And now to add to the stretching of sprue...
I employ a slightly different method of stretching-reasoms outlined below....
For all of my rigging in 1/700 I use stretched sprue; the trick is to use the RIGHT kind of sprue.
I have always found great success with AIRFIX CLASSIC SHIPS (sailboats,old,large..) in particular a kit of HMS VICTORY that I have been melting down the sprue runners on for years; when I run out I will start on the yard arms, by my retirement I may start melting the masts... The main feature of this plastic is that it is BLACK, it requires no painting, hence keeping it thin and light.
Here is my method:
Light end of sprue runner until it just catches flame, blow out and dab one end onto piece of paper/card on workbench and slowly but firmly pull until the desired line thickness is achieved.The trick is to pull initially real fast to get it thin, then as the plastic cools, slow down the speed of pulling.
Pulling in one direction only has advantages over the traditional method of holding sprue over candle and then pulling in both direc tions...-reasoning below..
By pulling sprue in only one direction there are no blobs formed as first ione side cools and then the other...so you achieve completely consistent line thickness
If you are going to need LOTS, set up two paint tinlets on bench, and follow the procedure above but when you run out of space simply bend it around the paint tinlet and continue on till plastic cools and your thread breaks.
You will need to practice a little to get consistently thin sprue. Black sprue is THE cheapest modelling material we will ever use pro rata, so if you are not satisfied with result simply discard it and start again.
To rig, use a small pool of liquid cement ( Revell proffessional is best!) on bench, dab the end of chosen rigging piece in cement and then with tweezers attach to ship/yard of choice --let set for 5-10 seconds and draw the other end to your chosen attachment point. Dab on a minute amount of liquid cement usig cocktail stick that has been pared down with a blade--and draw the sprue piece thru the cement and let set.
With fresh liquid cement on the end of a sharpened toothpick, melt the surplus plastic end of the sprue and ..voila !--you have a neat attachment with no furry ends or bungling scissors in your fine rigging etc
Having rigged, some shrouds for example,-- you may wish to tighten them.
Well known is the fact that a heat source can tighten stretched sprue..like magic!
However... traditional methods of glowing match or soldering iron are not precise, controllable but most importantly directionally controllable sources of heat
Hold model over a consistent smoke source such as inscence or cigarette (I gave up, hence joss sticks) in a an air-still room- and the hot smoke will rise in a deadstraight line. It can be used directionally by holding the model at the chosen angle above the smoke source to intersect with the chosen piece of rigging.
The hot smoke will tighten the rigging like magic. My advice is take a very old/scrap model and practice ---as it is very easy to completely rig a model and then at the tightening stage get too close to heat source and completely UN-RIG the model.... with resultant fury, frustration and vulgar language...!! Laughing
In my model gallery are numerous examples of models rigged with sprue
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.htmlAnd now to add to the stretching of sprue...
I employ a slightly different method of stretching-reasoms outlined below....
For all of my rigging in 1/700 I use stretched sprue; the trick is to use the RIGHT kind of sprue.
I have always found great success with AIRFIX CLASSIC SHIPS (sailboats,old,large..) in particular a kit of HMS VICTORY that I have been melting down the sprue runners on for years; when I run out I will start on the yard arms, by my retirement I may start melting the masts... The main feature of this plastic is that it is BLACK, it requires no painting, hence keeping it thin and light.
Here is my method:
Light end of sprue runner until it just catches flame, blow out and dab one end onto piece of paper/card on workbench and slowly but firmly pull until the desired line thickness is achieved.The trick is to pull initially real fast to get it thin, then as the plastic cools, slow down the speed of pulling.
Pulling in one direction only has advantages over the traditional method of holding sprue over candle and then pulling in both direc tions...-reasoning below..
By pulling sprue in only one direction there are no blobs formed as first ione side cools and then the other...so you achieve completely consistent line thickness
If you are going to need LOTS, set up two paint tinlets on bench, and follow the procedure above but when you run out of space simply bend it around the paint tinlet and continue on till plastic cools and your thread breaks.
You will need to practice a little to get consistently thin sprue. Black sprue is THE cheapest modelling material we will ever use pro rata, so if you are not satisfied with result simply discard it and start again.
To rig, use a small pool of liquid cement ( Revell proffessional is best!) on bench, dab the end of chosen rigging piece in cement and then with tweezers attach to ship/yard of choice --let set for 5-10 seconds and draw the other end to your chosen attachment point. Dab on a minute amount of liquid cement usig cocktail stick that has been pared down with a blade--and draw the sprue piece thru the cement and let set.
With fresh liquid cement on the end of a sharpened toothpick, melt the surplus plastic end of the sprue and ..voila !--you have a neat attachment with no furry ends or bungling scissors in your fine rigging etc
Having rigged, some shrouds for example,-- you may wish to tighten them.
Well known is the fact that a heat source can tighten stretched sprue..like magic!
However... traditional methods of glowing match or soldering iron are not precise, controllable but most importantly directionally controllable sources of heat
Hold model over a consistent smoke source such as inscence or cigarette (I gave up, hence joss sticks) in a an air-still room- and the hot smoke will rise in a deadstraight line. It can be used directionally by holding the model at the chosen angle above the smoke source to intersect with the chosen piece of rigging.
The hot smoke will tighten the rigging like magic. My advice is take a very old/scrap model and practice ---as it is very easy to completely rig a model and then at the tightening stage get too close to heat source and completely UN-RIG the model.... with resultant fury, frustration and vulgar language...!! Laughing
In my model gallery are numerous examples of models rigged with sprue
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/users/jim-baumann/jb-index.html