I have always wanted to use window screens on some of my cabooses but finding the right material proved to be difficult. I have tried many things but it always looked too coarse to me. Well, by accident the other day I found this ribbon in my wife’s decorating stash. I made a quick deal and promised a steak dinner if I could have the whole roll, I got the ribbon and a good steak, win, win! This is the ribbon:
As you can see it is a very fine mesh which is excellent but way too glittery and has too much shine. A trip outside and a dusting of red primer, earth brown and just a shot or two of gray primer gave me the rusty, dirty look I was seeking. It also received a dullcote finish.
Now I had to figure out frames and they had to be thin to look scale and I did not want the clunky look. I finally decided on .010” styrene but I had to very careful cutting them out. After they were cut I stuck them to low tack masking tape and painted them to match the caboose. I then used a light coating on the back of them with ACC and weighted them as I stuck them to the mesh. I also did the glueing on a piece of non stick aluminum foil which made them easy to remove. The little frames were a bear to cut out but my Xacto chisels made it a little easier.
Now they are dry removed from the tape and mounted on the caboose. I think I’ve finally achieved the look I wanted or got very close. Maybe I can plunder in my wife’s craft room and finer some finer mesh ribbon or other treasures that can be converted to model railroading. Here is closeup of the screens on my Columbus & Greenville caboose.
I am working on screen doors for the same cab right now. I’m happy with these until I can improve them a little more.
