What might be the best stuff to use to make catwalks in a dio?

'plastruct' bridge trusses & house gutter screen (the metal mesh kind)


...if that works, lemme know... i need to make a few myself...



edit: and for the railing, i would recommend wire coat hangers -- easy enough to work with/bend, yet rigid enough to support things, and seems to be in scale for 1:18 steel piping.

good luck, brother!

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I'd talk to General Hawk and or Cap.

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jm70's got the right idea...I used the Plastruct "trusses" to make a little catwalk for my warehouse set, though they didn't stay together all that well with hot glue. I'm sure there are better ways to attach them, though.

I also used plastic mesh that people use for yarning, I think, though I like the sounds of using the actual metal stuff...

Justin

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If you would like to do it in metal and have access to a welding rig then you might be able to accomplish something.

I myself am welding the frame to my own chainlink fences. I suppose I ought to try tackling catwalks just for a laugh, I'll let you know if I figure something out.

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and if you don't have access to welding gear, i would recommend JB Weld -- i use that stuff all the time to fasten different materials together

(it's a two part epoxy, sold in hardware stores in little toothpaste type tubes for $5...)

i've bonded plastic to wood, wood to paper, metal to stone, plastic to plastic, etc.,

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Decky Hedrock had great cat walks - I'll see if I can find some of his old pics and post them later, unless someone else beats me to it. (i.e. please someone else beat me to it) I have to hit the showers.

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here ya go - surf this website: http://www.geocities.com/hedrock.rm/

Quote from his do-it-yourself page:



Although the gutter shield and hangar wire is probably the best you can do.

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http://www.geocities.com/hedrock.rm/

Ahh, beat me to it.

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This stuff is made for 28mm gaming, but it's precut and wood.

http://www.litkoaero.com/page/LAI/CTGY/ITS

No reason why it can't be adapted.

Plastruct also makes skid plate plastic sheets which are durable enough to hold figures, but crazy-@ss expensive.

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Linky no worky.

I am, of course, getting a head of myself. No place in my little one horse town sells the medium density fiberboard that I need to make my....uh...dio.

Trip to the two horse town tomorrow.

I've never used JB Weld, but have heard about it. Rock huh? Impressive.

Brian, The site exceeded it's bandwidth- try later.

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I too have used the yarning mesh for any time I've need grating. It is super cheap and looks great.

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Home Depot and Lowes sell MDF board, How small is your town?

ANyway, do yourself a favor, go hang out on the wargaming boards, those guys can make anything, and in much smaller scale,

If you want to make it playable, you really need to box everything, so it will stand the test of time, if you depend too much on glue or other fasteners, time will take its toll.

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I've begun testing on my catwalk weld, I'm using brass welding rods (fairly cheap, six bucks for a pack of them) to make the frame and rails, as for the actual walk itself? I'm still looking over materials. All I'm doing is taking pieces of the rod and bending them ever so carefully to make a nice little U after you make several of these you weld them to a long piece of welding rod meant to act as a rail (man I wish I had a camera right now this is difficult to put into words), you can bend the rods fairly easily, making intersections or changing the direction of the walk itself. I'll get back to you folks with pictures once I can bum a camera off of someone.

After you finish you can use an aluminum or metallic colored paint to cover up the brass (make sure it's a paint meant for metallic surfaces).

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