The Bridge on the River Kwai

[Getunderit]

13 hours ago, Mancunian airman said:

Thanks Peter for sharing those photos of the actual location.

 

Did you ever see the film 'The Railway Man' ? 

. . .  horrendous treatment and conditions . . . . 

Yes I did. A powerful movie, especially since it is a true storey with forgeness and reconcilliation at the end.

 

If they showed everything that went on the Thai-Burma Railway, and in the camps, it would be too horrible to grasp. I have trouble with it after reasearching for a few weeks.  I have to find some humour before going to bed so I don't get restless. I've been reminded by a friend about Vicarious PTSD. That is why One Fity got introduced for self-preservation. It will more important for me to debrief when I start creating POWs in various enslaved activities. . . Yes, I am a bit sensitive, and I am grateful that I am.

[Getunderit]

Creating a bevel frame for the 3 mm Perspex sheets that will encase the diorama. Used scrap 3mm Perspex, plus 1 mm card, for a gap spacer during construction.

Not having a jig for cutting angles, I made a few initial errors (top right). Glued and nailed the frame to the base.
 

 

One Fifty is asking why I added an extra row of piers. The last position where a pier would be is where the bridge deck joins the land. The pier is not needed.

So now I have six spare piers, which will become handy. Last night I was thinking of making a few more piers just for showing POWs debarking tree trunks for piers. Now I have six for this mini diorama.

 

 

As soon as I started applying wood putty, the spalulate broke. It was a reasonably new. Lucky I still had my old spatulet of over twenty years. 

 

[Getunderit]

Thanks fellow moldelers for your support. Have finished here for a while. Need to return to the other bridge, Wardell Bridge diorama. Hope to see you there.

Will return here whenever I can. Hopefully soon.

 

[Svedberg]

5 hours ago, Getunderit said:

Yes I am sure. Good idea. I will see where I could just buy the rails. If too expensive, plus postage, for my empty pocket, I'll stick with the bamboo.

Postage can very much be a factor when it comes to rails. Normally rails sell in 36" lengths, making up very long and bulky packages, which makes the postage go up. Fast Tracks (Ontario, Canada) sells individual Micro Engineering rails cut down to 18" lengths, hopefully lowering the postage. Here is a link  https://www.handlaidtrack.com/rail-18-inch

I'm in no way associated with Fast Tracks. Just happens to know of them and have bought stuff from them.

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

 Blown away on this project. I will have to find a seat in the back as im late to the build. Probably somewhere near the bar. 

[DAG058]

That is an amazing start. You've got me hooked already. Going off of your other recent build this will be something very special.

[James B]

What a start. I coincidentally just watched this film again a couple of weeks back. As you say, a good nod to the event and the people, but realistically barely scratched the surface of the horrendous conditions and treatment the POWs experienced. What a brilliant piece to be donating to a museum so generations can learn and understand and hopefully never repeat the same again. I know you'll do it justice based on your wardell bridge project, and now I'll have even more reason to pop over and visit all your local museums. Keep up the great work, don't go to fast and get burnt out and most importantly of all make sure you enjoy the whole project as much as I will watching it unfold.  

[Getunderit]

6 hours ago, Svedberg said:

Postage can very much be a factor when it comes to rails. Normally rails sell in 36" lengths, making up very long and bulky packages, which makes the postage go up. Fast Tracks (Ontario, Canada) sells individual Micro Engineering rails cut down to 18" lengths, hopefully lowering the postage. Here is a link  https://www.handlaidtrack.com/rail-18-inch

I'm in no way associated with Fast Tracks. Just happens to know of them and have bought stuff from them.

 

Thank you so much for link. The rails are cheap.

Went to see what it would cost me for 4 lengths of 18", sent on cheapest postage, and converted currency, costs $21. Mmm. Will still try the bamboo version first. Thanks again for your help.

[Getunderit]

2 hours ago, James B said:

What a start. I coincidentally just watched this film again a couple of weeks back. As you say, a good nod to the event and the people, but realistically barely scratched the surface of the horrendous conditions and treatment the POWs experienced. What a brilliant piece to be donating to a museum so generations can learn and understand and hopefully never repeat the same again. I know you'll do it justice based on your wardell bridge project, and now I'll have even more reason to pop over and visit all your local museums. Keep up the great work, don't go to fast and get burnt out and most importantly of all make sure you enjoy the whole project as much as I will watching it unfold.  

