This note should have preceeded the fotos that appeared on my first posting. Apologies to those who are wondering 'what's going on!'
"As an alternative to painting/spraying brass rod why not try the following method which I’ve found to be very successful and scale like in appearance:-
(1) Look in your local model shop for 1.2mm white plastic coated wire with a fine piano wire core.
(2) Bend to shape and fix in position by applying a minute dab to the wire where it enters a stanchion (this can be at desired intervals rather than at every stanchion). If using pliers, pad the jaws with masking tape to prevent the jaws scuffing the plastic.
(3) If joining together two lengths where the joint cannot be concealed, pare off approx 2 – 3mm of plastic sleeving from each of the ends to be joined thereby exposing the piano wire, remove approx 5mm sleeving from a spare piece of wire and slip this sleeve over both ends of the exposed wire. Wipe the joint with a dab of MikMek and, hey presto, the joint disappears.
Use of this method, whilst some may consider to be ‘fiddly’, eliminates the need for painting if white rails are required and provides for a much finer profile, and more realistic ‘satin’ finish than can be achieved with paint. The plastic outer sleeving also takes paint readily if another colour is required.
The following fotos will give an idea of what can be achieved without too much effort." ....Whoops, see previous posting.