Micromodel: Old London Bridge

All houses are built and are located on the bridge (the center group still needs to receive their chimneys).

After that I can shift attention to deciding which colour the river is going to be (I dont like the yellow colour of the original cards) and to the fun job of joining all the pieces built so far.

I have suspected for quite some time that the base of the arch where the two parts of the bridge were joined is not wide enough (pic1).

I waited to see how this would work out when locating the houses on the bridge over this spot: as expected the combined footprint of this center row of houses is too large to fit on the designated area on the bridge.

Now is the time to fix it. I cut the bridge in two and I cut some strips of card to reattach both parts with the required gap between them (pic2).
This gap (pic3) will be covered by the buttresses that are joined to the arch bases (x marks the spot).

Zaphod, thanks.
This spot will be covered by one of the buttresses (like all the other spots marked "x"). It will be completely invisible once the model is finished.

The picture shows all the elements joined in place so far.

I have experimented with several river colours.
Dark colours make the bridge and its houses, that have quite a dark colour themselves, fade somewhat into the background (I now better understand the bright yellow coulour for the river on the original cards).
I find the grey-ish light blue a good compromise between highlighting the model on the one hand and making a reference to water on the other.

The model is all but complete. The one thing left to do is assemble and join the buttresses to the arches of the bridge.

Hans-Joachim,

In 't Nederlands, wat leuk!
Ik heb je tip uitgeprobeerd op een proefstuk papier, maar dat pakte helaas niet zo mooi uit als op de foto die jij laat zien.
Plaatselijke verkleuring en strepen. Ik vermoed dat op sommige plekken de lak dieper in 't papier (inkjet) dringt, misschien omdat ik niet overal even hard druk met de kwast. Misschien heb ik ook niet de goede lak gebruikt.
Ik vind 't risico bij dit model te groot, ook omdat ik de lak hier tussen de pijlers zal moeten aanbrengen.
Indien goed gedaan is 't resultaat wel erg mooi, dus bij een volgend model met water, waarbij het "water" vooraf, met een grote(re) kwast en gelijkmatige streken, bewerkt kan worden, ga ik dat zeker weer proberen.
Ik neem aan dat jij het water ook zo (vooraf) hebt bewerkt?

Groet,

Bruno

The buttresses are in place; the model is finished!
I uploaded some pictures in the Gallery section.

I would like to thank my fellow modellers for their interest in - and their positive feedback on my first construction report. For me this really has contributed to the pleasure I took in building this model.

I have managed to escape the much dreaded "hole in your life" feeling that the completion of a model may leave behind (what's next?) as I'll resume building the "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse" model now (maybe accompanied by a construction report for the rest of the build now I've got the taste of it).

And yesterday I ordered the "Badische IVh Schnellzuglokomotive" model...

Cheers,

Bruno