I am still working on the lumber yard and will need a chain link fence with barbed wire along the top. I have heard to use screen wire cut at a 45 degree angle for the fence, but not sure about the post, top rail. and the barbed wire, I suppose I could use silver thread for the barbed wire. Any ideas on how to go about doing this? Maybe some of you that have made a chain link fence could help me? Thanks Mike
For the posts, you could use brass tubing or styrene rod. The only odd thought that I have for the barbed wire would be to wrap thread around a pencil or pen (or anything of the correct diameter) and spray it with hairspray or something similar. The frayed thread may be the right look for the barbed wire.
Hello you can use a spring for the barbed wire find the right size and streach it from pole to pole? frank
I have read articles (I think there was one in MR last year) on making barbed wire from thread–the idea is that thread is actually kind of rough, and if painted a dull silver color (or a dull rust color) it will make the thread stiff and bumpy, in order to simulate the barbs on barbed wire. The chain link part is easy to simulate with a fabric called “tulle,” a fine mesh fabric common at weddings, both for bridal veils and for those little bags that Jordan almonds come in. A trip to a fabric store and about $5 will give you enough tulle to put chainlink around your largest military installations.
The only good chainlink fencing that I’ve seen so far in a five year hunt (AAAAAARGH!!! [banghead][banghead][banghead]) has been Walthers for American 1:87 H0 and Ratio fo UK 00 1:72. The post systems and gates are completely different for the two countries.
Tulle comes in great shades of rust as well as grey but the only stuff I have been able to find is good for 0 scale/gauge and 1/35 but far to big for H0.
I would recomend getting at least one set of the Walthers stuff to give you a good example. I have hunted high and low and not found a suitable mesh this side of the pond. (Ideas anyone please)?
Posts… round brass tube is almost certainly better than plastic rod… it’s stronger and you can bend it in ways that are more like the way the real thing bends.
barbed wire… I would use the finest rust coloured or medium grey thread that I could find…these are the colours of 99% of wire… probably split 66% / 33%. I would never attempt to model the barbs… they are between 1/4" and 1/2" long… minute in H0. if you look at a barbed wire fence from anything more than about 20’ you won’t see the barbs unless you look for them.
What you might model is bits of paper and plastic bags caught on the wire.
Oh, yes… frequently fence top (barbed) wire is strung straight… it is only looped in rolls where there is a higher security need to justify the cost and effort. (Locating the stuff straight is hard enough work! People like the military and penitentiaries have machines for spinning it… and the budget… that you provide). There are sometimes added bars to keep it in shape. Talking of which… top wire can be layered as three strands straight up - three strands at an angle (usually into the property) or the fence top can be wyed (Y) with five strands -bottomm and two strands in /two strands out - This is a lot easier to model than a roll. I would try creating
I have used screen, but be sure to use the black cloth type screen. The wire type will unravel when cut at an angle. Use small styrene rod for the posts and rails, then paint the whole thing a metalic silver libe Sante Fe silver by Floquil. I had great luck with this on my layout.
Ron
another thing that grows in chainlink fences is vines, so you can cover thirty or forty feet of fence with groundfoam. there’s a stretch by the row where I work totally covered up.
[banghead][banghead][banghead] AAAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!!! Clematis! Russian Vine! Ivy!
That looped wire on top of security fences is called razor wire. Instead of barbs, it has sharp metal blades like razor blades on it. Nasty stuff to get caught in and much more of a deterrent to trespassers than barbed wire, from what I’ve seen.
Razor wire is a common misnomer. “Barbed Tape” starts, strictly speaking, as a flat steel tape punched with various barb shapes depending on whether it is security tape, prison tape or anti-personnel (military) tape. The higher grade stuff has the tape wrapped around a steel wire making it extremely hard to cut. I sincerely recommend not getting mixed up with it.
I think that it first came into use in the 80s with the military. I believe that it can be spun out from the back of vehicles fitted with special equipment. Prison use came??? (Anyone modelling a prison?). Civil/Security use began in the 90s I think.
In the UK anywhere non-military, with the stuff is required to have mandatory warning signs… 'cos the stuff is vicious.
This makes me think of another “security” measure… non-drying / anti-climb paint. This wonderful gooey stuff (for anyone who doesn’t know it) surface dries (usually black) but is never dry right through. It’s stickier than gum on your shoe. Important thing here is that it too has to have warning signs. I’ve seen this around since the 80s. Before that a mix of old sump oil and grit did the job without the signs.
Then again… (never seen it modelled)… broken bottles and sheet glass bits set in cement along the top of walls and around some roof edges… They never had warning signs… but the modern plastic or metal strips do…
But the best deterent is still a huge, aggresive guard dog…
Um… or geese…
Given a choice between an angry pit bull and an angry goose… take the pit bull every time.
I have never made barbed wire, so I can’t help you there. But I have made a lot of chain link fencing. For the posts and stringers, I use 26 gauge floral wire (available in Walmart’s crafts dept.). I cut the needed pieces to length, square the cut ends with a small file, and lay them on a piece of waxed paper taped over a simple template. The pieces are then “glued” with Bondex. For the chain link fabric, I use bridal veil, which I cut to size and lightly paint with Floquil Old Silver. After the paint has dried, I randomly streak the material with Prismacolor markers (mostly burnt sienna and 50% warm gray) Then I glue the material to the posts and stringers with Bondex (just a dab here and there applied with a toothpick is all that’s needed). Once the Bondex has dried, I carefully remove the fence from the waxed paper and install it on my layout or diorama. Apparently, there is no way to post photos on this forum, so I’ll post a link to a couple of pages on my website where you can see an example or two of how my fences turn out using the method I just described. Also, if you look around the site, you’ll see some photos on other pages that have chain link fences in them. I hope this helps or at least gives you some ideas for your own fences. http://homepage.mac.com/michael21/CMShome/faulksoilco1.html http://homepage.mac.com/michael21/CMShome/faulksoilco2.html (Just roll your mouse over the thumbnail photo to see the enlarged version.)
I used etched brass barbed wire for my fences - available from Scale Link in the UK.
Once it is twisted between the fingers it looks pretty good, and could easily be wrapped around a pencil for other effects.
Here it is on my layout, Sweethome Chicago
Jon
Razor wire, or as it was called in the military when I served, concertina wire, has been in use since the late 60’s. It’s mean stuff to get caught in, I can tell you.