In an earlier thread, I asked for ideas regarding chain link fencing for my 1950s HO layout. After all was said and done, I ordered two of the Cornerstone chain link fence kits (HO 3125).
In opening the kits, I find the instructions lacking as to the basic construction of the fence. They talk a lot of attaching the gates, but the building of the fence itself is not so straight forward.
I've been building models and kitbashing for many years, and I certainly could dive in and "make it work". But, rather than recreating the wheel, I thought I would solicit your step by step method for putting the fence together, and mounting it on your layout.
Thanks all, your time/expertise is appreciated.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
I built a jig for the basic fence assembly. It's nothing more than a scrap piece of 1x2 lumber with a line of small holes spaced 1 inch apart. The fence posts fit snugly into the holes and keep the posts in place while I glue the metal horizontal pieces to the assembly with CA.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Mr. Beasley, you built a fence with the posts 1 inch apart, which is about 8 ft in HO scale. For heavier duty fences, were they spaced further apart - say 10 or 12 feet?
So your template allowed you to build the fence "standing up". How did you deal with the metal wires for top/bottom of the chainlink?
It's been a while, but I think I stood the jig on its side so the posts were horizontal, and then glued the wires on in that position. This kept the CA from dripping down the posts and gluing the fence posts to the jig.
My posts may have been a bit further apart, too. If you do that, you get a longer fence with the same number of posts.
Most all chain link fence's posts are spaced ten ft. apart...Industrial/commercial. I've seen home-mades, eight ft.apart. Like My neighbors, LOL. His post's, are coming out of the ground...concrete and all...didn't dig down far enough, when they were set. We have a high water table in our area......no basements either.
Take Care!
Frank
Could you use this structure as a guide for building homemade fences using other material? I too need this type of fence around various industries.
To: Mobile and Mr. B (or anyone else): Is this suitable for the fence posts: http://www.homedepot.com/p/OOK-25-ft-18-Gauge-Copper-Hobby-Wire-50161/100152481 ?? if not, what else to use?
Hi,
IMO, that is too thick, but who's to say it can't be used. In the late '70s, I was living in Kentucky and working at a refinery. I had a large garden and built a rabbit fence using used 4 inch pipe for the framework - gross overkill for sure.
kasskaboose if not, what else to use?
Get some straight brass wire from a hobby shop or craft shop (Michael's or Hobby Lobby should have it.) I don't recall what diameter I used for the pics below, but you can just measure an actual post and divide by 87 to get the HO scale size you need. Remember that end posts and corner posts are thicker than the intermediate line posts. If there's a large gate hanging on a post, that post will probably be even thicker to withstand the bending stress.
Do a google search on Chain Link Fence Drawings and click the image tab. There's lots of info. Here's a good one showing various dimensions. Looks like there's a 10 foot maximum distance between vertical line posts.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Chain_Link_Fence_Details_-_Hawaii_Volcanoes_National_Park_Water_Collection_System,_Hawaii_Volcanoes_National_Park,_Volcano,_Hawaii_County,_HI_HAER_HI-76_%28sheet_32_of_40%29.png/1280px-thumbnail.png
Here's a drawing for residential fences. Looks like 2.5" end posts and 1 5/8" line posts. I saw another drawing for an industrial fence that had 3" end posts.
http://www.hooverfence.com/web4cl.gif
Here are a few tests that I did...
Steve S
I have been using K&S hard brass rod, 1/16ths for posts and 1/32nds for rails...all soldered together, but Mine is designed to be removable. End posts and every 20ft. post, is longer, so it fits into a hole drilled into 1/2 inch Homasote. Will be posting pic's in WPF soon. Construction of backdrop scene, is taking a long time...lot of measuring, fitting and testing..for it too will be removable.