Having successfully completed my first Resin 3D print project I was considering what to create next. The thing about Resin 3D printing is its ability to produce miniscule, crisp details. This drives us to go the extra mile in model design. In particular, as far as railways are concerned - rivets. Yes, I have become a rivet counter!
Within walking distance of my home is Battledown Flyover - The Gateway to the West. It carries the up line from Southampton whilst the Salisbury up & down lines pass underneath, at a slew.
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| Battledown Flyover by Sandy B, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
If I modelled this scene where could I put it? My railway room is overflowing with layouts.
My Misterton model railway layout in its current form has existed since 2016, having evolved from an earlier incarnation dating from the 1980s with the station building and goods shed created in the 1970s! It is based on 1960s Crewkerne station in Somerset, England. It being a main line station with goods handling facilities.
I realised that from an operational point of view it mainly gets used to run trains round and round for the enjoyment of grandchildren. Shunting and Goods Yard operations are as rare as hens teeth. This might be the time to replace it with the Battledown Flyover scene. It would be exciting to see a train running over the flyover whilst another passes underneath.
I am a bit hesitant abandoning a station scene but, I do have a small branch line layout that maybe could be placed somehow on the other side of the oval. I am not sure at this stage whether a new layout will come to fruition. But, a flyover model diorama is certain, if only to make use of my 3D printer and satisfy my creative soul.
I researched the web and books, gathering images of the flyover and visited it several times to photograph elements of it. When I saw the beast close up I was taken aback by its complex construction and use of riveted plate girders. So many rivets! Its construction is compounded further by the struts not all being the same design. Some have different form (why?) and width meaning each need to be tweaked or designed independently for the model. I'll answer that question in a future posting.
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