WW I and biplane rigging

Here's a link on making your own turnbuckles.

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2001/11/stuff_eng_tech_rigging.htm

Most 1930s biplanes hide the bulk of the turnbuckles, usually only 1/2 to 1 inch of the very end is visible:

Grumman F3F

Waco YMF-5

These turnbuckles are more similar to what you'd find on a sailboat, than the large WWI turnbuckles with a loop on the end.

Another vote for Bob's Buckles, by the way. He's a member here, if you have questions about his product you could send him a PM.

Kevin

Actually, regarding the SPAD, there is something you should take note of.

There is a common error that both model makers and builders alike commonly make, and that is assuming that all its' rigging is the same.

If you find any good historical photo of a SPAD, notice that the main span-wise cross-bracing for the wings is not the same gauge as the rigging in the struts, etc.

This is because the interplane supports are just that, not interplane struts as many assume.

They are cable supports for the main cross cables, not the typical lighter-gauge rigging wires, that gave the SPAD it's ability to outdive any enemy machine without breaking up.

For an example, see this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/landoni/2874498452/

For my 1/32 and 1/28th SPAD builds, I am contemplating using picture hanging wire for these, as it has a nice braided-cable look, and heavy thread or thin wire for the rest.

For the duck, I would use a metallic-colored sewing thread that I can get at Wal-Mart.

Tom T

I am interested in Bob's Buckles but do not understand what a "PM" is or how to send him one.

Thanks for any assistance you can provide. 

To expand a little on biplane rigging, these external bracing wires on a lot of early airplanes were stranded cable, and therefore, round in section. These were indeed tightened by using turnbuckles.

When you get into higher performance, externally braced airplanes like the F3F, GeeBee, P-6 and the like, a streamlined wire is used. This starts as a round rod, usually stainless steel that is rolled flat. The ends remain round and are differentially threaded, that is, left hand threads on one end and right hand on the other. A clevis fitting is threaded on the end which pins to some part of the structure like the wing spar of a tab on the fuselage. Twisting the rod one way tightens the rod, the other way loosens it. You can really see the rod section and threads to good advantage on Mlflyer's pic of the Waco upper wing/Istrut juncture. This makes it a little easier to model, as a hole in the wing will suffice and you don't usually have to model the clevis fitting.

Oh, and they sometimes mix and match, with streamline wires on the wings and round wires on the tail. Gotta check those references!

markgloper wrote:

I am interested in Bob's Buckles but do not understand what a "PM" is or how to send him one. Thanks for any assistance you can provide.

Hi, Mark, "PM" is a private message.  In this forum, if the person you want to send a private message to a person who has posted in a thread, then you can click the PM button at the bottom of his post, and the window to write and send the message should open, defaulting that person's address info.

If the person isn't in this forum, my forum-specific definition doesn't hold, and a private message would just be an email to the recipient.

Hope that helps!

Regards,

Brad

While we're talking about bracing wires, does anyone happen to know what the acronym "raf" stood for in the description of the reinforcing cable used on the F3F and other US late generation biplanes?  I've seen them referred to as "raf wires".  Searching for the term has required a lot of disambiguation from the more well-known acronym RAF.

Regards,

Brad