biggles2 wrote:
I haven't tried this but read the suggestion somewhere: use polyester fibers from a cheapo long-hair Halloween wig - brown, black, or white, but not green! Or red!
I want to rig with line that is no larger than 0.002" in diameter. Such material is extremely hard to find (trust me that I've looked, and occasionally thought I'd found something, but when I get it on my work bench it fails to live up to expectations).
I have a giant spool of nylon monofilament that is 0.003" in diameter (over a mile of it). It would work great on a 1/350 scale model, but just doesn't look quite fine enough on a 1/700 scale model (IMO). The smallest Modelkasten wire that I've found is close to, if not smaller than, 0.002" in diameter, and it is something that I'm using more and more. Knotting it is problematic even though it is quite flexible at that small a diameter. Nevertheless, it looks pretty good using it without knots.
I suspect that wig hair is larger than 0.003" diameter material based on comparing 0.002" thread to my own natural hair. I ask other modelers who do some fine rigging lines in their work (like antenna wires on airplanes or the rigging between wing struts on biplanes) as to what they're using. When I track it down, it is typically in the 0.003-0.005" diameter range. It looks fine on what they've done, but I can rule it out for my own use once I get the diameter.
I also don't want to try to make my own material using stretched sprue. I like having a constant diameter for my lines, and I'm not sure how you get that consistency when making stretched sprue.
So, that's a little bit more background on where I'm coming from with this Lycra thread, because the Infini ultrafine lycra line is in the vicinity of 0.002" diameter. It looks good once I get it where I want it. My problem has been learning how to work with it when it wants to curl up on itself all the time. Keeping one end on the spool has helped reduce the curling aspect.
Dave