rigging

[skuki]

Hi,
what would be the best way for rigging. Till now I've used streched sprue with hair dryer, but I would like to try something new. What do you thinky of wem Lycra? Is there in fact a better way for rigging than streched sprue?

[johndon]

I've tried using WEM's lycra with no luck myself - I'm too cack handed unfortunately.

I've just started using 'invisible' thread which works well for me.

This is in 1/350th BTW.

John

[JIM BAUMANN]

I am a sprue rigger....

Here is a copy and paste of my contribution to the HOW-TO section right here at MW.com!

Hairdryer...? ye Gods!! It would blow my rigging away completely!!

here is also a link to rigging ith monofilament--alsio from the HOW-TO section here at MW.com

http://www.modelwarships.com/features/h ... igging.htm

Good luck

JIM B



I use ONLY scratchbuilt masts made of Steel/brass wire. For tall masts in 1/350 I use syringe needles, as a tube structure will not bend under tension in the sameway as a rod structure. When you make cage arials (Panay and Dreadnought etc) out of Ladies stocking lycra thread the cumulative tension is large and will pull masts out of line; even the shrinking of sprue with smoke will pull wire masts out of shape, always attach shrouds well, in model form they actually have a function even in sprue!!!

For all of my rigging (see some other ships of mine posted in the Modelwarships.com gallery) 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 an 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

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 on bench, dab the end of chosen rigging piece in cement and with tweezers attach to ship/yard let set for 5-10 seconds and draw the other end to your chosen attachment point. Dab on a minute amount of liquid cement and draw the sprue piece thru the cement and let set. With liquid cement on the end of a toothpick, melt the plastic of the spruee and voila you have a neat attachment with no furry ends or scissors etc

Having rigged some shrouds for example you may wish to tighten them. Hold model over a consistent smoke source such as inscence or cigarette (I gave up, hence joss sticks) and the hot smoke will tighteen 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 UNRIG the model.... with resultant fury, frustration and vulgar language...!!

[skuki]

Hairdryer...? ye Gods!! It would blow my rigging away completely!!

...!!

Thanks for the advice!

I use hairdryer after everything is attached, for heating rigging because when you heat them they become straight in case they are not glued the way you wanted and are loose.

[geedog]

has anyone tried hair? My wife and daughters leave enough in the bath to rig a fleet. I have used it on 1/700 Mogami and had great results.

[Herr Flick]

how do you make it tense?

[les]

Make some off hand comment to your wife or daughter about women. Sorry I couldn't resist.

[Francisco P. de Nanclares]

Make some off hand comment to your wife or daughter about women. Sorry I couldn't resist.

Good one Les!.

[DeadByCheese]

Sprueing..DBC style

1.) Take a straight piece of sprue from the sprue thingy

2.) Light a candle(make sure its in a candle holder so you dont have to touch it)

3.) Hold the end of the sprue above the candle flame, do not let it catch fire. The plastic will bend back and smoke a little, keep heating it above the candle until it curls up and the melted plastic is mushed together.

4.) Use some tweezers to stretch the glob of plastic =.=

[Jason M.]

has anyone tried hair? My wife and daughters leave enough in the bath to rig a fleet. I have used it on 1/700 Mogami and had great results.

I just finished 1/700 Indianapolis, and during the rigging process, I was thinking the excact same thing! How did it work for u? I didn't have the guts to go through with it, cuz the whole idea, while insightful, kind of creeped me out. LOL

[les]

You can also use monofiliment fish line or polyester thread.

[Rob]

I used to have long hair. Occasionally whilst rigging a loose hair would get in amongst the sprue and be duly attached in error. I learnt a lesson here, you cannot heat-tighten hair like you can sprue. Annoyingly, it was always the dark hair, not the ever-increasing number of grey ones that would invade the work space.

These days I have short hair (makes the grey less obvious).

A useful source of 1/700 whip aerials is Guinea-Pig hair as it is quite stiff. Modelling tip is that it is best to wait for your guinea-pig to moult first. Do not attempt to remove the hair as (a) it is cruel and (b) guinea-pigs are very bad-tempered and have very large teeth.

Cheers,

Rob Kernaghan

[RNfanDan]

"...guinea-pigs are very bad-tempered and have very large teeth.

Cheers,

Rob Kernaghan

True on the large teeth, but I have raised cavies for nearly 20 years of various species, and have yet to encounter any with a bad temper. It's a shameful and heartbreaking thing that so many of these gentle, intelligent creatures are doomed to painful lives and ghastly deaths in the world's laboratories, many just for the sake of testing products intended to make some air-headed human female "look better".

[PHIL ENGLISH]

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

[Timmy C]

!! Black Widows...*shudders*

I think the stickiness will cause more problems than it'd solve. It might (and most likely will) stick to something you don't want it to, and possibly tangling up the rigging entirely. =(

[tony t]

I don't think I could try that, due to my overwhelming urge to destroy any insects, arachnids or myriapods i come across ...

Just occured to me though, maybe dental floss fibers could be split down to sufficient fineness for something like cross hairs ...

[Sean Hert]

Not all spider web strands are sticky- there's like 7 different types of web they make....

[Commodore Rob]

Well i use invisable mending thread its great for 1/3000th scale as it is, and painted it works in larger scales:)

[MichelB]

I just bought me an old PC keyboard for 1 euro and cut off the cable. When split, it yields several meters of very fine metal wire. Enough for dozens of models to come. The material is very forgiving, glues easily and since I only rig superficially to 'sketch out' the rigging, this will do fine for me.

[les]

If I had those suckers outside my house, I'd nuke the whole yard with bug spray! I hate spiders!