When you say that the wire mesh is 0.5 mm. - are you speaking of the opening in the wire mesh? The wire diameter? In terms of measuring the wire mesh, I looked up how this should be done (http://www.bwire.com ) and it appears that you need to specify a mesh size. In other words a 2 x 2 wire mesh, has 2 wires and 2 openings per inch.
Size of the mesh will play a vital role in any model that you create.
I believe going complex is not the way to go - of the 3 techniques used (excellent job of exploring all avenues) I would go with option 1 using the cylinders. Appears to be the most successful and was the first method that came to mind for me as well.