Making stretched sprue and Rigging with stretched sprue

[Ross MacMillan]

Thank you for this tutorial, it has saved me from some messy trial and error!

I have been doing some practice by rigging my spare sprue frames. I'm starting to see results, but a common occurrence is little swells along the length of the line where it thickens ever so slightly. Is that normal, or is it more likely that I'm holding the incense stick too close to the line and the plastic has started to melt instead of tightening?

[JIM BAUMANN]

It is possible--or it may be that the smoke source is too concentrated.

Most likely is it may be the 'wrong' kind of sprue.....

experiment with different plastic sprue

I have always found the black as used in elderly Airfix ship kits to be supreme for rigging...

[Ross MacMillan]

Thanks Jim, so far I've been using modern Airfix and Tamiya, but I've plenty of time to experiment.
Is there an ideal amount of excess line to use? I'm guessing that less slack means less work with the heat? Also, at what distance would you recommend holding the heat source from the sprue line?

[Redwhiteandblue]

A very helpfull tutorial when rigging models in the past i have always just heated the sprue in the middle and stretched no wonder i ended up with so many various thickness of rigging It is a time consuming procedure but well worth he effort to bring realism to your build. Regards Alan

[Christian M.]

Also a late thank you here for that tutorial and so on...
I still use it since my 2nd ship I build (HMS Warspite), but your tutorial makes it really clear with several points about where I had only a big "?" flying above my head.

To be honest, before that I was told that streched sprue is always to thick and so unrealistic ... and I have to use very thin nylon fishing line ... I bought in a shop and was very unpleased with it, because unflexible like hell.
Then I was told o use human hair ... ok ... theefore I must scalp my wife at least and I guess any trial to do will end with that I have to sleep in basement
In the end I use now streched sprue and I must denie that it is to thick and so on, because you can make nearly thin like a human hair too.

[baycolony]

Jim, I just stumbled upon this thread and agree it is very useful. I have been using sprue, fly fishing line, and now will experiment with some EZ line as well. The tips regarding the halyard and pulleys was very useful, and using this cement instead of CA, which I have used exclusively, is worth a try as well. I was wondering what method you employ when fabricating intricate dual horizontal antennae wires strung between masts on many of the German Warships. As on the Prinz Eugen, which I am currently building in 1/350, there are two separate lines of this nature running parrallel and consistancy seems to be the key here in order to look convincing.

[JIM BAUMANN]

I have not a great deal of experience in making these-- having needed to only once on a WW1 German submarine

I recall I made a small wooden jig, made the antennae and per-tightened the stretched sprue on the jig before carefully removing and applying to the vessel...

HTH

JB



http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

[baycolony]

Thanks Jim for the reply and the method you described is exactly how I imagined I would tackle this.

[former101airborne]

I have one question--do you rig before or after painting? If after I wonder how good is the bond to a painted surface.
Thanks for your help.

Mike

[hymnHim]

excellent tutorial! I, like one poster before me, used to heat in the center and try to pull evenly ......I will try this definitely try this instead, thank you.

[PetrolGator]

Well, I finally jumped into stretched sprue last night. Overall, the look of the ship was dramatically better than previous builds rigged with EZ Line. Unfortunately, my wife tends to get massive headaches with incense, so I'm trying to find a viable substitute. Unfortunately, my last option ended up overheating the sprue and snapping it.

I'm going to try matches, as wasteful as that'll be.

[wefalck]

I have mixed feelings about stretched polystyrene ... however, it occurred to me that one could use one of those hot-air soldering guns for the purpose. The temperature can be regulated from 100�C to just under 500�C. This should give a very controllable and continuous source of heat.

I got one like these



via ebay from China a year or so ago and it works quite well for all sorts of applications.

wefalck

[PetrolGator]

That would be a good solution for the future. I'll look them up.

....still need to get the KGV ready in the next like, two days.

[Uzun Elendil]

Hello everyone,

I'm following this topic and I do not understand why you use stretched sprue for rigging.

According to my opinion using fishing line is the best option. First of all, it have lots of different thicknesses, from 0.26 MM to 1,5mm. Secondly it is strong and also have an elastic form. It is also cheap (especially in Turkey)

Perhaps someone already mentioned it, so sorry for re-writing it but I find using fishing lines more efficient. At least you do not need to breathe toxic gas, which occur due to burning the plastic.

[wefalck]

Without speaking for others, I think that there are three main features that makes it attractive:

- for small scale models, say 1/350 and below, fishing line (nylon monofilament) is far too thick.

- there are special techniques for attaching the polystyrene filaments by partially dissolving them and thus welding them to the attachement point; the same technique is used for attaching them to each other.

- the polystyrene filaments can be tigthened by gently reheating them, which makes them shrink.

If you don't like these home-made polystyrene monofilaments, you can use copper wire (readily available down to 0.05 mm diameter) or fly-tying threads (that go down to similar diameters and are available in many colours).

wefalck

[JIM BAUMANN]

Thank you 'wefalck'


It about sums up why I use sprue....

Fishing line --even the very finest --as mentioned in 1/700 is too thick fro my liking
==> and also does not allow reliable consistent sag to be created.
Copper wire does a good job of this- but can be very prone to kinking and dislodging when working on it

( especially in 1/700 scale)....

Here are a couple of masters of copper rigging -both of whom generally work in in scales of 1/384 upwards

ie 2 x as large or bigger as my teeny models...

have a look here:

JB

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=38508


and here

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=39219

[Laurent]

According to my opinion using fishing line is the best option. First of all, it have lots of different thicknesses, from 0.26 MM to 1,5mm. Secondly it is strong and also have an elastic form. It is also cheap (especially in Turkey)

Hi,

I once tried nylon fishing lines to build railings at scale 1:100 on one of my models. I discovered they are prone to shrinking after a while, I had to redo the whole railing once again, with PE stanchions & brass wire.




working at scales 1/350 to 1:700 asks for stretched sprue, I see no other way to work properly.

This is by the way why I don't work at those scales

[Uzun Elendil]

First of all thank you for all the replys. I will definetly re-consider doing it with fishing lines.

So I guess I need to make lots of practice to have good results (In other words, for lines which have equal thicknesses)

[f14dtomcat]

Thank you 'wefalck'


It about sums up why I use sprue....

Fishing line --even the very finest --as mentioned in 1/700 is too thick fro my liking
==> and also does not allow reliable consistent sag to be created.
Copper wire does a good job of this- but can be very prone to kinking and dislodging when working on it

( especially in 1/700 scale)....

Here are a couple of masters of copper rigging -both of whom generally work in in scales of 1/384 upwards

ie 2 x as large or bigger as my teeny models...

have a look here:

JB

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=38508


and here

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=39219

Good morning, Jim,

Thank You very much for the two very awesome links. Until now, I didn't know the works of Mr. Robert Wilson and Mr. John Prothero-Thomas existed. I can only sit down pout and cry at the level of artistic talent showcased by both gentlemen. Including you, I now have three role models.

Sometime ago in this forum I said "Bah" about sail ship models but after viewing both gentlemen's absolutely sublime works of art, I have come to appreciate the beauty of sail ships Alot more, I mean it. Scratchbuilt, no PE sets and all that intricate and lovely rigging are sights to behold. Truly inspiring.

[derailed]

thankyou from this newbie
this howto helped me with my 1/700 rigging on my bismarck(my first ship)
i just finished adding rigging to a sinking freighter
it's sooooo easy with this method
many thanks
this is a great group to be in

glenn