Making a Post and Wire Fence

Rather than purchasing a fence kit, such as the Peco lineside fence, which is post and rail, or the Ratio fence kit, which is concrete posts and comes with no wire, I opted to make my own. I have previously made this style of fence for my other layout Linden Ford.

So, what do you need ??

- Evergreen Styrene strip, 1.5 x 2.0mm (item No.154)
- Fine copper wire, approx. 0.8mm diameter (I stirpped some solid core telephone wire down)
- Super glue (Zap-a-gap works fine for this)
- Pin vice and wire drill bit (0.9 or 1mm)
- Sharp knife (or guillotine)
- Cutting mat
- Paint and weathering powders
- Airbrush and paint brushes

Step 1.

Cut the styrene strip to approx 25mm length (1"). I have a guillotine, but a knife can do the same.



2. Mark out the 4 x hole centres approx. 4mm apart, starting 3mm down from the top



3. Using the pin vice and wire bit, drill out holes. Then shape tops of posts (see next pic down).



4. After shaping the tops of the posts, rub the broad sides of the styrene with coarse sand paper. This will give a wood grain effect.



5. Hang posts on a piece of wire and air brush (or hand brush) a suitable colour. I chose a mid brown colour.



6. Feed the 0.8mm diameter wire through the wholes. This can be fiddly, so be patient !



7. Make out and puncture mounting holes in the layout. I used the same jewellers screwdriver in the pic below to puncture the scenic area. After installing the length of fence, use the screwdriver to bow the wire along the fence. Start at one end and move across. You need to pinch the previous bowed section of wire to stop the next section from straightening it out.



8. The fence in place with the wires all slightly bowed. Using super glue or Zap-a-gap, dribble a small amount down the post. This will keep the wire in place permanently as well as securing the posts to the ground. The glue does dry clear.



9. Hand brush some of the same paint as used on the posts onto the wires, careful not to paint your scenery. After this has dried, the use of weathering powders can be applied to 'rust up' the wire, and also to dull down the posts. I used a grey for the posts.



After you are happy with your weathering, apply weeds, vines etc to complement the fence.

Job done.

To see more pics of the fence : http://www.platform1mrc.com/view_post.php?post_id=7979

Cheers, Gary.

 

Thanks Kim & Paul.

The grass is static grass, applied with my home made applicator (no, not an electric fly swat). The larger clumps of taller grass is 12mm static grass (Noch), that I pinch between my fingers and insert into a drop of PVA, on the layout. The grass will hold upright if you don't pick up too much. The vines on the fence is either Heki or Noch foliage, the stuff that is on the poly fibre and has the little leaves on it. See below.



Cheers, Gary.