I used some good thread to do some rigging on a bi-plane, however I dull coated the plane afterward, and now the rigging thread is very hairy. Is there anything I can do?

Hmmm...

Probably no help whatsoever at this late stage, but I would never use thread for rigging... even if it's waxed I'm sure a spray of dull-coat will pick up hairs.

I use mono-filament or HSP and tighten things with a hot pin.

Sorry... I can't offer a get-out solution on this one...

Rowan

My sympathies.

I've never tried this but have thought about it for my old Gladiator. You need something heavier than the thread fuzzies, and sticky. Try running a brush along the rigging with Future or diluted white glue. Or paint.

Perhaps that will pull down the fuzz and hold it?

Hi~
have you tried "Beeswax" like for ship
rigging??
Ron

Rowan. When you use a hot pin to tighten up the rigging, do you hold it close to the line and let the heat do the trick. I like to light a match, blow it out, and use the heat that is left over. Hold it about an inch below the stretched sprue that I use for antenna wires. It only takes a second. Is this similar to the way you do it? Wingman out.

Hi Michael

Yep! The "hot pin" and the "almost spent match" are the same trick. I push a pin into a piece of dowl or an old pencil and heat it over a candle. As you say, it only takes a second to tighten things up - longer will melt them.

This does remind me... I'm sure I read an article years ago about rigging ships with thread that recommended running the thread through a candle flame quickly to burn off the excess hairs. Of course, that still won't help Johnny.

All the best

Rowan

Can you expand on this? What is monofilament and HSP? How do you attch it and achieve convincing rigging? I am looking to add rigging to my RAF Search & Rescue launch.

Hi Shaun

Monofilament is basically fishing-line or invisible thread.

HSP is just an abbreviation for Heated Stretched Sprue.

I usually attach both types of rigging with either PVA (white-glue) or Cyano Acrylate (super-glue). You can attach HSP with ordinary cement, but be careful - because it's so thin and the cement is a solvent, it's easy to melt it.

Hope that helps

Rowan

:-) Heat Stretched Sprue = HSP? HSS surely. Seriously, thanks Rowan. This is a process I've never really got to grips with.

Hi again

You're quite right! Maybe it's just Heated SPrue?

It's actually a very simple process and incredibly useful - it just takes a little practice to master (but, like most things, once you've got the hang of it, you wonder what the problem ever was).

Work in a ventillated area and simply take a length of sprue and hold it about 2 or 3 inches above a candle-flame. (Too high and nothing will happen - too low and the sprue will burn).

The sprue will soon begin to soften - the softer it gets, the more you'll be able to stretch it. Getting the softness you want comes with practice. DON'T try to stretch it at this stage.

Quickly take the sprue away from the candle and NOW stretch the sprue gently and steadily while it's still hot. When you've got the length and thickness you want, MAINTAIN the pressure for a few moments to allow the sprue to cool.

You'll soon be able to control the process really precisely - and the beauty of it is than you can stretch tubes and other shapes (airfoils etc.).

Hope that helps

Rowan

Tubes and aerofoils!!! Crikey, sounds like a brief tutorial in the offing?? And you get tension with the residual heat of a match or heated needle?

Hi again Shaun

You won't be able to actually stretch sprue over a hot needle - you use that to tighten the strands up once they're attached.

I'm not sure if there's already a tutorial somewhere on Armorama - if not, I'll try to put together a little Stretch-by-numbers Feature!

All the best

Rowan

Johnny,
Sorry I don't think I can help with your hairy rigging, byrning off the hairs or waxing the cotten before attachment is the normal way to solve this problem but these days monofilament or HSS is the way to go. The only ral, if somewhat drastic, solution I can offer is to re-rig with one of the other 2 options, sorry
Shaun,
Here's parts of the sequence, of rigging my Spitfire with antenna and IFF wires, taken from my online build.
Any excuse to get some Spitfire pics up :-)





Mal

I think you will have success by wetting the thread with a little Future.Just repeat as needed until all the hairs lay in.Mix a little talcum powder with the Future to de-gloss it and you might be able to avoid a follow up Dulcote application.Fishing line is a great modelling material to have around.I have used 30# monofilament as H2O cooling and returnlines on 1/35 machine guns.Glues with superglue and takes primers and paints.
HTH/cheers

Nice job Mal!!

wow thats great!!
Ron

Rather than do the whole tedious rigging again Johnny, you may want to try, as some of the guys mentioned, a bit of slightly diluted white glue. It reduces some of the hair but you may have to brush it on more than once. Happened to me when I was trying to simulate some rope ties on the belts of my samurai.It doesn't always reduce everything though.

BTW besides monofilament I was thinking of using this very thin copper wire (used in circuit boards I think) for rigging for the Wright flyer, which I hope to build sometime (one can only hope). Has anybody tried it?

Has anyone ever use that elastic rigging line from Aeroclub???
Or am I going to have to do a bi-plane to see how it works..... ???? OH... I have always used the old invisible thread, drill through the wing method. Haven't built an old bi-plane in years..... got a few DML Spad kits about, and a couple of aftermarket decals... maybe after I finish the campaigns I'm in, I'll do an aircraft......
Read that the Eduard DH-2 is going to be released soon..... perhaps I'll pick one up, since the last bi-plane I did was the old Smer one.
Anyway... enough rambling.... back to the question????

Anyone ever try that elastic rigging material from Aeroclub????

Hi CK

Yes, soft wire is great - for one thing, you can roll it "flat" to simulate flying-wires.




Hi Dave

I've never tried it - but you've inspired me to try to track down a sample! I'll report back if I have any luck...

All the best

Rowan

Thanks.... I have a roll..... it's rather interesting, since you can really stretch it until it is really fine with outbreaking, and once anchored, it remains flexible so the antenna or rigging don't snap if hit. I just haven't gotten around to using it, and wondered if anyone else has.
I was also wondering about it's lasting in time. Will it dry out like an old rubber band?..... :-) :-) :-)

Hi again

I rather think it will...I once (very) laboriously picked out the rubber thread from an elastic strap - it was great for a while, but it perished and became brittle eventually.

HEADS UP! Don't keep things like rubber bands in your work-room. However much we try to ensure good ventillation and filtering, the solvents flying around definitely make the rubber perish quicker than elsewhere... I hate to think what they're doing to our lungs...

We're all doomed

Rowan

Cough..... Cough..... smoking 40 years.... got no lungs left....
cough....cough...... :-) :-) :-) :-)

Rowan,

Thanks for advice on the copper wire. Haven't built any planes in 25 odd years since I got weaned off my plastic addiction. Hope to try it out "soon" once I get bored doing figures.

Take care.

You can find the thin copper wire inside the color coded wires of most telephone wires....each color wire has three wires in it...goodluck and lets see some pics

kevin

Jack Flash to rigging crew; Greetings I would have responded sooner but the hairy rigging thing had me rolling round on da floor for about two days. :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

As a last resort try bottled dullcoat applied with a brush. If that fails its best just to do another kit. Monofilament is best and its good to see Merlin taking the lead on this. Cats Cradle rigging is one of my favorite standbys. I have done a download article for my website on the how to's of rigging.

In the mean time here's a shorter version tied up in a 1/48 Special Hobby Pfalz D.XII build.
https://aeroscale.kitmaker.net//features/739

JackFlash clear and back up in the clouds.