Hello - Anybody know of, or has anybody heard of a material (brass? plastic?) or some other approximation of the metal screen mesh or the nylon mesh that is used as the "screen" in screen doors? I am talking about HO-scale, myself, but given the TINY size of the mesh holes, could you realistically tell N, HO or say, S scales mesh apart? Anyway, I'm buildint the J&L craftsman kit of the Hamburger stand (Van's?), and for the hot, humid midwestern nights (other places hot nights, too) those burger and ice cream/malt stands usually had or have large framed screens to talk through and keep bugs out!! This kit is shown as built with 2 large "windows" at the front end, and I'd like to cut out something that can resemble mesh screens. I've done Google searches, Walther's catalog, eBay searches for Detail & raw Materials, went to Hobby Lobby...somebody mentioned a nylon mesh from a kitchen strainer they'd seen...Sold in bulk ? Other materials?? I know this seems "nit-picky", and it may not be do-able...buy, any idea-rs!? Thanks, Tim
Long Live the Rock Island...well in memories, books and modeling anyway!
Try a clothing store. Look at their wedding vial material. Super fine should do nicely.
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Assuming a 1:1 size screen hole is .050", scaling it down to HO would make the hole .00057". My best recomendation would be to look at a fuel filter screen of some type. Some are nylon or metal. Go to an auto parts store and look at some.
There was an article on making an HO screen doors about 5 - 7 years ago. I'll look when I get home ( I'm not up to trying the new search engine yet)
ratled
Modeling the Klamath River area in HO on a proto-lanced sub of the SP “The State of Jefferson Line”
Think outside the box. Try using a piece of clear acetate with a gray area printed on it as I did, or with dullcoat sprayed on it. The results were pleasing to me. See below:
Jim
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
I agree with Jim that the goal is to simulate the darker and less transparent appearance of screen material, rather than duplicate the mesh itself. Almost any mesh you could find will be oversize. His screens look great to me.
I took clear plastic, from packaging material so it was free, cut it into large perfect squares, and rubbed a sanding block across it at exact right angles. Once it was lightly scratched, I sprayed it with an alcohol/India ink mix that snuggled into the tiny scratches. The result was that it was darkened like screen, you could "sort of" see through it, and once it was cut to the actual sizes I needed it was just as easy to manipulate and install as the material I used for clear glass windows.
For clear glass windows I either use the same packaging plastic, or actual glass from slide covers, bought at a science store. The real glass is tricky to work with but nothing looks more like glass than glass.
Dave Nelson
American Model Builders has screen kits for some of their building and caboose kits...I believe they use silk screen material. Basically, you use a permanent marker to give it the nice gray/black color, but you can still see through it to see the detail behind it.
Robert Beaty
The Laughing Hippie
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a trick I learned from my dad. Panty hose makes a nice fine mesh and comes in many colors.
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Hey, RI Tim....
See Model Railroader, September 1996 issue, p. 77 for a short article by Ken Patterson describing how he used silk screen material for HO scale door and window screens. Silk screen material can be found at arts and craft stores.
Bruce J.