I know someone advertised brass mesh that could be used for (say) the top platform on tank cars. I am taking advise from those of you who have tried this, since I believe it would be difficult to avoid distorting the mesh, keeping the ends uniform, etc. I could live with PSC diamond plate, but the stuff is pretty dear. I could also live with a (solid) deck of .010 or .015 brass or copper, as long as I fabricate the handrails out of .010 phosphor bronze. Any ideas from Michaels/Hobby Lobby or elsewhere?
Not sure which tank car you are working with, but have you looked at Plano Model Products? They make all sorts of mesh walkways for a lot of tank cars, boxcars, coil cars, etc. They are precut and ready to use. I’ve used their stuff in the past and have liked it.
I use products from http://www.planomodelproducts.com/ Keith is a great guy, and his products are excellent.
I have bought many tank car and hopper car products, and he has scratch builders supplies, which feature “morton” style flooring mesh and the “apex” style.
I think CalScale also offers this type of material, but not sure.
Mike.
EDIT: Sorry Chuck, you posted while I was typing.
To cut this material, I use this:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/xur/xur9180et.htm
As recomended by a good guy, and scratch builder, “zstripe”, Frank, on this forum.
They work great.
Mike.
That just means that more than one person was trying to help. That’s a good thing!
As one that has scratchbuilt lots of tank cars, dito on Plano.
Check out the “web only” specials section of Plano’s website for some good deals on one-off or “oops” type production runs. Might find something there that would suit your needs: