railings for buildings

[Hedron]

What are folks using for metal railings on stores or houses? Either scratch-built or retail options? For my purposes, it doesn't have to be scale-perfect, but should look OK from typical viewing distance. Preferably not requiring super-fine motor control on my part, my skill set isn't there yet. Like, I won't be replacing grab rails on rolling stock any time soon.

[peteski]

Photoetched railings would be closest to scale, and best looking.

Micron Art used to make fancy wrought iron balcony railings, but they seem to have shut down several year ago.
Another possibility would be Gold Medal Models fire escapes. But those are fairly short, so you woudl have to put together multiple pieces for longer runs.

For plastic ones I think that Plastruct makes 1:200 scale railings (they look ok on N scale). Not as fine looking as photoetched though.

[160pennsy]

Photoetched railings would be closest to scale, and best looking.

Another possibility would be Gold Medal Models fire escapes. But those are fairly short, so you woudl have to put together multiple pieces for longer runs.

This eTailer has good pictures of the GMM etched metal products. Check out the industrial railings or some others that might work for your application

https://www.nscalesupply.com/gmm/gmm-details.html

[Hedron]

The GMM railings look good. Thanks for suffering my greenhorn questions.

[wvgca]

best is steel wire in the appropriate size, and spot welded together ...
but the plastic ones are pretty easy, and look kinda okay ?

[peteski]

best is steel wire in the appropriate size, and spot welded together ...
but the plastic ones are pretty easy, and look kinda okay ?

You have the means to spot weld very thin steel wire in your workshop?  Tell us more!

[seusscaboose]

i have two listed right now (fire escapes)

http://ebay.us/fimg8U?cmpnId=5338273189

http://ebay.us/l1plmC?cmpnId=5338273189

[LIRR]

I used 1/4 hardware cloth......a bit oversize, but looked good from normal viewing distance

[Steve Smith]

N Scale Architect do a set that looks pretty good.

https://thenarch.com/products/industrial-2-pipe-450-n-scale-feet-wstair-railing

Steve

[Maletrain]

I used 1/4 hardware cloth......a bit oversize, but looked good from normal viewing distance

Wouldn't 1/8" mesh hardware cloth made with 27 gauge wire be darn close to scale?  https://www.ebay.com/itm/24-X-5-1-8-Wire-Mesh-Hardware-Cloth/360897753454?hash=item54072eb16e:g:BY0AAOSwwAdZ8KlB

27 gauge wire is 0.0147" diameter, which is 2-1/4" in N scale.  And the OSHA top rail height is 42", which is 0.263" in N scale.  So 2 rows of the 1/8" mesh gives us a top rail height about at the OSHA level plus a middle rail at the OSHA 21" level, within 1 to 2 N scale inches.  Of course, the galvanizing is certainly thicker than scale.

[peteski]

Wouldn't 1/8" mesh hardware cloth made with 27 gauge wire be darn close to scale?  https://www.ebay.com/itm/24-X-5-1-8-Wire-Mesh-Hardware-Cloth/360897753454?hash=item54072eb16e:g:BY0AAOSwwAdZ8KlB

27 gauge wire is 0.0147" diameter, which is 2-1/4" in N scale.  And the OSHA top rail height is 42", which is 0.263" in N scale.  So 2 rows of the 1/8" mesh gives us a top rail height about at the OSHA level plus a middle rail at the OSHA 21" level, within 1 to 2 N scale inches.  Of course, the galvanizing is certainly thicker than scale.

That stuff is called "cloth", so  I suspect that it is woven, not flat, and spot welded at each intersection.  That would make it useless as railings.

[Maletrain]

That stuff is called "cloth", so  I suspect that it is woven, not flat, and spot welded at each intersection.  That would make it useless as railings.

I don't have any of the 1/8"mesh to check.  But, looking at some 1/4" mesh, also called "hardware cloth", it is not woven.

But, for 1/8" mesh spacing, the "posts" on an N scale fence would be only a scale 20" apart.  So some verticals would have to be removed to make reasonable spans. 

For the 1/4" mesh pictured in previous posts, the span is still only 40" between "posts" and there is no middle rail, either.  Taking off 2 "vertical" wires from 1/8"mesh would give an N scale 5' span, which would probably look best unless it is on a tight circle like the top of that tank in LIRR's post.

[wvgca]

You have the means to spot weld very thin steel wire in your workshop?  Tell us more!

yes, made one from a couple of large capacitors, and a triac for triggering ...
an old variable power supply charges it up through a load limiting resistor,
about 16 to 19 volts usually does it rather well... made it roughly seven years ago ,,
here's the link   https://www.modeltrainforum.com/threads/todays-projects-auto-reverse-spot-welder.21254/#post-246205

[peteski]

yes, made one from a couple of large capacitors, and a triac for triggering ...
an old variable power supply charges it up through a load limiting resistor,
about 16 to 19 volts usually does it rather well... made it roughly seven years ago ,,
here's the link   https://www.modeltrainforum.com/threads/todays-projects-auto-reverse-spot-welder.21254/#post-246205

Interesting.  I remember working with those "beer can" capacitors in computer power supplies back in my days as an electronic technician.