TUTORIALS - 8
RIGGING
for aircraft and ship modelers
by Paolo Pizzi
PREFACE
Granted that rigging your average ship is a FAR more complex affair than rigging the most externally wired aircraft, the techniques I use are basically the same. And the same basic techniques are used regardless of scale, but of course when you work in 1/700 scale everything becomes a lot smaller and you need a lot more attention.
I
use two basic combinations of techniques and materials, one for straight lines
and one for sagging ones. The best material for straight lines is fly-fishing
tippet line. This is the smallest fishing line you can buy and it comes
in several gauges and in at least two types: regular and silk. Some unscrupulous
hobby dealers sell one spool for $4 or more (way over retail...), but if you buy
it from a fly-fishing store, you may save 50% or more (not to mention that
paying over retail ALWAYS sucks and I wouldn't patronize any business trying to
rip customers off.) Here's a list of on-line fly-fishing supplies vendors:
http://www.americanfly.com
http://www.greenfly.com
http://www.sjflyshop.com
http://www.cyberfly.com
http://www.steelheadsite.com/flyshops/
http://www.teleport.com/~flyfish/
My experience has taught me that the 9X type (.002") is perfect to simulate antenna wire in 1/72 scale, while the 7X version (.004") works equally well in 1/48 scale (I know 1/48 is NOT twice as big as 1/72, but given the very small sizes involved, there is room for a little tolerance.) As for ships, while the 9X works well in 1/700 scale, it is still over-scale (though not by much), but then again nothing smaller than that exists. In 1/350 scale, the 9X type looks much more in-scale.
Regular tippet line is completely transparent, while the silk type is of course...silky. For our needs, the latter type is more suitable, either if you intend to leave the line as it is or you want to stain it. Personally, I believe that a stained line looks more realistic, after all wire is never transparent, isn't it?
STAINING THE LINE
I
wouldn't suggest using any kind of paint to stain extremely thin line. Paint
creates a film around the line, making it thicker and inconsistent. Besides, the
line doesn't offer a good grip to the paint, which will inevitably chip off as
soon as it's dry. There is an excellent way to permanently stain the line
without altering its shape and size, and it involves the use of a permanent
marker (also known as "postal marker.")
For
this purpose, a large-tip permanent black marker works best. You can find this
in any office supply store. Here's how you do it:
1. Unspool about 1 foot (30 cm.) of line.
2. Hold the line onto the body of the marker with your left hand thumb.
3. Quickly pull the line with your right hand through the tip of the marker.
A SIMPLE ANTENNA ARRAY
The easiest form of rigging is the antenna array of a quarter-scale WWII fighter. Once you have learned how to do that, in theory you can rig anything. In practice, however, it takes some skill you will build with experience to accomplish the same on anything smaller. As mentioned before, you will use 7X (.004") line for this, which is a little easier to handle.
1.
Stain the line, as shown above.
2. Using a drafting compass, extend the needle and the pencil arms until they match the span of your antenna wire (you could also just measure it with a ruler, but with a compass it's a lot faster.)
3. Use the span on the compass to measure and cut a segment of tippet line which is 2-3 mm (1/10 of an inch or so) LONGER than the exact length.
4.
Put a few drops of fast-curing superglue (the liquid stuff, for more information
consult our article on hobby glues: CLICK
HERE) on a smooth plastic surface. The lid of a yogurt container is
excellent for this purpose. Lightly dip one end of your tippet line in the glue,
just until it picks up the tiniest amount of liquid possible. You can use your
fingers to hold the line, if you have a particularly steady hand, or else use
fine-tip tweezers.
5. Attach the line at one end with fine-tip tweezers. Wait until the glue has fully cured or, if you are particularly in a hurry, put a tiny drop of CA-accelerator over the joint using a toothpick.
6. Glue the line at the other end. Don't try to make it taut, leave it sagging.
7.
When both ends are securely attached and the glue has fully cured, use a heat
source from below to make the line taut. Some people use a match just
extinguished, others use a cigarette etc. I use something a lot safer and a lot
more consistent in the way it gives out heat: a small soldering iron of about
10-15W of power, the type commonly used for circuit boards. Don't get the iron
too close or the line will burn. Move the tip of your soldering iron up and down
the line, keeping it at a consistent distance, never closer than 4-5 mm (or
roughly a quarter of an inch) Stop when the line is perfectly straight. That's
it!
8. If you have already used this technique with stretched sprue, be aware that the tippet line reacts in a substantially different way to heat. Stretched sprue starts to straighten as soon as you get the heat source close enough and then slowly becomes taut. Tippet line seems to not react at all at first, and the most common error is to get the heat source closer. Don't, or your line will suddenly catch fire and, literally, vaporize. Just wait and then start to move the heat source up and down a little faster than usual since once the tippet line starts to straighten, the process is definitely faster than with stretched sprue. As usual, experience will be your best teacher...
WORKING IN A SMALLER SCALE
(1/700 SCALE ENTHUSIASTS: THIS MEANS YOU :-) )
Basically,
in a smaller scale the process would be the same. One major difference, however,
regards the type of adhesive you want to use.
CA glue always leaves some residue at the end of the line. If handled properly, this could be minimal and almost impossible to see (especially if well hidden...) While it's relatively easy to do this on 1/72 and 1/48 airplanes, in 1/700 the "glob", albeit minimal, would always be visible. One reason may well be because people look at 1/700 scale models from a much closer distance and with sharp eyes, examining the smallest details.
One solution to this is to use Testor's "Dullcote" instead of superglue. The process is identical but with one important difference: dullcote takes MUCH longer to cure and there is no way to accelerate it. For this very reason, it's better to work on more than one line at a time. For example, you could do the flag ropes hanging from a yardarm all at the same time: cut equal lengths of tippet line and the glue them to the back of the flagbags, or to their ends if flagbags were not fitted to the vessel. Wait at least a day and then glue the other ends all at the same time. Wait another day and then make all lines taut at the same time using the small soldering iron, as shown above.
Remember, the only secret to great rigging in 1/700 scale is a lot of patience!
NON-STRAIGHT (SAGGING) LINES
Unfortunately, tippet line is highly unsuitable for non-straight lines, as it tends to curl a lot (unless what you want is precisely that...) If you need a line with a mild sag, I'm afraid there is no alternative to the old method of stretching sprue.
For those of you unfamiliar with this, what we call "sprue" is the carrier that holds the plastic parts in a model kit. This can be easily cut in 3-4 inch (10-12 cm.) lengths, even with your own hands, and then slowly stretched over a heat source, such as a candle. In order to get extremely thin lines comparable to the size of the tippet line, you will need to acquire some skill. Most difficult of all is to get CONSISTENT lines, especially when these are very long (like on 1/350 or larger scale.) Another problem related to stretched sprue is the fact that you can't use superglue with that: it would just dissolve it.
INSULATORS
Adding
insulators to an antenna array is a nice detail that adds a lot to the overall
realism of the model and it is always very appreciated by onlookers. Of course,
the larger the scale, the easier is to fancy isolators (though obtaining
consistency is always the biggest problem.) The beauty of the tippet line is
that, unlike stretched sprue, it's not affected by superglue.
Basically my insulators are small lumps of superglue, tiny drops applied with a toothpick and then painted in whatever color is required.
What if I want to add an insulator (or maybe a simulated pulley) to a sagging line made of stretched sprue? Well, in that case you will need to use good ole' white glue. It will take much longer to harden, but the final result will be as good.