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Safari Bridge

man this thing is cool!!!!!!! very nice work! i wish i had half the patience that you do! i have a hard time building stuff like this because i have the attention span of a squirrel.. i'll work on something for an hour, get bored or tired say fawk it go inside take a nap have the intentions of going back outside but never actually do..:shock:

Thanks. I deffinately have my share of false start projects. just don't post picutures of them.
 
looking forward to updates!!! unfortunately i cant do alot of stuff on my course right now because its covered in snow:cry: then we have about a month or so of parts of the yard becoming a lake and my course is wet and sloppy..:cry:
 
I got some nice manilla 3 strand rope, 6mm. I'm waiting on some smaller diameter stuff I got from a model ship rigging supply place. So, I'm ready to start on the susspensions.

It's been a crazy week though, we lost power for a couple of days & that really through me out of wack. I want to get some of these "indoor" projects done. Once the slop is gone and the weather get's warmer I'll be working on the ORV park.
 
That is one cool looking home scale park...

Thanks!

I made some little suspension rope hangers. I don't know if anything like this really exists on a bridge but I wanted to create some detail so... I made it up.

Also experimented with rubbing some dark wood stain into the lashing.

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wow!! outstanding work their!!!! I like the use of the straight planks held down to the bridge by cross planks tied to the bamboo. It is so awesome! Now if only you could get the vegitation to look like the 1:1 pic it will be perfect,I think you can pull it off!
 
wow!! outstanding work their!!!! I like the use of the straight planks held down to the bridge by cross planks tied to the bamboo. It is so awesome! Now if only you could get the vegitation to look like the 1:1 pic it will be perfect,I think you can pull it off!

Much Thanks for the kind words, I did a bit of weathering on the slats & bamboo & really looks good. would have gotten some pics but had a little incendent with my 2 year old & super glue that landed me in the ER last night. Just a little reminder to those who have kids, keep that stuff up & out of reach.

I've picked up a few mini palms at Lowes. so vegetation is in the plan.
 
Can't wait to get a decent place so I can start doing this type of stuff. May just make it storage friendly. ^__^

After I finish weathering it, I plan to seal it with matte polyurethane. but it is sectional for the purpose of bringing it in for the winter or whenever. this section will be the middle, it's 4'. I plan to have a section on either side that will be cut to fit in an area within the park but roughly 4' each. so should be roughly 12' overall in 3 sections.
 
Thanks guys!

I've liked the way this has turned out. so much so, that I scoped out some more prominant locations for it in my RC Park. This has meant a little expansion so I'm now looking at another section on legs & a least one more span of bamboo runners. I'm going by a friends house who has a rampant patch of bamboo. if it's small enough diameter to use, it will be free & then there is no limit.

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Here is some weathering & a oil drum made from tuna cans. The weathering is a combination of dark walnut & ebony stain, flat black paint wash & clear satin poly eurothane. It still has a little more shine to it than I would like.... I didn't see "Matte" finish poly.

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Hey, I do grow "bonsia". I really just prefer to call them little trees. Check out an auther named herb gustafson if you can find his books. Great books on it, good plain logical writing. I have trees I keep out all year round (I'm in Illinois, I do a cold frame but have had much success with wintering the trees in the ground). My oldest trees from seeds are about 18 years old. But native trees to your area can be dwarfed to a point. Pines are a little harder, yet you can trim the needles down with only a little browning of the tips, plus the brighter the light and least amount of water to keep them alive natually dwarf them. Do the research, but I have maples that produce fairly small leaves. Elms are easy, mulberrys too. Both are weed like and grow anywhere. Maples you can defoliate in the summer and new leaves will come back smaller. If you grow your "bonsia" in the ground the trunks actually get bigger faster, key is to dig them up right before or after they go dormant and trim the roots, get rid of most the big roots to encourage the finer small ones, tops of trees are dictated by the root systems. Soil structure is important to. You want plenty of air voids as well as small jagged rocks, like a fine lava rock. It's all about drainage, helps control watering.
I want to do up my yard when I have my own someday.
Sorry if I've over stepped my bounds, but "bonsia" is easier than many think. I just can't help it, I really enjoy growing small plants.
Traditionally the trees are just displayed in pots most the time then allowed to be put in the ground for easier growing. The root trimming is the important thing there. Oh, and when trimming roots do it as fast as you can to avoid shocking the trees too much, it takes about 2 weeks to tell if your trees has survived the pruning.
I love the bridge and you land scape looks cool as hell, I'd do some tres and plants for sure!!!
I'll keep watching!
Any questions on plants feel free to ask, I'll do what I can, or point you in some direction.
 
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Hey, I do grow "bonsia". I really just prefer to call them little trees. Check out an auther named herb gustafson if you can find his books. Great books on it, good plain logical writing. I have trees I keep out all year round (I'm in Illinois, I do a cold frame but have had much success with wintering the trees in the ground). My oldest trees from seeds are about 18 years old. But native trees to your area can be dwarfed to a point. Pines are a little harder, yet you can trim the needles down with only a little browning of the tips, plus the brighter the light and least amount of water to keep them alive natually dwarf them. Do the research, but I have maples that produce fairly small leaves. Elms are easy, mulberrys too. Both are weed like and grow anywhere. Maples you can defoliate in the summer and new leaves will come back smaller. If you grow your "bonsia" in the ground the trunks actually get bigger faster, key is to dig them up right before or after they go dormant and trim the roots, get rid of most the big roots to encourage the finer small ones, tops of trees are dictated by the root systems. Soil structure is important to. You want plenty of air voids as well as small jagged rocks, like a fine lava rock. It's all about drainage, helps control watering.
I want to do up my yard when I have my own someday.
Sorry if I've over stepped my bounds, but "bonsia" is easier than many think. I just can't help it, I really enjoy growing small plants.
Traditionally the trees are just displayed in pots most the time then allowed to be put in the ground for easier growing. The root trimming is the important thing there. Oh, and when trimming roots do it as fast as you can to avoid shocking the trees too much, it takes about 2 weeks to tell if your trees has survived the pruning.
I love the bridge and you land scape looks cool as hell, I'd do some tres and plants for sure!!!
I'll keep watching!
Any questions on plants feel free to ask, I'll do what I can, or point you in some direction.

