Help with rigging?

[Guest]

Ok so i've pretty much finished my HMS king george v but i want to make it that bit more special by rigging the masts. I found this great guide for it:

The Ship Model Forum • View topic - Making stretched sprue and Rigging with stretched sprue

but the guy advises to use metal masts instead of plastic ones. Does it matter? can i rig my ship with the plastic masts or should i just leave it?

[Guest]

Try this brass rod, that is what I used on the Tirpitz I built, link here

http://www.scale-models.co.uk/ship-boat-pictures/11280-1-350-scale-tamiya-tirpitz.html

It worked and could be cut to length and glued to the masts etc, once in place it was easy to paint as well. Rather than stretched spure it will certainly look the part and will not break.

Just a suggestion but worth a consideration

Andy

[Guest]

You can also actually buy plastic rod by a company called Evergreen. Most good model shops stock it. The trouble with thicker stretched sprue is that it invariably ends up tapered so if you want a straight mast it might not be ideal. Be careful also when you are using liquid poly with fine stretched sprue as it will almost certainly completely disolve it away. A spot of pva may be a better solution or you could look at fine fishing line or, as I used to use on my 1/72nd fighters in the days when I had some, human hair!!

[Guest]

Thanks for the help guys. I hadnt thought of fishing line and the rods pretty good too. I think i'll take the risk as this is my first ship so i know what to do with HMS Belfast which is next. Hopefully i'll finish soon so i can put some pictures up. Who knows you might see some of my hair on it!

[Guest]

Hi Madhatter, I recently rigged a 1/72 scale WW1 RE8 biplane using beading thread 0.3mm dia. smoke coloured thread (semi transparent) and was very successful. Used a hot needle to make the fine holes in the wings and with the polyester thread being very strong you can really pull it tight with pliers and it threads through holes nicely as well. The thread will take CA glue to hold it down. Would be ideal for what you're doing. It's available from Hobby Craft or any craft shop that does beading made by Salix. It made the RE8 look much more realistic than the original Airfix version. Going to do the same on a Fairey Swordfish which is coming up for a build.

[Guest]

Thanks a lot Ivor that thread sounds great and i'll keep it in mind for my HMS Belfast.