Help with ship rigging

Jock83,

    From one guitarist to another,  Right on!

I use my old strings for antena and some rigging. Only problem, my paint seems to not hold well.  It scrapes off real easy.

(B string works good too-  I use smaller diameter "slinky" strings so the wound G looks useable too for cable or maybe standing rigging.)

 Following with great interest.

       Nino

Not sure about ship rigging but I've gotten great results from a high E guitar string, especially on 1/48 scale bi planes. It is rigid and looks great and looks good even painted. 

I used it for a while, but it's shortcomings turned me off to it.

A really big plus is that it knots well, and it's very stretchy. Good for places like model railroads where you reach into the model a lot.

Negative that finally got me to stop using it- the roll I had fused itself together. Faced with ordering another one, I tried something else.

Thanks for the info Jim. I've never used this EZ Line so anything helps.

Doc

My . IIRC, EZ Line is flat and you should be watching for that when doing rigging with it. It didn't show up unless you put more than a little stretch to it. Then the light reflecting off it showed up. I wasn't worried about that when I used it. Between using it and giving some to club members, it's all gone now and haven't gotten around to ordering more.

Hope that this helps.

Jim   

Doc Hu

...

 

Thanks for the memory jogger. I gues my eyes aren't the only thing getting old.

Doc

 

It is amazing what they can do for old eyes these days.  The fingers not so much.

EZ Line is the one was rembering. I can see it in my minds eye. I remember holding it in my hands but now it's nowhere to be found. I ordered some more so now it will magically appear.

Thanks for the memory jogger. I gues my eyes aren't the only thing getting old.

Doc

There is a trade between thread (the regular stranded stuff) and monofilament.  The monofilament doesn't have fuzz, so can look more like wire rope, and can be dyed for the color you want.  But it is relatively stiff.  So it is hard to tie knots, and to reeve it through blocks and stuff.  But, modern ships don't have that much running rigging anymore, so that is less of a problem.  You can also buy the transparent (invisible) nylon monofilament, which looks smaller than it really is.  In general, folks tend to use too thick stuff, and too high a contrast.  The higher the contrast, the thicker it looks.  Avoid stark white and black.  Stay in shades of gray.  As GMorrison mentioned you can get stuff so thin it is hard to see when you are working with it.  I keep a couple of pieces of foamcore to use as backdrops when I am working with the thin stuff:  white backdrop for working with dark thread, black backdrop for the light stuff.

EZ Line, Uni Caenis, Infini Line, stretched sprue.

For me, it's what I can still see to work with.