Doug, Dave, et al.,

Doug said - “In her presentation, Kristen said the mesh on the car at St Louis measured: 1/8” woven wire, 1.5”x1.5” vertical diamond pattern.”

Diamond patterns are typically described by their axis dimensions, so doing the math the mesh would be 1.06066” square and rotated 45 degrees. Eighth inch wire would be 0.001435” diameter, and the mesh would be 0.01248” x 0.01248”.  That would be, I think, about 82 mesh of 0.0014 wire.  As it turns out, there is actually a stainless steel mesh that comes reasonably close!  It is T316 stainless “high transparency” 0.0012” wire 80 mesh, but it’s more than a bit pricey starting at $19.50/sq. ft. for 1-24 sq. ft. with a minimum order of $100.00.  A full 4’ x 100’ roll goes for $1,950.00, which drops the price per sq. ft. to $4.88. 

One may check it out here: https://www.twpinc.com/wire-mesh-material/stainless-steel/80-mesh-stainless-high-transparency-0012.

It looks like pretty amazing stuff, but given the very small quantities most of might need, I think suspect we.d need a fair sized group to make a purchase worthwhile.  A 3” x 3” sample or “swatch” is also available for $10.00 ($40.00/sq. ft.).

Pax,

Ralph Brown
Portland, Maine
PRRT&HS No. 3966
NMRA No. L2532

rbrown51[at]maine[dot]rr[dot]com

Nelson:

To get 1.5 x 1.5" openings in HO scale, one could consider ~40 mesh screen with ~0.017" openings.

The problem with metal screens for Kristin's application is the wire size -- 1/8" wire in HO scale would be 0.0014", which is much finer than the wire in any of the commercial metal screens, brass or stainless.   "Traditional" chicken wire would be even more problematic given how fine the wire is there.

Dave Parker
Riverside, CA