Thank you so much James for your moral support and kind words.

If you don't mind, I wish to screen print your response, and send it to the museum. I think it will give a good nod for their own volunteer work, and workers.

[James B]

10 minutes ago, Getunderit said:

Thank you so much James for your moral support and kind words.

If you don't mind, I wish to screen print your response, and send it to the museum. I think it will give a good nod for their own volunteer work, and workers.

My pleasure, and of course I don't mind. 

[JohnT]

What a brilliant project. Just came across this late on.  Worthy cause too.

 

My best friend when I was in my early teens spent time in each others homes.  His dad was a cheerful guy but not that robust of health. He had been in the REME and had arrived in Singapore a couple of weeks before it fell.  He never spoke of the horrors but did tell us of the odd things that still made them laugh. The Aussie prisoners were always causing trouble with wisecracks and getting a beating. He did say that building a railway in the jungle while living on a small bowl of rice crispies and a can of water a day did make you lose weight. I think that had the war not been brought to an abrupt end my friend and his brother would most likely never existed. Funny but reading the posts brought that all back and I hope the finished model does something similar to the museum visitors

 

 

 

[Svedberg]

12 hours ago, Getunderit said:

... Will still try the bamboo version first. Thanks again for your help.

You are welcome. I'm sure you will manage the bamboo version just fine!

[Getunderit]

Okay, I am back. Spending the weekend on this project. Here is an insight of what this scratch builder does for kicks. So far . . .

 

 

Been trying to get a grasp of how the builders slapped together this movie bridge. Since it was a temporary build, the builders were not overly concerned if things did not fit together. Here I am drawing some of the observed cantilever joints, and trying to find an ideal. It turns out too complex for a small scale model. So I worked out a simpler solution for my own construction.

 

 

Below, my goal was to find out, with the available materials, how to include the main girder (spanning the whole bridge) without closing the gap between it and the top of the bridge towers. All the kit versions suffered from this problem. I do not wish to follow their example if I can help it.

 

Before installing the piers, I needed to know exactly how high the main girder is above the waterline (or base plate). Once known, both end piers can be constructed to the correct height. Then a metal beam can lay across these two ends as a guide for all the other piers to meet the exact height and lean-in angle. 

 

Note, where the piers go into the base board, at an angle. The pier ends need to be trimmed and shaped to fit in the holes correctly.

 

[Gorby]

Of course you have done the research and this was only intended as a temporary structure, but speaking as a reasonably competent amateur carpenter, I would assume that the round section beams would be half-lap/saddle jointed where they crossed to stop movement in the joint. Is that not the case with this bridge?

The joints on this da Vinci bridge shows what I mean.

 

 

Nice plans by the way.

 

[Getunderit]

3 hours ago, Gorby said:

Of course you have done the research and this was only intended as a temporary structure, but speaking as a reasonably competent amateur carpenter, I would assume that the round section beams would be half-lap/saddle jointed where they crossed to stop movement in the joint. Is that not the case with this bridge?

The joints on this da Vinci bridge shows what I mean.

 

Nice plans by the way.

 

True. But I am not going to do any half lapping with this small scale model. It's difficult enough for me to figure out whole measurements, let alone starting halving cross-sections. Many beams will be 2.2-2.5 mm bamboo skewers. Halving these  (2.5 mm / 2 =1.25 mm) makes for thine and fragile cutting and/or filing. So, I am giving it a miss. As I said earlier . . .

7 hours ago, Getunderit said:

...It turns out too complex for a small scale model. So I worked out a simpler solution for my own construction.

Nice bridge by the way. 😉

[bhouse]

8 minutes ago, Getunderit said:

Halving these  (2.5 mm / 2 =1.25 mm) makes for thin and fragile cutting and/or filing.

An easier approach would be to use a small diameter cylindrical sander in a Dremel or similar. It would only take s second or two to produce each saddle.

[Getunderit]

38 minutes ago, bhouse said:

An easier approach would be to use a small diameter cylindrical sander in a Dremel or similar. It would only take s second or two to produce each saddle.

Thanks Brian. (and @Gorby). I will see what I can do. Will one of you now please come over to my place and redraw my plans to include half-saddle joints. . . Just joking.

[Getunderit]

Used a square for fitting in the centre piers at both ends. It was a bit iffy due to the taper.

