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Wow on this picture. What is she.? Nice, My HMS Victory build 1959 Revell suffers from broken and tweaked tops. Kearsarge however is pretty beefy at the top and I only use enough tension to make lines look taught, never strain. Hope this helps. Thanks, Paul
How does this work?
Fred,
Interesting! I really admire different models like that...ones that don't come straigth from kits and that you don't see every day. Thanks for telling me!
You have a sharp eye! That is the White Star Lines' Majestic, circa 1906. The hull is from a 1/600 Airfix Mauretania. Some other parts are from a Revell 1/570 Titanic. Converted to the Majestic's dimensions, the scale comes out to about 1/450.
Fred
Well, then, piano wire is out. I've never used it for anything myself, I do use brass. Like I said, I just heard of using it. I can see all the downside of steel now that you guys mention it. Onyxman, what ship is that? Looks like a conversion of the Titanic or Lusitania. Neat!
I've used brass, tapering it in the Dremel as described. I have also used brass rod inserted into brass tube to get the "telescope" effect that some more modern masts have. The masts here are brass done that way:
Bigb123 I've heard of a guy somewhere that used piano wire. Would this be as good as using k&S, assuming it were the correct diameter?
I've heard of a guy somewhere that used piano wire. Would this be as good as using k&S, assuming it were the correct diameter?
I wouldn't use piano wire. Too hard to work with. Too hard to machine if you need any taper, too hard to solder if you want to solder yardarm or any fittings to it.
Don Stauffer in Minnesota
I use brass too, haven't gotten to tapering it as I build somewhat more modern ships. Plastic masts and spars definitely are a weak point.
HEY ; DON: It is nice to know you think as I do . I started doing things in metal after getting a group of 1/350 ships at a hobby store closout sale . I don,tknow how , but , it seemed that every ship (there were over 19) had warped or damaged masts or rigging . I tried this first time on the model in 1/350 of the GORCH FOCK ! When I got to that point every modelbuilder fears on a sailing ship , having used brass rods of various sizes tapered to match the plastic parts, the rigging darned near FELL into place . The use of brass sure makes sailing ship models easier to work with . Like you mentioned the rigging will take somewhat of a small strain that will help enhance the model . tankerbuilder
I have done this on modern ships, both topmast and yardarm. They had very little taper- only near end. Worked fine. I see no reason it would not work on earlier ships if you can get a better taper. I happen to have a small lathe, and have seen gadgets (followers) that would help machine the taper.
I have not had a lot of trouble tensioning rigging on modern ships- the reason I used metal replacements is that the kit parts were badly warped. In another case I broke the part cutting it loose from the sprue.
I have successfully done this for quite some time now . The fact is , I turn the topmast taper to it,s proper shape by turning the wire in a chuck of my battery powered drill . I don,t own a lathe , per se , But I,ve created one with this drill . Now when you do this make sure of the metal you want to use . Some metals , naturally are to hard for this . I use .030 wire (brass ) from K and S and turn the piece , slowly applying force to the surface with EMERY cloth . The brass comes annealed from K and S and you don,t want to have it any softer . When you have got your top shaped the right way , take 800 grit wet or dry sandpaper and some sewing machine oil . Now put the strip of 800 in the oil and do the final smoothing with this . When you are finished you should wash off the part in lacquer thinner to remove any trace of oil . Take the end that was in the drill and shape it square so it will fit in the step at the top platform . The nice part about this is you can go from the deck up using thick wall tubing for the mid and lower sections as well . It does work ! I did a REVELL "galleon" the large one , for a fellow and that,s how I did it. The ship looks as good now as when I built her 28 years ago . tankerbuilder
A local shop has a fairly nicely done Revell 1/96 Constitution on display in a case. Like most of the OOB builds I've seen the model suffers from slack topmast stays, because the topmasts are so thin that you can't really get the stays leading forward taut, without bending the mast.
I've always thought that I'd replace those parts with wood, when I someday get around to building my kit. But wood brings its own issues- the need to get truly straight grained wood, properly sealed to prevent warping.
But the idea hit me the other day-- what about metal? Has anyone ever tried turning a topmast (with the necessary taper) out of brass, perhaps?
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