair damage to the bridge incurred during a move.   The fall did minimal damage attesting to the strength of the design.  It also pointed out that I should have painted portions of the bridge as it was being assembled.

Good luck with your project.

Thanks for the info so far.

From what I understand, this is not a kit of parts to be assembled; pieces need to be cut from raw stock.

 Can anyone provide a copy of the directions?

Thanks

Jim  

Jim Harrington posted:

Thanks for the info so far.

From what I understand, this is not a kit of parts to be assembled; pieces need to be cut from raw stock.

 Can anyone provide a copy of the directions?

Thanks

Jim  

Phone Plastruct and ask for Jean--626.912.7016.  That's how I got my copy.  She or someone else at Plastruct can answer your questions about the kit.

Jim here is one I built it was a 30'' bridge kit I made 40'' , yes it is all long stock material you have to cut all the pieces , every thing is in the directions build it . Guy

a couple questions on this kit

Is the Chopper from NWSL the right tool for cutting the parts?

Would Tichy rivets add value to this kit?

I assume the Bondene cement is correct given that Plastruct advertises that it is frequently purchased with the kit.

any new pics from those that have built this?

thanks for any insight