Märklin H0 modular Steel Girder Bridge Rail-C R3-30° Element (multi part, pluggable) / Märklin H0 modulare Stahlträger-Brücke Gleis-C Element R3 30° (mehrteilig, steckbar)

Motivation

[ New design concept for pluggable assembly without glueing ]
Glueing for assembly can be somewhat difficult and you easily mess up your model.
Therefore this design approach allows a stable assembly by simply plugging smaller parts together.
Easy assembly and disassembly is possible.

[ I need a curved bridge element for radius R3... ]
For a more realistic look of the bridge I designed a rail element for the curved Rail-C radius R3 30° rails.
Especially for trains with long passenger carriages the R3 curves give a more realistic impression.
The R3 curve elements are designed to match the R2 curve elements, so it  is possible to realize a curved bridge/ramp with two parallel tracks.

[Oh, can I print such a large element? ]
The track base is built from two half-elements for plugging, so you can print all parts on a "regular" small 3D-printer with ~230mm heatbed size.
No extra glueing required!

[ What about the pillars? ]
When building a temporary model railway bridge or ramp, you need pillars with various sizes.
Using Lego for this purpose worked fine, but it did not look too realistic.
For this reason I designed a pluggable model railway pillar system, that allows you to create almost any pillar height you need.

[ Steel girder bridge design ]
For a more realistic look of a steel girder bridge, I designed a rail element for the curved Rail-C R3 rails.
The element can be combined with all other elements of the modular bridge system.
The modular bridge elements fit on top of the modular Bridge pillar system and can be connected with removable snap-in-connectors for good stability.

The connector design leaves enough tolerance for the changing slopes needed for the bridge ramps.


The Märklin Rail-C system is intended to be used with for use with our design.
 

Print

Printed with prusament PLA (Gentleman's Grey)
To build a complete ramp or bridge with ramps, you need quite a number of pillars and rail elements.
For one complete R3 curved rail support element (multi part) you need to print the following components:

  [ base element ]
  1x H0_Bruecke_R3_30deg_HalfBaseLeft_v30.stl (left half of base element)
  1x H0_Bruecke_R3_30deg_HalfBaseRight_v30.stl (righthalf of base element)
     (support:                  not required)
     (brim:                       not required for satin or smooth sheet)
     (print orientation:   upright)
     (colour:                    Gentleman's Grey)

  [ Steel-Grid-Covers option 1: Use the full size steel-grid covers ]
  1x H0_Bruecke_R3_30deg_AbdeckGitter_innen_v20_1.stl (steel-grid inner radius) 
     (support:                  not required)
     (brim:                       not required for satin or smooth sheet)
     (print orientation:   top face facing downwards, smooth or satin metal sheet)
     (colour:                    Gentleman's Grey)

  1x H0_Bruecke_R3_30deg_AbdeckGitter_aussen_v20_1.stl (steel-grid outer radius)
     (support:                  not required)
     (brim:                       not required for satin or smooth sheet)
     (print orientation:   top face facing downwards, smooth or satin metal sheet)
     (colour:                    Gentleman's Grey)

  [ Steel-Grid-Covers option 2: Use the half size steel grid covers]
  2x H0_Bruecke_R3_30deg_AbdeckGitterHalb_innen_v30.stl (steel-grid inner radius) 
     (support:                  not required)
     (brim:                       not required for satin or smooth sheet)
     (print orientation:   top face facing downwards, smooth or satin metal sheet)
     (colour:                    Gentleman's Grey)

  2x H0_Bruecke_R3_30deg_AbdeckGitterHalb_aussen_v30.stl (steel-grid outer radius)
     (support:                  not required)
     (brim:                       not required for satin or smooth sheet)
     (print orientation:   top face facing downwards, smooth or satin metal sheet)
     (colour:                    Gentleman's Grey)

  [ Connectors ]
  2x H0_Bruecke_Verbinder_v01.stl (snap-in-connector)
     (support:                 not required)
     (brim:                       not required for smooth sheet)
     (print orientation:   left or right side)
     (colour:                    Gentleman's Grey) 
 

Assembly

[Steel Girder Bridge Pluggable Rail Support Element R3 30° complete]

[ base element ]
The curved R3 rail support base element is printed in two parts.
Step_1:  You need break off the printing support of the nose opening for each HalfBase-part.
              Make sure you have a neat opening. Remove excess material with a sharp blade.
Step_2: You need to plug the two parts of the base element together 
             (the noses facing inward)
              Hint:
              Place both parts on an even surface and align openings and noses.
              Gently push the two parts together so the noses slide into the openings (circular movement).

[ steel-grid covers ]
Option 1: Use the full size steel-grid covers
Option 2: Use the half size steel grid covers

When the base element is ready, then you can assemble the steel-grid-parts.
Simply place the steel-grid-parts (inner radius+outer radius) in their related positions on the base element and carefully push in the snap hooks.
(the steel-grid parts have a different radius and do only fit in exactly their related position with hooks facing down)
This gives a nice impression of a steel girder bridge construction.

[ connectors ]
The snap-in-connectors go into the small openings (left+right) at the ends of the rail support element.
The connected rail support elements fit on top of the pillar system.

[ rails ]
The Märklin curved Rail-C element R3 30° (24330) is simply placed in the center position to form the railroad track.

Play & Enjoy!!!