Palisade Fencing too expensive?

The boundary between the Thornycroft factory and Worting Road is a metal palisade (black railing) fence atop of a low brick wall backed by a manicured hedge.

N gauge palisade fences are available from the trade in plastic or brass etch but have you seen the price? We need about 700 mm, which requires two packs costing over £10 mail order. I felt this was too expensive for a bit of plastic or brass so set about making my own, which is surely what railway modelling is about if you have the ability.

To be honest the hedge backing helped make for an easy (albeit time consuming) job.

I started with a Sainsbury's green scouring pad for the hedge. (Got this idea from Barry Norman) and pressed it onto double sided sticky tape.

Peel off the backing and stick the low brick wall onto it, which was made from brick paper on card.

I used a brass coloured embroidery wire for the palisade railings but copper wire would do just as well. This was cut to length and pressed onto the sticky tape taking care to ensure each rail was as straight as possible.

Next I wiped black paint across the wires taking care not to flood the sticky tape.

To enhance the hedge texture I dabbed  2 mm static grass strands onto the tape and brush over to lay them flatter.

For the hedge top and rear I spread diluted PVA glue and dabbed more static grass onto that. That was less effective than the sticky tape because the wetness caused the grass to clump. I may use sticky tape next time (but where the tape is not covered it glistens a bit in the light).

Instead of static grass green scatter could be used.


The finished result is quite pleasing although at the normal N gauge viewing distance the palisade is hardly noticeable against the dominant hedge.

David