 

 

Then the out piers had to lean inwards as well as maintaining correct height. Solved the problem with a square block of dressed wood. Used it as a template for aligning the piers when gluing.

 

Photo was taken at a higher level which, visually, almost eliminated actual degree of lean-in.

[Getunderit]

For starters, but not all braces will be recessed.

Changed the plans to suit same elevation for top brace, but the brace is now thicker.

 

 

Just to let you know, there is a lot more work, but I am sure it will be worth it.

I do have a dremel, but the shaft is bent. Anyway, I prefer using needle files.

[Gorby]

2 hours ago, Getunderit said:

True. But I am not going to do any half lapping with this small scale model. It's difficult enough for me to figure out whole measurements, let alone starting halving cross-sections. Many beams will be 2.2-2.5 mm bamboo skewers. Halving these  (2.5 mm / 2 =1.25 mm) makes for thine and fragile cutting and/or filing. So, I am giving it a miss. As I said earlier . . .

I'll give myself a good flogging for suggesting complicating your work. 

I actually thought it may help make the eventual model stronger as you would be able to glue as well as bind (I'm assuming you intend to bind the joints, I could be wrong). It may also make the bridge easier to assemble as the parts are less likely to move around. I did a little test on some 2.5mm bamboo skewers and cut the saddle joint in about three seconds with a rat-tail file.

 

I'll go away and shut up now. 

 

2 hours ago, Getunderit said:

Nice bridge by the way. 😉

I know, I want to build it now. 

[Pete in Lincs]

Peter,

I just did a catch up on this one.

What a noble project and a fabulous tribute to those we lost.

I'm confident that if anyone can do this justice, then you are the man.

I'll stay off to the side here, sweeping up the sawdust.

 

Pete

[dnl42]

Great work on this, especially with the attention to the human costs.

1 hour ago, Getunderit said:

Photo was taken at a higher level which, visually, almost eliminated actual degree of lean-in.

Entasis was a technique used by many cultures across time and geography to counter the visual effect of perspective on walls and columns. Uprights at Stonehenge were tapered to similar effect.

[Getunderit]

10 hours ago, Gorby said:

... I did a little test on some 2.5mm bamboo skewers and cut the saddle joint in about three seconds with a rat-tail file....

Three seconds!? I spent several minutes filing the three slots to leave 2.5 mm of wood _ hence the calipers. Well, Gorby, you certainly the better man when it comes to filing skewers 😄.

[Getunderit]

9 hours ago, dnl42 said:

Great work on this, especially with the attention to the human costs.

Entasis was a technique used by many cultures across time and geography to counter the visual effect of perspective on walls and columns. Uprights at Stonehenge were tapered to similar effect.

Interesting. There seems to be several expanations for entasis. But none of them has mentioned two other possible reasons for the columns design. These reasons bear out when viewing the column on its own as a vertical structure without additional horizontals like a ceiling.

1. Forced perspective to make the column look longer than it is, espcially viewed from close proximity of its base.

2. To counteract the appearance of the column falling, or leaning, due to the curvature of the earth. On earth, all 90 deg verticals radiate from the centre of the earth.

 

I used to do architectural (perspective) renderings from plans. To make the illustration look more real, the perspective vanishing points needed to be many feet away.  Even so, mulitistorey buildings, when drawn on a flat surface (2D), would often appear to either fall forward, or backwards. To counteract this, as the illustrated building looked farther away, the perspective vanishing points needed to be lowered, or raised. In effect, the horizontal sides of the building were simulating the curvature of the earth. Much like onion layers are horizontal but circular.

[Getunderit]

'One Fifty' is helping me align these piers.

 

 

My hand drilled holes are not really at ideal angles, but the diameter is correct. To align the piers, I have to trim parts of the dowel, that goes into the base, so it will align correctly. Also, I had to cut the piers a little bit shorter, hence the jar of stumps. The small jars contain shavings and stubs. These will be used in the diorama. The stubs will become seats and blocks to bust up for firewood. The shavings will be darkened and used for debarking waste Thanks, Pete @Pete in Lincs for offering to sweep up the sawdust, but I truly prefer for you to feel free to share your thoughts and wisdom.

 

 

One step back too far.

 

 

Because the wooden block template was too thick for tighter areas, I made another template out of card. On the card is a plan showing which set of piers have horizontal braces.

 

 

So far.

 

 

Well, the weekend is over for me. Time to clear the bench to work on the Wardell Bridge project.