I’ve been hunting a mesh small enough for (H0) chainlink fencing for ages… Last week I found I’ve been working right alongside the stuff - in some liquid filters.
I’m planning to find out more about sourcing the stuff and information on what it is exactly.
In the meantime… it has a hole size of less than 1mm maybe as small as 1/2mm (too small for me to measure)… I am trying to figure out how to paint it without bunging up all the holes. I don’t have an airbrush and spray can paint is too sticky - so that it does block everything up.
Anyone got any experience or ideas please?
Next question… When did they switch from galvanising the wire in chainlink fencing (giving a nice grey colour when new… and shades of rust as the galvanising broke down) to plastic coating (dipping) the wire (giving shades of green, brown or black that I have seen)?
HO scale chainlink fence huh? When I was building my chainlink fence, I got some tula (SP) from Wal-Mart. It is the stuf used for making bridal vail and comes in different sizes of holes. I got a yard of it for $1.00 and made lots of fence and still have 7/8 of it left for the layout I am now building. I simply cut it in strips, whether you want 4’, 6’, or 8’ fence. I put a small piece ot masking tape on one end and taped that end to a work bench or something and used cheap silver paint and painted it on both sides and allowed it to dry. If you want you could even give it a shot of Dul-Coat. I never had any problems with the paint filling in the holes. I was really impressed with the way it turned out.
If you need more info on how I did mine, let me know and I will be happy to fill you in with the details. Mike
[#ditto]That’s what I did. Hold the spray can about 1’ away and use light coats. The dull coat makes it look galvanized. Florists sell silver and gold mesh ribbon for floral arrangements that works good too.
I will try the marker pen idea: hadn’t thought of that.
Maybe some spray paints aren’t too sticky? Which ones???
I’ve looked at Tule but the holes are always over 1mm, often more like 2mm. The stuff I’ve found is superb, really fine threads, square and tiny holes.
I’ve managed to paint some, very slowly, by using acrylics and stippling hard with a deersfoot sable brush. The effect is superb. I’ve used blue/grey for galvanised - excellent - and burn’t sienna and black for mucky with rust - again, excellent. I’m dead chuffed with the experiments… I’d just like to have to put a lot less effort into it. The brush is wearing out fast.
I’m still working on finding out what this stuff is…
I’ve found Duplicolor automotive “chrome” paint has a fine spray nozzle on it and dries nice and hard. If yours are remaining sticky, it could be due to the material the mesh is made from and not the paint. Some things are just not paint friendly…
