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hey gang, i love that idea using the toy cranes for gantry bridges....i do like my PIKO bridge but it wasn't easy to put together!
take a look at the above photo. i am not into "scratchbuilding" so much, as i feel that my efforts are never really satisfying and the fact i dont have a nice workshop/garage to tool in, that makes a huge difference in how i go about creating stuff.
thus, "kit bashing" is much more my style, it takes less tools and doesnt really cost much .
to create this coal loading crane i took a tonka crane truck, removed the crane (within 5 minutes!) and mounted it onto a "kitchen cutting board" from walmart. i used a cutting board because 1) its cut to perfect size already, its finished, 2) its fairly cheap and its thick.
then,...a trip to home depot provides the legs--grey metal shelving brackets (the 12"/15" length ones) make excellent supports and look really "industrial". screw these to the underbelly and there you have it--an overhead G scale METAL crane with working scoop bucket.
the coal loading center require the same legs but some scratchbuilt styrene bins. to empty the contents into the gondola cars below, i glue-gunned coffee thermos tops (the black lids with a "door" that swings open so you can drink out of them) to the underbelly of the structure...works great! the coal goes out the bottom "door" into the wagon!
