Noticed a couple of you had the chain link fence in the layout photo's. I got some of the Walther's fencing and have it painted. Did some of you use the collar, I have some brass tubing, any tip's on the installation? It does not look too hard, but I will take all the advice I can get. Bill Jackson I am chasing, the scene right now, have my coke ovens in place, but need to do this first.
Bill, one of the local guys swears by net material found in fabric stores and uses brass rod for the posts and rails.
I will check out the fabric store. The kit I got from Walthers, the posts are pretty ok, the material is questionable, after painting, it looks better, although maybe their might be something with a little bigger holes. It kinda looks like a solid wall, from a distance, the holes being that small. Bill Jackson Still looking for tips, (Non Paid Tips though)
Keith has great advice. I forget the product name. Maybe Tulle or wedding vale material. Browse around and you'll know it when you see it.
Hi William I made all this for about 5 bucks. Used .030 piano wire cut to scale 8' ground one end to a point and hammered them into the railroad. Then used .025 wire and soldiered it to the tops of the posts, I didnt paint any of the stuff shown, then put a liberal amount of Hob-e-Tac (Woodland Scenics) glue on the top rails and posts, let it dry overnight. I then went down to a fabric shop and bought a yard of fabric called Tulle. Got mine in a Gray color, lay it out on a big cutting surface tape it to keep it from balling up, then I used long pieces of masking tape cut to the desire fence height, to hold the fabric while cutting it. No need for a straight edge just use a sharp blade and cut along the tape lines, the fabric will pull easily from the tape when your preparing to glue it to the fence. Oh yea use thick ACC over the top of the Tulle in critical locations to help with a stronger bond. I think it looks OK actually better than the Plastruct or Walthers fence, And you can do scale miles of the stuff fairly quickly as well as inexpensive, it will stand up to a little abuse too. It worked for me.
Hey Tom, thanks for the great tip's. I seen those photo's but didn't remember the thread. I would have never thought of using piano wire. Man that is great looking fence. We did not build it that good on the railroad. Bill Jackson That sure beats glueing all those small strips togather
Bill, we was on a Local one time that was spotting an industry. The flop over de-rail worked just fine, derailed our caboose just like it was supposed to, but that chain link fence didn't stop anything..... RUH_ROW, did I pay that job insurance?? Those derails work almost every time..... Nothing like the sound of a locomotives gear cases dragging on the rail, talk about helpless. It is amazing what a locomotive can pull while on the rails, and dis-stressing how helpless they are off the rail. Pulled a loaded semi out of our way one time and didnt even use the throttle, had 4 SD's turns out 1.6 million lbs of locomotive kinetic energy will move quite a semi load.
I've always had problems with chain link fence, seem's its always like that before the crew got their. ODD ! Derails do work, you know you alway's here about the "automatic reaction" where you do things before you realize what you are doing. I was working a American Crane, on the lead line, and we was switching gon's so I could reach the next load. First car passed, and the foreman reached and threw the derail. Nothing you can do, you can't stop. Bump, Bump gondola run aground. Completely off the tie's. Had something like that in Wyoming, train went into emergency, Conductor got off the caboose facing the handrails right off a open deck bridge. Only about 10 feet, he was lucky, broken arm, course you almost always have neck issues. Strange place we work! William Jackson
couple things I forgot to mention. When cutting the Tulle make sure your cuts will have the fence wire oriented right for a chain link fence, otherwise it will look like a sheep fence. And cut it taller than you need as you will stretch it a little when installing it and it will draw down quite a bit. What I did was after you do all the posts and top rails and dry over night, start putting the fence on at one end, and just attach it to the end post then use the ACC to strengthen that joint let it dry, you can work with 6-8 inches of the fabric and just work your way to the end use the ACC at the end, let it dry good. You can take a sharp exacto blade and run down the end post and trim any extra off, works pretty good. The gates were made buy bending the piano wire around and soldering it to itself, cover with the glues and fabric, trim, I then ground a point on the mounting post drilled a hole in the layout and stuck the gate in, that way you can open and close the gates. Anyway probably way more than you wanted to know
Tom, thanks for all the information and it is not too much. I think I will have a lash at it. I have a park location planned and its right across from the Salvation Army house. You know thats real prototypical, rail lines run through some pretty shady areas. Kansas City Gooseneck comes to mind. But I will take all the info. Again Thanks, as I would have never thought of what you have already posted. Bill Jackson
If you build your framework of posts and rails, then you could stretch out the Tulle over the frame work laid out on top of waxed paper tacked down to foam or some other substrate. Then it would be a simple task to tack the Tulle to the framework with CA and spritz with accelerator. The CA will not stick to waxed paper.
