Chain link fencing...


JeffShultz

JeffShultz

Stay off the tracks!
Part of my railroad is going to have significant amount of chain link (cyclone) fencing.

Anyone have any suggestions, commercial products or otherwise, to make good looking chain link fencing in HO scale?

Thanks!
 
I did it Dave's way:

go to the fabric store (swallow your pride...) and ask for "toulle" (tool), it's the proper name for the net-like fabric. Or that's what they told me when I asked for "net". Get the finest size openings you can, and buy the smallest amount possible. In my case I bought 1/8 yard (4 ") but since it is either 36" or 42" wide, that's enough to fence an entire HO state west of the Mississippi!

Don't paint it until you finish building the fence. cut it into strips for the height you want (48" scale is about right) and cut it so that you have the little X along the top. This is a great detail and will disguise it's origin. maybe...but it does look great if you can do it.

I made fence supports from brass wire, soldered to form the posts and rails. Make the posts (not all, just a few) long enough to be pressed down into your scenery. Tape the pieces down to hold them while soldering. don't worry about the corners yet. Just make one very long straight fence, posts every 6-8 scale feet. Once that's done, I hand painted the wire dull silver.

Then you lay the fabric flat, position the frame over it, then touch it here and there with super glue. Make sure the fabric is straight!

Once it's glued and dry, spray paint both sides.

With a pair of pliers, bend it to fit the location, don't worry about posts being at the corners just yet.

Once it's all in, you can go back and add individual corner posts separately if you want the prototypical look and you don't have to solder them in if you are lucky. Or just plant a tree or bush at the corners to hide the fact that there aren't posts.

I've got a pic of mine somewhere at home, I'll look it up tonight and try to post it later.
 
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For that galvanized silver look, spray your fence silver, then with dullcote, then spray with rubbing alcohol in a pump sprayer (I use an old Windex bottle). The alcohol interacts with the talc in the dullcote in a non-uniform way making the talc come to the surface in some places. Instant weathering that looks good.

Some chain-link fencing has a slat across the top, usually made out of a smaller diameter galvanized pipe than the posts, but others have only a wire drawn taut to support the fence. It seems the fence without the slat is common on highway rights-of-way and the fence with the slat is more common on residential and commercial property.

Most residential chain-link fence around here is 48" in height, but 60" isn't too uncommon. For commercial property, 72" is common sometimes with barbed wire across the top. The large coil barbed wire can be found atop chain-link fences, especially in the seedier parts of town, but the angled three-wire type is still more common. And remember, the barbed wire always angles away from the property being fenced.

Why do I pay attention to fences? I'm a land surveyor and I've jumped my fair share over the years. I have the bad knees to prove it!
 
Here's the pic I mentioned. It's a few years old but not much has changed in the layout room lately....:(

HO scale btw
 
kenw, Looks like some mighty fine modeling work in the photo. I realy like the fence and I will have a requirement for quite a bit of it in the near future. I was thinking of using screen wire, but now I'll use your idea as I think it looks great.
Cheers from NS
Willis
 
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Most excellent - I received a very similar suggestion on another forum, with the following refinement:
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[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Draw your outline on a piece of pine or wood. Allow a little extra length on your verticals to "plant" in pre-drilled holes.

Use K&S .015 or slightly larger K&S brass wire and tape down the verticals. Take your horizontal members and tape them in place. Lightly solder each joint.
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I'm shuddering at the idea of that sort of detail soldering - a steady hand I'm not.
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Jeff, If you really don't feel like soldering it ,you always can super glue it. It's just the soldering is a lot tougher! :cool:
 
I used the Walther's chain link fence. It is similar to what KenW showed here, except I think the links are a little finer (maybe). It still had to be spray painted silver. I guess the fabric store method is cheaper, but the Walther's kit brings it all together in one box. The kit also includes a couple gates.

Bill
 
Oh, I attached the fence material to the posts by installing the posts first and then rubbing a little white glue on each post with a toothpick and then using clothes pins to clamp the material to the posts until dry. Worked excellent.

Bill
 
Another post

Sorry for three posts in a row. I need to think about this more before hitting the send button. Here's a couple examples of the Walther's fence. The best I could come up with for now.

Bill
 
Bill,
If it wasn't for how clean those locomotives look (UP appears to have actually been taken over by SP, not the other way around), I'd almost believe I was looking at the real thing.

Excellent job!
 
The Walther's fence is definitely finer and closer to scale. Also it can include the angled tops for the barbed wire (iirc). The gates are a big plus, but they could be handmade with some patience and good eyesight. But in looking at the parts in their kit, I realized I would spend a lot of time cleaning the flash off the cast parts anyway, and $20 buys a TON of fabric...and i already had the brass wire and paint and glue and the $2 for the fabric. What I didn't have was $20.

I've just always taken a look at anything commercially available and tried to see if I could do it myself. Not always turning out as well tho usually cheaper, but always more of a challenge!

Like my HO scale pallets, I would just rather do it myself and get close than spend $$ to get it perfect. The "doing" is the best part for me.

Same approach for my streets: black/grey wet/dry sandpaper, approx 400grit. Dry brush with some grimey black in spots and it looks a lot like asphalt. Same stuff works for "built-up" flat tarred roofs.

Trees? handmade from wire and from nandina seedpods. I think they look great.

I think I need to write a few articles to post here. We'll load this site to the hilt! Give me a few weeks and I'll see what I can do. It may even get me back into the trainroom....now that's therapy. ;)
 
I use the 400 grit sandpaper for exactly the same reason. I'll be interested to see what you do to it for tar lines... and to hide seams.

Right now I'm very interested in anyone's solutions when it comes to trees - I've got some tall, slender cottonwoods to figure out how to model.
 
Trees are a funny thing Ken. When I look at a lot of people's trees, I usually go "yuck!". They are so subjective. I'm happy with mine, but I bet a lot of people would look at them a think they weren't so great. Maybe we need to start a thread on home-made trees. I'm sure we'd get some laughs.

Bill
 
JeffShultz said:
Part of my railroad is going to have significant amount of chain link (cyclone) fencing.

Anyone have any suggestions, commercial products or otherwise, to make good looking chain link fencing in HO scale?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Jeff:

I've used bridal veil before (at a local fabric store) ACC'd to K&S brass wire then airbrushed.

The guys above have pretty much given most of the great ideas for this.

THere are castings availabe for the taller poles.

MKTMIKE :cool:
 
just my two cents worth... but i found in another forum that you can use a cheap splatter sceen (the type that goes over a fry pan... from the dollar store)

i have yet to find a splatter guard at the dollar store locally, but am planning to look during the next trip to wally world...
 
I looked at the two 12" splatter screens we have hanging over the sink (they're great for draining the grease from hamburger) and asked my wife to start looking for more of them at the dollar store...
 
Hmmm! I'd better go to town before the word gets around. We have three of four of them stores ( different names) but no hobby shop! :(
 
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