so i need to make a bridge as a cake topper for a 70th birthday party (half of cake is his life in US half is his life in Italy) any ideas on how i could do this WELL

I would get a good extruder and start building it piece by piece by piece in flat sections, to assemble when dry. I had to do a standing open jail cell door (the type with the bars), and made each piece separately, let them dry for about 2 weeks to make sure the insides were BONE dry. Glued them together with GP glue carefully and let them dry another week. I wasn't chancing anything drooping or falling apart.

I would find a good bridge online, in google images, try searching "bridge template". Look at carefully, print it out, blow the pic up, resize it, cut the curves out, and figure what pieces you need to make it happen.

know where i could get an extruder that wont cost me an arm and a leg??... new job less pay lol..thats y im doing a lot of cakes on the side to make xtra cash from friends/family

Makins...it's the only one that won't kill your hand. It makes nicer ropes and shapes, and you can load more into it.

I have the fancy expensive made for fondant "sugarpaste" gun with the red handle. I can't compare it to the Makins' b/c I've never used that one, but I can say that the one I have KILLS my hand, so many times I couldn't even get the fondant thru the smaller discs and had to wait for DH to be home and do it for me (of course he made it look easy, but it still hurt his hand too). Sometimes you don't get what you pay for. I've read lots of recommendations on here for the Makins one, just wish I had read them before I brought mine.

This one is old, but wanted to update. Now that I've gotten used to it, I LOVE my red sugar paste gun . I found that I just have to do some extra kneading with the fondant or gum paste with some shortening to soften it up and it works wonderfully.

Amazon have the mankin extruder on special now. check it out