I never used EZ line for ships,   however I'd go with the lite. Think about the scale size of the rigging and handrails.

I think in general an oversized line is more visible and objectionable than an undersized one.  In most of the popular ship scales it is hard to find line scale sized, it mostly is larger than it should be. So I try to err on the smaller size.

Color is important, too.  On fine lines that the eye cannot resolve, black and pure white appear larger than other colors.  On modern ships where antennas and stays are brown or gray wire rope, avoid using black or white threads.  Go with grays and/or browns.

The heavy is about the same size as thick sewing thread and the light is about half the size. Personally I'd go with the light myself.

Light it is, then. Thanks, guys.

Here's another question. The kit I'm getting ready to crack open is the old Revell Eastwind cutter kit. The handrails are molded in solid plastic. I want to cut these off and scratch build my own railings. Does anyone have a good method for doing this? I could use the EZ line, but the rails seem to be a slightly larger diameter than most rigging and cables will be. Maybe the heavy EZ line for the rails, and use brass rod for the stanchions? Are there any tried and true methods for scratching your own rails?

Thanks again,

Chris

There's a nice PE set...

If I was going that way I'd probably keep the stanchions and use EZ Line. The rest of the kit is kind of basic anyways.

The photo-etched set that GM mentioned is from Gold Medal Models: www.goldmm.com/.../gms3uscg.htm . It contains railings and all sorts of other parts. On 1/350, photo-etched rails tend to look pretty good. I'm not at all sure I, personally, could produce a better result with individual lines and stanchions.

If I were you I'd just shave the solid styrene railings off with an Xacto knife before doing anything else to the kit, and add the photo-etched reailings near the end of the job. You may have to deal with some gaps between the hull halves and the deck, but they shouldn't be too bad.

A member of our model club brought in a model of an icebreaker he'd built from that kit; it was beautiful. Icebreakers are fascinating ships, and too few models of them get built. Good luck.

Yeah, that PE set seems to be going for around $50, so it's not an option, unfortunately.

If memory serves that PE also has the Campbell on it.

I meant to say that I'd personally go with the PE.

That kit like others of the era isn't pre engineered for PE of course.

Many an hour spent hacking  railings of of the old Revell " flat bottoms"

Of course not back when I built them the first time around. What you don't know can't hurt you, right?, and they seemed marvelously detailed at the time.

Nice how the current kits just assume that PE is to be added.

In any case with a kit like the 'wind class, it will really pay to go through the PE set instructions (GMM are always really well done) and prep lab all of the surgery before getting in to construction. There's been criticism of the turret and replacements can be had, but that's a matter of taste I suppose and I'm not one to claim these kinds of things are better one way or the other.

I've read rumors that the kit once came with a screw forward. Mine doesn't and I've never seen it. My understanding of that is the forward screw would ca irate and reduce the hydraulic pressure under the ice, causing the bow to crush downwards and break the ice rather than try to slam forward into it.

As for ice breakers I really agree.Hasegawa made a great one of the Soya in maybe three separate voyage configurations. It's a part of an excellent line of museum ships they did,

It seems the PLN are expanding their blue water navy to achieve whatever geopolitical ambition they have including operations in the Arctic Ocean now that it's navigable year round, so look to the likes of Dragon to be kitting some possible subjects.

On the subject of rigging, here is a post i put on another forum about what I am going to use to rig a 1/72 Fokker Eindecker.  You can "Make" more sizes than are offered.

...I will be using very thin pieces of EZ Line striped off a length from the spool. There is a short piece of the normal and fine sized EZ Line in the upper left. Note the frayed end done by rolling it under a file. You can grab a smaller diameter and pull it off whatever length you started with and it retains the full stretch, and strength, of the original piece. While I can ill afford to pull any out, the upper right is a hair of my head for a size comparison. The hair measured 0.0022" :o The lower left is 2 pieces through a 0.5 mm brass tube that will go across the top of the rigging mast. The lower right is threaded through a 0.3 mm brass tube for the turnbuckles on the rest of the rigging. If I had waited I wouldn't have had to pull a hair since I am sue one would have fallen out from getting that into the microscopic opening in the end of the tube.

Great stuff- this is the thin one.

Whoa G, that's insane man!

I need to get me a roll of that stuff... I rigged my last few ships with my daughters hair taken from her hairbrush... It looks good, but is not the easiest stuff to work with... And garnered me some strange looks and comments from my family...

The thinnest line I have been able to buy is monofilament used to tie fishing flies.  I am not a fisherman, but was so impressed with the stuff that I found a web site that sells the stuff, and have bought the stuff.

Only problem I have is that the thinnest size, in white color, is almost invisible, and you have to work with the stuff against a dark background, with very good light. I kid you not, it is nearly invisible!

Here is the recommendations from the EZ Line website:

Choose from Two Sizes:

• Fine - .010" (0.25mm) diameter Recommended for N and HO model railroad scales.  This size works well for other models from 1/350 - 1/87 scale.
• Heavy - .020" (0.5mm) in diameter Recommended for S and O scale, and as high tension wires in HO Scale. Recommended for other scale models from 1/64 - 1/10 scale.

I just purchased one roll of the fine to test out.

Hi;

    I would buy the lite line .For 1/350 I find it to be the most realistic looking . As you know WW - 1 Ships have quite a bit more rigging than WW - 2  ships . I am doing the rather complex rigging on the U.S.S. ARIZONA , right now and it is working out great at 1/200 scale . It looks very close to actual scale . I love the stuff .