Depending on scale...

Have you thought of tulle netting?

Scale

Kevin-

Forgot the scale- duh! I model in HO scale, and I'll check out tulle netting. Thanks for the suggestion.

Tom Patterson

Tee Posts

The green and white posts are called tee-posts. I have hundreds of them around our pastures. They measure 1-1/2" across both edges when viewed from the top. Those are going to be some mighty small posts!

In HO = 0.017"
In N you need a microscope

Sorry, I have not seen them for sale anywhere.

The fencing looks like something you might find in etched brass detail.

Looking closer

At first glance I thought all there was to the fence was the mesh.  I missed the barbed wire at the top.  That looks like about 4" mesh so tulle would be too fine I think.

What about aluminum window screen for the mesh?  Barbed wire is a tough one though.

I don't think I have ever seen any fencing like this offered as a kit.

Those small posts would have to be 24 or 26 gauge wire I'm guessing.

I think it's definitely a scratch build. :o)

Concerning Tee Posts

I was watching a show on the Discovery channel a while back that was talking about how old railroad equipment is "reused".  They also showed how old railroad rails are converted into Tee Posts - by heating the rails and then stretching the steel out and making the posts.

So, if you want something from a railroad, go buy some Tee Posts.

Window Screen

I checked the web for aluminum window screen and it has the woven appearance that you would expect from woven strands of aluminum. But while at the site I checkout out the fiberglass window screen and it appears it might work. I have some in the basement and dismissed it initially as it appears too thick. A closer look reveals that the mesh is just under a scale 6 inches and the width of the material is .011. The thread faces are a little thicker at .015. The screen I have is black, so I'll spray a stretch of it with a light coat of aluminum and see if this helps reduce the appearance of the overall size of the webbing.

Thanks for the suggestion, Kevin.

Tom Patterson

Details 4U

The fencing is galvanized. After about a year the shiny galvanized appearance changes to a totally flat gray due to zinc oxide forming. There will also be a little rust any place they are stapled to a wood post. The tee-posts rust on the very top surfaces where the post driver damaged the paint. They also tend to show a little rusting where they enter the ground. The green paint starts out glossy but after a couple years becomes semi-gloss. Tee-posts don't work well at corners. Either a substantial wood post (6x6 or 8 rd) will be at each corner or at the very least a tee post with diagonal tee-posts will be at the corners.

For your posts, K & S brass angle?

I just checked the Walthers web page for K & S brass shapes.  The smallest brass angle I saw was 1/32 inch, which would scale out in ho to be close to 3"x3".  You could make the "T" post by soldering 2 lengths of the brass angle back to back and cutting to length.  I ho the 1/32" angle would be about 2-3 times the scale size of an ho scale post.  The other possibility would be to just use a round or square post.  They sell music wire in small diameters.  As far as the barbed wire, considering that the barbs on barbed wire typically are somewhere in the area of 5/16 to 3/8 inch long if I remember correctly, the barbs would be so small in ho that I think the detail would disappear of done to scale.  I think a thin strand of wire would be sufficient to model the barbed wire.

I have been using nylon

I have been using nylon window screen now over tulle as I feel it just looks better, to me. Yes it is thicker, but the tulle seems to disappear on the layout. Cut the screen at right angles for farm fencing, or at 45 degrees for chain link. Regards the posts, fine K&S music wire will have some strength to set up on the layout.

Steve   

Barbed wire

On a previous layout I topped a tulle chain link fence with barbed wire by running cheap thread and painting it silver (rust would be better for an older fence) The fuzz on the thread (which is why you want cheap thread) in HO scale, approximated the barbs. At normal viewing distance it looked like barbed wire.

Bill Williams

Great Idea!

That sounds like a great idea Bill!  I'm going to have to try that.  Thanks for the tip.

Barbed Wire for HO scale that looks like Barbed wire

Dan's suggestion is

Dan's suggestion is excellent. Another idea that I have used for razor wire, I take about a 24 ga. bare wire, wrap it tightly around a 1/8" or slightly larger metal rod in a single layer. I then take it off carefully trying to preserve the loops, stretch it out a bit until it looks good to the eye, (kind of like a real long lazy spring) and then just place it on top of my chain link fence. I don't paint it either as the brass or silver colour sets it apart nicely. The effect to me is very convincing. 

Steve

PS. I find in many instances that trying to duplicate very accurate scales of details sometimes in not worth the effort as the details tend to disappear on the layout.  To me fencing is one of those details where the wedding tulle just vanished.  Probably scale electrical and phone wires would have the same problem. Anybody have any other situations where bigger is actually better? and keep it clean!!!! 

bigger, not always better,but

nails holes in siding seem to be larger than seen in real life, if seen at all. Barbed wire is hard to see past 40 feet in real life so in HO, I'd just use thin wire or thread. Mortar in older brick walls becomes hard to see even up close, but modelers insist on doing all brick work with it.