Model Railway Forum

glencairn wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2020 7:15 pm

sandy wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2020 12:33 pm Like the idea of fences made from matchsticks and fuse wire but agree that fuse wire is not around much these days. What I have done to substitute fuse wire is to strip old stranded cables and used that.

Fishing line works as well.

Glencairn

Hello glencairn, I thought of that (fishing line) after I wrote this but not tried it yet. was going to give it try on the new layout. Thanks for your idea.

sandy wrote: ↑Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:53 am Thanks for your idea.

My pleasure, Sandy. Throwing ideas around is what it is all about (to me). I only 'borrowed' the idea from someone else (some time back).

Glencairn

Hi,

I wanted to have some wooden lineside fencing to compliment a new backscene that I have added to "Montgreenan" along the Portencross branch line, but could not see anything ready-made that I liked, and so based on previous comments in this thread, it was out with the matches and wire to make my own.

One of the challenges I had was that the fence needed to be right at the edge of the baseboard and against a wall, and as such it was going to be difficult to drill suitable holes, install the fence and also make sure it was relatively robust...….however after several days of thinking about it, a neat solution came to mind.

When I made my baseboards and before any track was laid, I covered the entire surface in 2mm cork ( another 2mm was also laid under the track to help noise and create a ballast shoulder), and so I figured that if I lifted a strip of this where I wanted the fence to go, I could replace it with a 2mm strip of plasticard, into which I could drill neat holes for the fence posts away from the layout...……..this also had the added advantage of building the fence in sections and being able to easily thread the wires at my workbench.

I also found an old motor coil and striped the copper wire from it, which was easy to thread and wind etc...….I subsequently painted it the same dark brown as the fence posts and purposely laid it on thick which gives it a more ragged / aged look. Once complete the plasticard strips were glued in place and then I placed hedging and shrubbery in front of the fence...…..still a few finishing touches reqd but very pleased with the outcome...….see pictures below.

Hope this is of help to others - cheers Richard

Not just prefabricated fencing, but prefabricated fencing and foundations. Very ingenious, and the finished thing looks terrific on the layout.

Thanks Ian for the positive feedback...... I have to admit that I am still pretty chuffed with this solution and the final result....... back to more mundane tasks like ballasting this week, but my mind is already turning to my next new challenge of making a tunnel and hillside.

Cheers Richard

That looks very good - it's amazing what you can do with a few matchsticks and some old wire. Is there room to squeeze a person(s) in watching the trains go by?

Very impressive. Great work on the fence and the undergrowth!!

I have some long lengths of fencing to place in front of my back scenes and I think that your idea is just what I need to make the job a lot easier as I don’t have a lot of space from the line to the scenery.
Great idea Richard.
Puddles