Bridge Update

A quick update... Bridge deck is complete minus the paint!

I spent a good portion of the afternoon completing the deck of the bridge for the upcoming video. So far I'm quite happy with the progress and now that the wheel track reinforcements have been added I'm liking what I see.
From the images I had of the prototype bridge I couldn't actually see the top of the bridge so I had to use a bit of guess work to imagine what it may have looked like.

Where I grew up as a child there were a number of old wooden bridges crossing rivers, some had tarmac right across the top of the bridge while others were simply wooden slats and a few looked similar to what I have modeled in the photo. I chose to model this type of bridge deck mainly due to the visual interest it generates.

In addition to finishing the main construction of the bridge I have also been experimenting with how to paint the bridge. 

I originally wanted to use the sweet and sour method (Steel wool and Vinegar) however because the bridge is made up using a number of different wood types (Bass wood, pine and bamboo) the stain worked vastly different and the color variation was too great for the effect I wanted to achieve.

The recipe I eventually settled on was a four step technique:

1. step one is to add a dark shade to certain areas, for example around the bolts and in the cracks and crevices (It's only a light shading).
2. Next is a base coat of light mud but not so heavy that it completely covers the pre-shading, we want a little of the basalt grey to show through.
3. The lower portions of the posts get a feathering of burnt umber to signify a darker earth color close to the base of each post that lightly fades as it progresses a couple of feet up from the bottom of the post.
4. Lastly a very (I mean very!) light coat of sliver grey is sprayed over everything to tie it all together and give it that old weathered wood look.

Once you've finished it's a good idea to either take the model outside to see how the color looks under natural sunlight or if the model will be viewed indoors, check to see how the color compares under layout lighting.

The bridge deck will be painted using the same techniques.