FoolTrottel

Yes, it would swing out to let bigger ships pass. As for how it was opened, I do not know. Swinging it open would not be too much of an issue, as the swing out would be down stream Only found one picture focussing on the opening, and it suggest it was simply a case of man's muscle power ... this one: It's open now, and these guys just seem to be operating a winch? If they are, one would assume there'd be a cable running towards the other end, yet that would mean the cable would be in the way of passing boats. So, maybe they would only connect the cable when closing it, and maybe that's the reason there's that small boat in the foreground? To ferry the cable over from the other end to the swung out part? It's just a must a guess as whether the Spit was better than the 109, and whether a Hurricane could out turn itself, and be on it's own on tail in less than 3 full circles... it all happened way back then, nobody left alive sane enough to really explain the hows and the what nots...

So, here's the completed section of the part that swings out, the car is in 1:87 scale, so it appears correctly, size wise that is, historically not so much, the car is way too modern. The light coloured horizontal beams that carry the deck are not glued in yet, so one can still vary the height of the deck. Still unsure whether I will create it with normal water level, or high water level. Here's some details on construction of the deck. Glueing all those planks on the frame. Each of them is 3mm wide. So, for 30cm I need 100 of them. No worries, I got 400. Yeah, I maybe miscalculated there. But, at a price of 1 Euro for 50, oh well. A lot of cutting to do though. Here's the jig I created for the railing. 6 cm of railing each time. An I need like well, not sure, but over 1 meters lenght I think, times two. At the bottom one finished piece. Test fitting the first bit. It fits, it works!

I think both the guy and his contraption look equally scary

It is accurate! You can't tell by those pictures, but I found some that show proof of that. No shortage here of anything basically

The boats now have the structure mounted that will support the bridge deck. As for colours to use, I found this:

Thanks very much for that Nick, I am laughing out loud, picturing your erifaeS !! I do need a laugh atm, so, yeah, THANKS! (And it's so recognizable.. You know I am reporting all the good progress I am making, but for sure leaving out all the failed attempts were releasing the boats from their litle jig resulting into them falling apart all together due to me not being patient enough, or using the wrong materials... So frustrating to see all the work put in suddenly turn into a mess of little parts of bamboo... already realize my dreams are in the English language, looks like my spontaneous cussing has also evolved there! Darn! Carp! And shift!

Oh, and thanks for educating me: Indeed I was doubting a bit on that word 'mould'... Though I should know the correct word, as back in 2010 at Duxford's Romainia, I did witness and even touch the jigs they had there to manufacture Spitfire wings!

Better? It's fine already! Boats are indeed different altogether... And from the pictures I can find it shows there's always been a heavy degree of 'maintenance' over the years, wooden boats been replaced with metal ones, the railing being replaced... all makes sense, back in the days, the river would freeze up every now and then, and wreak havoc on the bridge. More changes were made on the fixed part to the left/West, and replacement of the lifting bit... oh well. Since there's basically no one alive that would've seen the real bridge from 1910-ish I am going for, I really can't go wrong! The only thing I can screw up are them fingers!!

Milestone reached! Nine out of nine ships created! In the end, they are not all the same. I used a mould, but still some came out 1cm shorter than others, and some are really crooked... I don't care, no one will be able to tell in the end, I hope... Each ship made out of 20 separate parts. Another milestone: some three years ago I started building that one Road Bridge, next the Railway Bridge, and the Ferry, lots of wood work involved, sanding and cutting. Today, while working on this bridge, I finally cut one of my fingers real good. Called the medics, wasn't sure it needed treatment (Shoot me a PM and I'll send you a picture I took - nothing too special, but yet too bloody messy to show out here in public ), they initially told me it did not. Then they called back as said I needed a Tetanus shot... w00t. So, went out there, and the doctor's opinion was it did not need any stitches, nor did I need that shot - as I wasn't outside! No street dirt! So, in the end they glued it. Well, I tought of that myself, I've been gluing all them parts together, why not glue my finger? Different glue probably ... ) oh well... The small parts layed out at the top left, the right hand one of those, is the next subject of construction, they are the vertical bits that support the deck. Ten in total of the three-wide parts, 8 more of two bit parts. Here's a pic that shows more detail on that vertical stuff:

Progress! Three ships done, the fourth is in its mould, and to the right you can see the sides of the next 2.5 one. (Hm, must've lost one side along the way?) Had some issues with #4, as I took it out before the glue had dried completely, to the front and back en just split... and it fell apart. So, cleaned it up, put it back in, glued it back together. But, this afternoon I took it out again, and I quickly realized I had forgotten to put in the cross bars, so basically it quickly kinda collapsed. lol. Oh well, back into the mould again, add the cross stuff and it's back to watching glue dry

Lovely. (Not just the sound, the sight as well...)

Well, they said it was a test, but I found it to be a crazy test. Just like the people that tried to interviewed me there, and concluded I wás crazy. In retrospect, I think my mom was crazy even having me tested. Come to think of it, you're all crazy too! I am the only sane one. I'm sure!

So, I need to create nice small ships first. Basic material is bamboo, cheap skewers. The same I used on the rail bridge, and I got plenty of them left. Need to split each skewer in half, length wise, as they are too thick to bend, and I need like 6 halves for one ship, three on each side. As you can tell from the picture, not all ships are the same, so I do not need to be that precise. That's nice. Though knowing me myself and I, seeing what my OCD is like (Mind you, I am crazy - as my mother never ever had me tested for that ) I will end up with nine very rather similar ships. That is, if I live that long. Anyhow, you can see one of them is ready, the next one is being built... so, yeah, I am all good. And shift.

This will be a challenge. First part is fixed to the quay (quay not visible here), then there's a part that can be lifted, next a fixed element, next a three-ship element that can be ferried out. Some six ships on a flexible part, where the ships rise and fall with the river's water level. On the far side, all fixed stuff.

Dennis took a wrong turn, really, you know, shift and all! And next, I decided the color of the lifting booms was all off...they should not be like Red ... An there's a willow in the background, created from scratch ...

Cool! So it can go do "BANG!" like 60 times!

Lighting, the ruler shows cm, the wires are 0.4mm

lol... brilliant! Thanks!! (Must add: the ferry in the video is the later model, the one I am creating was operational until 1982... I think it would've been too small to host a live band, ánd move people and vehicles back and forth )

The water and the ramp will need a bit more attention

Thanks very much Fenrir! Very useful, and fun to boot!

Wow, nice!

Too much Moon ...

Immersion? Don't forget to add: * That really big fan pointing at your face that starts running when you open your cockpit, and make sure to use that UPD thingie so its speed is directly related to your airspeed! * Some of the rags you were using when you last gave your car an oil change ... hang 'm close to your nostrils. Or maybe hang 'm over the fan?