FORTIFIED BRIDGE

Ages ago, when I first started playing Necro in about '99/'00 I made a fortified bridge. It wasn't very well made, and it warped a bit when painted. It used the ubiquitous chic-pea rivet method, had string suspension ropes (which where slack), and a very dark paint job. I still have it, but I decided I needed to build a much better one. The new one is loosley based on the 'toll bridge' from the scenario of the same name.

MATERIALS:

  • Thin corrugated card
  • Thin card
  • HO guage Flexi-Trak
  • Plastic tube
  • Tooth picks
  • Action Figure's gun
  • Plastruct I-Beam
  • Thick card (such as used for excersise book covers)
  • Fax roll
  • Straw

This bridge is just over a foot long simply because I had a piece of cradboard that long. Depending on exactly how long your card is, cut a length about 30cm by 7cm. Glue lengths of I-Beam along each side, about 2-3cm shorter at each end than the bridge itself. Cut five panels of thin card about 6cm by 5cm, and glue them down the length of the bridge. Also cut two 1cm by 7cm strips for the ends.
Cut a piece of thin corrugated card 7cm by 7.5cm for the center bulkhead. Cut a door out of it, and add details cut from thin card. I have used the punch-out panel from the hanging peg hole from a pack of super-glue, and a door frame and girder work made from thin card. There is also a wastetank made from a cutdown length fo fax roll with thin card end caps, and a pump made from a GI-Joe style gun i got from an op-Shop.
Cut two end pieces for the bulkhead from the thick card, 7.5cm high, and at least 2cm across. Glue these panels to the bulkhead, and glue the assembly to the center of the bridge. You can add extra panels to the sides as I have done, or leave them simple.(The side panels provide good cover and make this bridge very popular). Cut a length of Flexi-trak 7.5cm long, and cut the ends of the sleepers off. GLue this up one side of the bulkhead. Now, cut a panel of thin corrugated card 7cm by 4cm for the top.I have glued small pieces of I-Beam (a much smaller sort than that on the main bridge) to the edges of the platform, and added thin plastic tubes to the edges, both ends of which have tooth-pick spikes poked in.
Also, add some plating detail to the platform with thin card.
Now paint the whole thing in dark decayed matalics, and you have a magnificent bridge with lots of cover and a good place to put heavies into the bargin! When Itook this to HGC, our arbitrator reckoned it would make a fantastic toll bridge, if only it had a swing mechanism. So i started to make one, using a 3.5" floppy disc drive's bearings, some plumbing bits, a polystyrne meat tray and all sorts of random bits i found flying around my house. However, the Campiagn ended in the strange 'Tyranid invasion' before anyone had really hads time to get into it properly (one player's first game was the last of the Campaign!), and I never finished the mechanism. However, I might bring it out and finish it soon.