The mesh infill of the barriers on the mast platforms (French 1812) - in the kit it is perforated brass sheet; in reality would it have been tarred netting?
Not sure what they were in sailing days, but you can use small netting from a lots of sources such as mesh from craft store, in both cloth and plastic mesh.
Thanks guys. I've built them into the wooden frames, so I'm stuck with the brass. I tried to blacken it but it didn't work (maybe some coating on the brass i didn't remove). I'll try black paint and see how it looks.