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I got a scanner for my birthday on March 9 and I'm now getting around to
posting my pics of a suspension bridge I built nearly 8 years ago! This is
my first attempt at putting something on BrickShelf.
There are four pictures in this folder. The first was taken in my basement,
and the remaining three were taken while the bridge was on display at the
elementary school where my wife teaches. In viewing my pics on BrickShelf I
have a few questions. I'd appreciate if someone can be of assistance.
#1 Why is the quility of the last three pictures so poor as compared to the
first picture?
#2 Why do the pictures appear massive - how can I make them to fit the
screen like most everybody elses?
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=37444
Bridge stats:
Total length - 32'
Main Span (distance between towers) - 18'
Total pieces - 17,000+
Hours to build - 200 over a 6 month period
Hours to disassemble in sections in basement to move to the school - 8
Hours to reassemble at the school - 12
As is quite visible, there are non-LEGO elements in this MOC. The main
cables are 5/8ths nylon rope. Don't use cotton clothsline as it stretches
way too much! The suspenders are again a nylon string. Under the
anchorages (the white structures at the ends of the bridge) are 24" X 24"
concrete stepping pavers in which the main cables are affixed to.
I didn't attempt to model this bridge after any particular bridge. Like an
engineer, I had to make the best with what I had. There are some
similarities such as, the blue towers and cross bracing from the Ben
Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia, the point where the suspenders attach to
the deck being well out from the roadway like that of the Verrazano Narrows
Bridge in NYC, and the steep roadway of the main span from the Deer Isle
Bridge up in Maine. The roadway (deck) on this bridge is not common for
American bridges. American suspension bridges have thick trusses due to the
collapse of the 1st Tacoma Narrows Bridge or better known as Galloping
Gertie. In Europe, sleek airfoil decks are the norm, thus allowing wind to
smoothly glide over and under the deck. There is currently a suspension
bridge under construction to replace one of the Carquinez Straits bridges in
California. It will be the first major suspension bridge in North America
to have the airfoil deck. Below is a link to a photo of the bridge with
some of the deck sections in place.
http://www.franklinnewbridge.org/wpe40.jpg
I'll be following this post in the near future with my Cable-Stayed bridge.
Patrick S. O'Donnell
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: Suspension Bridge
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| (...) Way cool! The towers sort of look Oakland-Transbay-ish to me.... That's an amazing bridge. Thanks for sharing! I wonder if it's longer than the PNLTC/Guinness Znap bridge? (23 years ago, 20-Mar-03, to lugnet.build.arch)
| | | Re: Suspension Bridge
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| (...) This may be a combination of lighting and focus - where lighting is poor, it's difficult to get a clear picture. Also if it was cold your lens may have had condensation on it. (...) Use an image manipulation program to crop / resize it. I use (...) (23 years ago, 20-Mar-03, to lugnet.build.arch)
| | | Re: Suspension Bridge
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| (...) You don't say whether you're scanning prints or scanning negatives, but I wonder if your scanner/software combination is delivering a higher resolution than you were expecting, say 150dpi, rather than the 72 or 96 usually used for web (...) (23 years ago, 21-Mar-03, to lugnet.build.arch)
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