Keith, thats a good idea also, my surface is the 1/2 inch insulation, and I don't solder that well. Tom's soldering looked awful good. Kinda of master work. Mine looks more like a pigeon sat down. Tom, is the top rail on your's also the piano wire? I know you said the uprights was. Thanks for all the input. It's been so long, I did not remember what tulle looked like, as I recall, the other side looked great also. Bill Jackson
William The top rail is just plain wire from the hardware store that is .025, in my estimation piano wire would be pretty difficult to wrap around the curves and corners of the fence. The top rails on these are all one piece of wire just bent to where the posts were. I am using Fiber Bracing (NOT Celotex) for all my base or sub-roadbed. Fiber bracing is an Asphalt coated 4X8 sheet, a great sound barrier, sells for about 10 bucks a sheet here, it is denser than Celotex, has purple printing on one side, will hold a nail or screw pretty good, but its not as dense as Homasote either. It worked out well for me. But you are right if a person is using foam board you aint gonna be soldering anything sticking in that. Honestly I didnt even consider that. All I used was a automotive type high wattage iron and good Flux to do it, the joint is only as strong as the sheer or tensile strength of solder. I should say that what works for me may not work for others, as my building materials are somewhat different than what some folks use. Looked at the price of 2" foam board compared to the quantity needed, with elevation changes and decided to go a different route. I have not followed much of a guide for building this thing (much to my chagrin on occasion). Got a certain amount of satisfaction on the building of this on such a scale for a price that was at least conceived as being frugal. The basic construction of the sub-road bed is 3/4" Wafer Board w Fiber Bracing glued or screwed to the Wafer Board w 3/4" Wafer Board risers. Made templates for double and single track 48"-72" curves out of 1/4" Masonite, that I would simply layout on 4X8 sheets to get the maximum amount to pieces for a single sheet, had stacks of them for building, used the scraps for risers and joint gussets. It really is crude I guess, but serviceable and in-expensive, and not too much waste. Sure wish I had known you guys before I built it, would have done things different in some respects, but might still be debating on how to do it at all too. I was told by a wise man that a Camel was actually a Horse that was designed by committee. And you guys have seen that I am impatient and a results oriented kind of person in some respects, although one might not think so by looking at me Keith is 100% right about using a piece of wax paper in your case. He tends to think on a broader spectrum than I, from his years of experience and working with so many folks much more knowledgeable than myself. Thats why there are so many folks, much better the me I tried using a template for it but found the soldering to break and kind of self destruct when installing it on the MRR, so I just did it in place, turned out easier for me. So it may turn out you want to go in a different direction than I did in some respects. I used Piano wire because I could hammer it, you might be better served to go with the same wire as the top rail, it would solder easier too. How big is the area your thinking of doing William?
Bill, at some time, if you do a lot of soldering, you should consider buying a Hakko FX-888D soldering station. Most of the time, the problems with soldering are caused by having a poor soldering tool. The Hakko FX-888D is a newer version of the one I use. The best place to pick one up is at gokimco.com; currently $91.35 with free shipping.
Tom, I had not give much thought to fencing, until I seen your photo's. It really brings the scene to realism. I am still going to use some of the wood fencing, just because it gives a good background. The chain link, I can see now a couple of areas that would look good with a part, you know like maybe the back of a building. My layout is not big 9 by 9 so I do not have too much area for fence. Probably the Feed mill back and the park. I am still mulling, but I really like the look, its impressive. Bill Jackson
