Building a Bridge to Kabul

by | Jan 19, 2016 | Afghan Wars & North-West Frontier, Buildings, Bridges, Defensive Works, Etc., Rivers, Terrain Building, Uncategorized | 14 comments

Been very busy with work and family since New Year’s, but managed to complete one hobby project over the past 10 days or so.
My last blog post featured my “scratch” terrain layout for my What If? “Bala Hissar or Bust!” scenario.
One of several shortcomings of the set-up was that one of the two large bridges over the Kabul River was painted to serve in Europe or North America, not Afghanistan.  Since bridges are rather prominent structures on a battlefield, this bothered me.
I didn’t want to repaint it, so I set myself the task of building a replacement bridge from scratch.
The material I had on hand for this task was some “short-end” pieces of high-quality blue insulation foam, left over from building my river terrain boards last year.  When the bridge’s structure was complete, I strengthened the underside of its two arches and the base of the center column with Elmer’s Wood Filler.
Then I used commercial Model RR “Flexible Wall” pieces from Chooch Enterprises, and some small pieces cut from a Plastruct sheet of bricks, to add stone texture to the bridge, all of which I hot-glued to the foam.
When that was done I covered the remaining visible foam surfaces with Durham’s Water Putty, which has the advantage of drying very fast, and allowed me to keep working without having to wait for a long drying process first.
When that was all done I base-coated the bridge in dark brown and went to work dry-brushing it with multiple layers of several shades of mudstone and sandstone.
I’m pretty happy with how the bridge turned out.  It’s no masterpiece but I think it manages to fit on the same table as the similar size but far more masterfully designed and constructed bridge which Chris Riordan (aka: Chris The Model Maker) built for me, without looking too out of place, at least to me.
Next I need to replace a Medieval European gateway with another scratch-built section of wall including an arched entrance to the city of Kabul.  On the bright side, I think that will be a bit easier than building this bridge was.
Here’s a bunch of WIP pics, and a few pics of the bridge set down in its spot in the layout…

14 Comments

  1. Michael Awdry
    Michael Awdry on January 19, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    What a brilliant post! I was toying with the idea of bridges not that long ago so see this is wonderfully helpful, thank you.

  2. A J
    A J on January 19, 2016 at 3:43 pm

    Nicely done! It certainly looks the part. I finished an N-scale bridge for my ECW set-up a few days ago. Bridges can be tricky little blighters to make.

  3. Tomo
    Tomo on January 19, 2016 at 4:02 pm

    Impressive build!

  4. Mark G
    Mark G on January 19, 2016 at 7:29 pm

    Excellent work.

  5. Conrad Kinch
    Conrad Kinch on January 20, 2016 at 12:04 am

    Great work – I'm not sure I'd have your patience.

  6. Sgt. Guinness
    Sgt. Guinness on January 20, 2016 at 1:09 pm

    Great build Ethan! It really looks cool. You may not be a Chris the Model Maker but you sure do build some great terrain!

    I'm looking forward to playing this battle. I promise to not leave early again….lol

    Cheers,
    JB
    Sgtguinness.blogspot.com

  7. Mad Guru
    Mad Guru on January 21, 2016 at 9:01 am

    Michael, very happy to hear you found the above post useful, and I hope to see the result of your own miniature bridge-building efforts on your fantastic blog some time in the near future!

  8. Mad Guru
    Mad Guru on January 21, 2016 at 9:03 am

    A J, been trying to post a reply to all these comments but my “Blogger” fu is not working, so have to reply one-by-one — I will be stopping by your blog in hopes of seeing some visual evidence of this N-Gauge ECW bridge of yours!

  9. Mad Guru
    Mad Guru on January 21, 2016 at 9:05 am

    Thanks very much, Tomo, appreciate you taking the time to leave your comment!

  10. Mad Guru
    Mad Guru on January 21, 2016 at 9:14 am

    Thanks very much, Mark G, and LOVE your blogger ID pic!!!

  11. Mad Guru
    Mad Guru on January 21, 2016 at 9:16 am

    Thanks, Conrad – but having seen some of your own miniature efforts, I would be forced to disagree with your self-assessment, with the utmost respect, of course!

  12. Mad Guru
    Mad Guru on January 21, 2016 at 9:24 am

    Thanks for the kind words, Jeff! I know you and I are both in awe of CTMM's talents and the work he does, but it's nice to know I'm capable of building the odd manmade piece of terrain when I really need to!

    I only hope we get a chance to play the “Bala Hissar or Bust!” game together at some point, and that by that time I've managed to field the c.1840 British and Indian troops, and also to turn the battlefield's season from warm to cold, Summer to Winter, complete with snowy ground and icy waters.

    RE: leaving early — PLEASE DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!!! We all missed you, me as GM probably most of all! Of course when you have to go, you have to go, and family always comes first, but as you say, next time we play a game, hopefully we'll all be able to see it through to the bitter/triumphant end… even if that takes 8-12 hours, in truly mad “Epic Gamer” style!

  13. Michael Peterson
    Michael Peterson on January 27, 2016 at 5:03 pm

    Very very nice work. It rather reminds me of some of the Victorian bridges one sees over the Rideau Canal in Ottawa. Bravo.

  14. Mad Guru
    Mad Guru on February 2, 2016 at 1:11 am

    Thanks very much, Michael. I've been a fan of your “Mad Padre” blog for some time now.