Creating railings from scratch

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30 May 2012 at 00:05 #34642
Who Boot
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@whoboot
I had thought of buying commercial stanchions and railings for my 1/72 scale model boat and found a size that suited it. However, when I calculated the cost of the number I needed this would come to a staggering £26.00 for the stanchions only, which is far more than i want to spend on railings. So I have turned to look to making my own scrach built railings out of brass rods and wire. it will be more labourious and twiddly but am willing to give it a try. I have succeded before with making my own railings but i needed far less then. I would welcome any advice on doing railings. I have read another message here which enquired about railings and some of the replies it had are useful to me. But I think that particular posting was about rails that come with a kit. My enquiry is different as I am asking about how to scratch build them.

To hold the brass stanchions and rails together would you advice epoxy or soldering?

Any advice on scratch building railings for 1/72 or thereabouts scale would be welcomed thank you.

Alternatively, if you know of somewhere which sells rails cheaper …

Regards, Haydn.
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30 May 2012 at 00:05 #2135
Who Boot
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@whoboot
30 May 2012 at 06:56 #34643
Paul T
Participant
@pault84577
Hello Haydn

This is a popular topic of discussion and I am sure that you will get lots of answers.

For myself I make stanchions out of brass split pins as they already have the correct shaped top that will easily accept the railing, bending the mid-section of the pin around a nail forms the curved shape to take the lower railing.

I always solder the joints (solder is a great filler and easy to file into shape)

Paul
31 May 2012 at 12:52 #34664
Kimosubby Shipyards
Participant
@kimosubbyshipyards
Hi there,

I make 1/100 railings scratch for card models. I use 0.5mm brass rod, available from Squires in Bognor Regis. Check the catalogue, there are two different rods advertised – get the cheapest! I also use the brass wire from wine bottles – good excuse to buy it.

I have made a former in wood and lay the lengths in this. The long rods are laid in a reccess cut in the wood using a fine saw. The whole is clamped over with a small block. The rails are eased out to length (gap required tween uprights) and an upright soft soldered in place. Ease out more, soft solder another upright etc. I then bend to shape with flat pliers, and finally cut when complete shape done.

Claen up with file etc. Wash with iso propanol or equivalent to remove flux.

The rail is inserted in deck into drilled holes and fixed using very small dab cyano. I paint them before fixing them.

Ladders, ladders rails, handrails etc all made a very similar way.

Kimosubby

Edited By Kimosubby Shipyards on 31/05/2012 13:03:35
31 May 2012 at 20:54 #34670
Who Boot
Participant
@whoboot
Hi Paul

Thank you for your reply. Wow, split pins eh, I'd never heard of them before but when I looked for images of them on the web and saw them I have seen them before. What a great idea, I'll try that. I guess they can be bought from a stationery shop like WH Smiths. Glad to hear that soldering brass sounds like the way to do it.

Regards, Haydn.
31 May 2012 at 20:58 #34671
Who Boot
Participant
@whoboot
Hi Kimosubby

Thank you for your reply. I will follow the way you do railings as well, it sounds like another imaginative way to do them. It's great to have choices of ways to do something in this great hobby. Your pictures are very helpful for me to see how you do it. I will enclose pictures on this forum when i have started making my railings.

Regards, Haydn.
7 June 2012 at 00:36 #34774
John.Redearth
Participant
@john-redearth
Hi

I have just build some railings in 1:50 using stainless steel welding rod and glue. I don't want this to be too overt a 'plug' but I have some details on my web page http://www.redearthrailway.com.au that might be of interest.

Cheers
15 June 2012 at 23:10 #34905
Who Boot
Participant
@whoboot
Hi Paul

I have been searching round several hardware stores in my area looking for split pins. I found plenty but they were all too big for the scale I want, so I didn't buy any. If they were merely too long then I could have cut them down to the right size, but they were also too thick by enough margine so that if I'd put them in my 1/72 scale model they would have looked out of scale. The store staff said that smaller split pins were made but they didn't stock them nor did they know where I could buy them. For my model I'm looking for a size of 15mm, that would come up to the chest of a 1/72 figure. Do you know whether split pins are made that small?
16 June 2012 at 06:57 #34907
Paul T
Participant
@pault84577
Hello Haydn.

There are plenty of small brass split pins (or cotter pins) available and a simple web search will reveal many suppliers of engineering fixings. I should also mention that jewellery suppliers will also carry small split pint.

Firstly though you need to decide on the diameter of your scale railing stanchions and then search for a suitable diameter pin. i.e. if your scale calculations indicate that the stanchions should be 1.5mm dia then you should search for 1.5mm brass cotter pins of a length greater than 15mm.

Paul
7 April 2022 at 09:16 #100022
gerry whitwham
Participant
@gerrywhitwham84345
For certain model ships the simplest solution for railing stanchions is to use ordinary dressmakers steel pins . For plastic kits to insert the pins into the decking the method is to heat the pin head with a mini blow torch or similar gripped with mini pliers and carefully push the pin head into the deck , holding for a few seconds until the plastic congeals to form a tight fit. .

I have found this method preferable to mini drilling the decking are more secure.as the stanchions are more secure.

Gerry.
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