Rough it up

before you paint using various grits of sandpaper.  Wood usually looks worse the closer it is to the ground, so the coarsest sandpaper should be used at the base of the fence.  You could also drill some "knotholes" if the fence is close to the front of the layout. 

rotten posts

Don't forget to simulate the occasional rotten post and subsequent leaning fence panel.

I guess there are the extreme cases as well...

Fences

Fences
1.    Central Valley fences.
2.    Cut out individual boards for character.
3.    Cut off top of fence 1/32"-1/16" at slight angle.
4.    Paint back of fence with Floquil concrete. Dry
5.    Paint front of fence with browns, tans, yellow, red, blue, etc. Dry.
6.    Dry brush various earth tone colors.
7.    Weather back with india ink wash. Dry.
8.    Weather front with india ink wash. Brush on vertically. Dry.
9.    Stain a few individual boards with Floquil stain.
10.  Weather with chalks, weathering powders.
11.  Add signs, graffiti.

A fence I am working on.

A fence I am working on. 

Thank you all! Jerry, your

My fence

Hi,

This is my fence, made it from Evergreen strips. The procedure is similar to others - I used rough sandpaper, after sanding was painted with mixture of raw sienna, white and black and added various shades and weathered.

Cheers,

@ jure

Nice wooden fence.   I think those plastic ones look too smooth and the boards too wide? Most fence boards here are 8 inches or less as the wider lumber cost a premium price. That was a good point about rotting posts and leaning fences, one section of my fence has been tied to a tree to keep it from falling over for about 5 years:> ) ......DaveB

Dave

Thanks Dave. Maybe it looks like you say. But all those boards are not smooth. If you take a closer look at the fence, you can see that the surface is rough. The photo doesn't show correctly. About width. I took the measure from Bar Mills fence, and boards on it are 2 mm wide (1/8"), the same as mine.  So their fence isn't correct, obviously.

Cheers,

I was thinking that 1/8" is

I was thinking that 1/8" is not to wide, that is 6.85 inches if you convert to measure of prototype.

Cheers,

"But all those boards are not smooth."

Hi Jure, The smooth and wide boards I was referring to are the plastic fence at the top of the thread. Your wooden fence looks very fine.....DaveB

Oops, sorry!  Ok I got it.

Oops, sorry!  Ok I got it.

1/8" Wide Fence Board

In HO scale, a 1/8" wide board is about 11" = too wide.

Thanks Norman for the note.

Thanks Norman for the note. Like I wrote before, I took the measure from Bar Mills fence. Their Insta Fences are 1/8" wide, oversized actually. Which size would be proper?

Thanks and cheers,

Board fence sizes

Jure;

From my experience, in the western U.S. states, board fences use most often either 3 inch, 4 inch or 6 inch boards. To get correct sizing, you might benefit from use of an early subscriber-only bonus item from MRH:

http://macrodyn.com/assets/files/MRH-Q3/Universal_Modeling_Sizes_Chart.pdf

or

http://macrodyn.com/assets/files/MRH-Q3/Universal_Modeling_Sizes_Chart.xls

Thanks Bill.  

Thanks Bill.

Wood Fencing

Does anyone have any suggestions for split rail fence or similar as appropriate on uneven terrain, such as would be used on western US pasture land circa late 1950s?

Thanks in advance.  JJH

"Does anyone have any

"Does anyone have any suggestions for split rail fence or similar as appropriate on uneven terrain, such as would be used on western US pasture land circa late 1950s?" 

   The ranches  here in central Cali had some old split redwood fences ( about 3 inch square split posts driven into the ground at about 6 inch spacing , they were about 4 foot high or a bit less. They had a top board nailed to the posts to give them longitudinal rigidity) , they were built way before the 1950's though when redwood lumbering was going full blast.  By the 1950's a ranch would be using 4 by 4 posts with barbed wire for most pasture land or posts with sawn boards for corrals. ...DaveB 

Split Rail Fence

_{Hi All}

_{I purchased a "Three Rail Fence", N-Kit # 3511 for my farm to keep the cows from wandering onto the rails. They have a wide variety of fencing, plus other detailing stuff. They carry (manufacture) detail parts from Z to O scale.}

_{http://www.rslaserkits.com/index.html}

_Bob

The width of the boards would

The width of the boards would depend on the time period as well as the part of the country one was in. I remember in my youth fruit came in wooden boxes and the boards used to make them were wider than 6 inches. I also remember fences made from planks around construction sites etc that were not only wider than what is in use today but much thicker as well. In areas where wood was plentiful and cheap it would be thick and wide. As one got further away from cheap timber things would change.

Rob in Texas

suggestion from a fire-conscious MR

Might I suggest you get the cardboard and plastic off the electric stove?

That is all, carry on.

I just put together this

I just put together this laser cut fence kit. I haven't made the holes for the posts in the ground yet. It will represent a fairly new fence that will be painted white.

I drilled some holes for the

I drilled some holes for the posts and test fitted the fence.

Finally painted the fence