cool. Yea I have a few that are bonsai, where I pruned the roots & they're in a container. I hide the containers so that they look like they're planted. I found a plase on line that sold plastic bonsai pots, but I found the heavy plastic dog food bowls work well. drilled some holes & put screen in the bottom.

I've got a trident maple & some spruces & cedars. some I just pruned them heavy & planted them, some are bonsai. I just got a sego palm & ponytail palm at Lowe's for the tropical motif. keeping them inside till it get's warm.

18 years, you must have some cool trees. we have a local guru who I have gone to for advice:

Higo Garden Bonsai & Gallery

I started out just looking for scale trees but... it morphed into yet another hobby.
 
Sweet, I lived for a little while just north of Richmond VA. I worked at a whole sale nursery, Sandy's Plants.
I looked at your guru's site. Looks good!
I grow alot of mine just in terra cotta pots. Again they dry up better so I can control the watering better.
A key to watering(I don't know if that guy told you is water in 3 stages, approx. 5 to 10 minutes apart).
The first just starts to get the soil wet.
The second fully saturates and causes the inter pressures of the soil and roots to equalize, allowing for nutrients to transfer better.
The third helps the nutrients flow but also allows the plant to release waste, yes plants expel wastes.
This is a good key to all plants. Proper watering is the final lesson in traditional schools of bonsia.
Can't wait to see what else you do!!!
 
Sweet, I lived for a little while just north of Richmond VA. I worked at a whole sale nursery, Sandy's Plants.
I looked at your guru's site. Looks good!
I grow alot of mine just in terra cotta pots. Again they dry up better so I can control the watering better.
A key to watering(I don't know if that guy told you is water in 3 stages, approx. 5 to 10 minutes apart).
The first just starts to get the soil wet.
The second fully saturates and causes the inter pressures of the soil and roots to equalize, allowing for nutrients to transfer better.
The third helps the nutrients flow but also allows the plant to release waste, yes plants expel wastes.
This is a good key to all plants. Proper watering is the final lesson in traditional schools of bonsia.
Can't wait to see what else you do!!!

Thanks for the tips. It's a cool hobby that compliments a scale park of any sort well.

Here is a cool scale village in the UK that someone on scale4x4 turned me on to. I contacted them about their trees & they are all just trees & shrubs that grow in the area but take to pruning very well. This is all 1:10 scale.

Isle of Wight Attractions - The Model Village, Godshill, Isle of Wight
 
Thanks for the tips. It's a cool hobby that compliments a scale park of any sort well.

Here is a cool scale village in the UK that someone on scale4x4 turned me on to. I contacted them about their trees & they are all just trees & shrubs that grow in the area but take to pruning very well. This is all 1:10 scale.

Isle of Wight Attractions - The Model Village, Godshill, Isle of Wight

Thanks for sharing that link, too bad the place is in the UK:cry:. I was kinda bummed out, I only found 2 pictures on the entire website. I am an overgrown kid.... I like pictures:lmao:

I finally broke down out of desperation clicking on EVERYTHING on every page and finally clicked the itty bitty little Facebook icon. That got me 44 very cool pictures on their facebook page"thumbsup"

Wow!... It says the place is going on it's 60th year!!! The building and scale scenes are cool, but the mass of scale plantings is beyond imagination:shock:
It surely looks like a place you could easily spend an entire day just walking around saying Wow over and over. .... The little model of the entire place with figures viewing it is classic. ......model of a model:ror:

I wonder what they would do if someone showed up with a scale RC wanting to drive it around and take some pictures or video?
 
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Thanks for sharing that link, too bad the place is in the UK:cry:. I was kinda bummed out, I only found 2 pictures on the entire website. I am an overgrown kid.... I like pictures:lmao:

I finally broke down out of desperation clicking on EVERYTHING on every page and finally clicked the itty bitty little Facebook icon. That got me 44 very cool pictures on their facebook page"thumbsup"

Wow!... It says the place is going on it's 60th year!!! The building and scale scenes are cool, but the mass of scale plantings is beyond imagination:shock:
It surely looks like a place you could easily spend an entire day just walking around saying Wow over and over. .... The little model of the entire place with figures viewing it is classic. ......model of a model:ror:

I wonder what they would do if someone showed up with a scale RC wanting to drive it around and take some pictures or video?

I think there is an RC airfield. I'll PM you with a link to more photos. they are from a guy who emailed them to me so I don't feel right putting his pics up for anyone to click on but I was blown away by this "model". What I really liked about it was how they incorporated 1:1 with scale. Like there is foot paths & lighting & a pond.
 
Test fitting it into the rocks. I need one little short span to complete. level it up, add remaining planks, a bit of spilled oil, suspensions & it will be ready by... June?

100_7871.jpg
 
This shows the location in the RC park a little better & how it ties in with previous bridges, just makes me want to redo all my bridges in bamboo:

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