The Ship Model Forum

that would be cool. I personally really love the incense thing. In all my modelling, I've only every melted 3 or so lines by mistake. You have great control with it.

It's too bad there is no product that will shrink (either intentionally or unintentionally) styrene or poly-whatever strands. Sort of how dope (not the kind you smoke!) tightens and stiffens tissue on flying model aircraft.

I sure don't take credit for Jim's amazing discovery of incense and he really is *the* source for knowledge on this topic.
None of this is new, but for it's own sake:

Depending on the rigging situation I use one of the following materials in my 1/350 work:
-Ultra fine fishing line for long spans that need to be tight. I glue this with CA.
-Stretched sprue for smaller spans, lines with a slight bow or sag to them or that need to be tight over a shorter span. Glued with Wedbond
-Hair from a long, straight synthetic wig. I use this for wrapping things like searchlights, or as a sprue alternative.
-Unicaenis. I also use this for wrapping things as it is very fine but has some strength to it. CA

I Attach one end with Weldbond glue and make sure it's going the right way so that it won't have to curve to go to it's destination.
Once this end is dry, I attach the other end. If using sprue, I leave a sag to it to compensate for shrinking with the Incense.
When using fishing line, I usually drill holes and fish the line through and tighten it that way if I can. Funnel stays are usually done this way.

When using the incense, it's a slow process from about 7 inches away. As per Jim's tutorial, you need to be in a room with little or no drafts so you can see the smoke as nice line. This will give you precise control over the heat. The sprue either shrinks or it doesn't. There isn't any middle of the way shrinking. Once it goes it goes and you need to back off immediately or it'll break. I find wig hair a nice alternative to the sprue in that it seems to be able to take the heat a bit more without breakage. You get very used to how much slack it needs and when it's about to shrink. Once it starts to twitch and goes tight, you have a millisecond to pull away!

Previously, I've used a hand-held hair dryer to heat the rigging. Works, but the air current is very strong, and it heats over too large an area.

biggles2 wrote:When you use incense to tighten stretched sprue, or, in your case, poly-whatever fibers (wig hair), how close do you come to the rigging with the burning incense? Wouldn't want to melt all my hard work!

I'm not Chris F, but I do use a similar method, though with firework punks. My wife finds incense irritating in an odd allergic way. Distance seems dependent on how much sag you want as well as the complexity of the rigging around it. Rest assured, you WILL cook some of the lines, curse, and have to do a little bit of rework. The best advice, from another novice, is to simply "follow the heat." Start far away, with the smoke from the incense and/or punks in line with the rigging to be tightened. Come in SLOWLY and watch the rigging closely. Over time, you'll get better and better at getting even a bit of realistic sag in the line.

Remember to use matte varnish when attaching rigging to rigging. I'd also try to minimize tightening a line that will have others attached to it until the whole shebang is installed. I've noticed I'd cooked MORE lines trying to tighten one member of a huge web.

Tim posted a good link to Jim's tutorial which gives one a good place to start. I most certainly hope my own experiences help.

Mr. Baumann is an expert practitioner of the tightening method he introduced here years ago, and in my own 8-years-plus membership here, relatively few exhibited models seem to have exceeded or even matched Jim's level of consistency and balanced results.

Stretched sprue is nothing new, in and of itself, but Jim's results are the "gold standard"; what's more, his techniques seem to work across a wide range of small-scale modeling genres.

Hmmmm...Looks like it could get pretty acrobatic! With an occasional 'Oops!'.

Like this close: download/file.php?id=6110&mode=view
(From Jim Baumann's stretch sprue thread)

When you use incense to tighten stretched sprue, or, in your case, poly-whatever fibers (wig hair), how close do you come to the rigging with the burning incense? Wouldn't want to melt all my hard work!