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Rigging with monofilament

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  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Thursday, September 24, 2020 9:22 AM

I use 20 mil monofilament.  It is almost too hard to undersize rigging.  Let's see.  In 1:72 scale 60 mil full size would be less than 1 mil, 1:48 would be just over a mil.  125 mil cable would be only a little over a mil, and in 1:48 would be 2.5 mil.  Color has a lot to do with the size it appears to the eye.  I color the monofilament stuff with markers, but never white, silver or black.  That makes them look bigger than they really are.  Go light grey or dark grey.

 

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    February 2012
  • From: Olmsted Township, Ohio
Posted by lawdog114 on Wednesday, September 23, 2020 11:16 PM

I switched to this.  It's outstanding.   

 

https://www.uschivdr.com/products-in-detail/rigging/

 "Can you fly this plane and land it?...Surely you can't be serious....I am serious, and don't call me Shirley"

 

 

 

 

  • Member since
    June 2017
Posted by UnwaryPaladin on Sunday, September 20, 2020 10:49 AM

Don, that's pretty much how I did these fixtures. I'm beginning to think it is the thick mono that is the problem, probably would be fine with 2-4 pound test line. I might try drilling them out and replacing them with stretched sprue. 

This isn't my model, but you can see the piece I am trying to replicate with the thicker monofilament. 

 

And you can see in this photo that the rod is not as thick as it is depicted on the model.

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Sunday, September 20, 2020 8:54 AM

I trim in two steps- first cut it with my sprue cutter.  Then trim further with my scalpel.  The scalpel blades are somewhat thinner than X-acto blades so you can bend them slightly like those flush trim saws.

I also only glue the bottom surface of the top wing.  I start at the top wing, put a drop of glue on the bottom surface hole, and pull the thread through.  That minimizes any glue buildup around the thread on the top surface of the top wing, the most visible surface.  I also treat the bottom wing opposite for same reason.  I pull the thread through, and while slightly slack, put a drop of CA on thread.  Then pull it through and put a closepin on it to maintain tension on thread while glue sets.  Trim later.

 

 

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    June 2017
Rigging with monofilament
Posted by UnwaryPaladin on Saturday, September 19, 2020 11:32 AM

Trying to cut my teeth with biplane rigging, have been working on a 1/72 Matchbox Fairey Seafox kit. I did most of the rigging with EZ Line, which worked great. The kit had thin "rods" for some of the control lines, but the molding for these rods wasn't that great. Instead, I drilled through the wings and used a ten pound monofiliment line. 

After gluing the line in place with CY glue, I trimmed them as flush as I could to the wing, filled around the line with putty and tried to sand it level. 

The problem is that the mono never sands flush. It seems that the mono is harder than the surrounding styrene, so the plastic sands down faster leaving the monofiliment slightly proud. Is there a way to counter this?

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