rigging

[GERARD]

I found a wig like the type they sell for halloween works great and yeilds years worth of riggin for around 5 dollars and you can get several colors for much less then the emergency room fees from a black widow bite lmao i think i need to clean my monitor now i just spit my coke all over it thanks for the laugh Gerry

[PHIL ENGLISH]

Les.

I been nuking them for 25 years here. I hate'em too. Used to have night mares about them in the house, dangling above me as I slept. Thankfully I seem to be over that. In this country they proliferate. I've seen them at the sea shore, in Death Valley, at 8000 ft in the Sierra. They migrate cross country on the ground & I also think that the tiny ones float by air on long spinets of web.

Like you, I have drawn the line, if I see one inside it's time to gas the house.

I will not give up the idea of using thier web for fine rigging. Handling it will be tricky as it's very sticky. Probably cut sections off using a "fork" to keep the desired piece straight & then a probe to wrap or attach each end by slightly stretching. It is amazingly strong, having seen lizzards fatally entangled. Once I get it strung, get paint on it quick.

Phil

[Dustin G.]

Wow..... this has given me a lot of ideas on what to use for rigging.... I used to have a guinea-pig. Sweetest rodent I ever owned. I never see spiders in my house.... I see cockroaches all the time. I'll most likely try to use the stretched sprue first. If that doesn't work, well I have plenty of fishing gear.

[Andy G]

...Once I get it strung, get paint on it quick.

Phil

How many, like me, read that as "once I get stung..."?

Andy

[PetrOs]

Well, for rigging I use the wire from (usually dead) electronics. Either splitting the cables or opening old transformator from a power unit. In both cases I get a few meters of very fine thin wire. For example, from the transformator of a dead DSL modem i extracted about 30 meters of wire, in two different thicknesses (primary and secondary contours).

[Jason M.]

I'm working up the nerve to use real spider web. black widow web specifically. It was used in WW2 for gun sights. It's tiny diameter, self sticking, stretchy with little tension. weight to strength ratio greater than steel. Longevity is good. Painting should kill the stickness after attachment.

I want to use it at 1/350.


I have an abundance of the product outside the house, if I can only let the manufacturer to allow me to take samples. Better yet, train one to crawl between the masts ...and kindly exit the premise afterward. I hate the things but will eventually give it a try. I've noted long single strands of 3' or more.

Has anyone tried this?

Phil

I think that using black widow spider web is the DEFINITION of thinking "outside the box" I think its a brilliant idea, and even possible eliminate the need for CA glue. WHo knows!?

[stoneheart]

I am trying a mix of extremely thin silver wire and polyester thread. The wire I get from headphone leads, but trust me this is not for the faint of heart as its really very hard to extract from its outer shield in any grate length. Once I have the lengths I need, I have been using the tip of a fresh scalpel to make either a grove or a very fine hole and super glue the wire in. Seems to give a great effect as when it is mixed with other grades of thread it gives the feel of size and density to the rigging. I never thought of a keyboard lead. Pity my hair is not long enough or I could use that to lol. Hmmm the more I think about it I may just try the nylon mono filament instead or the keyboard wire if its not as hard to extract. Although it could be I am just using the wrong headphone leads?