"wiring" or "rigging" Biplanes

Ashley

Don, are you ready for a can of worms? I have for years been trying to find a good way to make realistic streamline wires. They have a short section of round wire just before they enter the clevis or turnbuckle, and of course, they're rolled flat for most of their length. So, this means each one is a unique length combination of flat and round section. I have a Williams 1/32 GeeBee which will NEVER get finished unless I solve this one. Any ideas?

In 1/32, you might also want to try the finer gauges of styrene strip.  The RAF wires you're talking about are flat, not round, when viewed from a distance (or from the scale distance to the eye of someone looking at your model).  They have an airfoil shape.

That idea came to me when I first saw Accurate Miniatures' F3F kit and the PE rigging supplied with the kit.  I realized that the PE replicates the actual wire pretty well, and that's since been reinforced when I've seen biplanes like the Stearman, up close.

The PE stuff is nice, no doubt. I tried rolling solder, and I got a nice streamline shape with a round section on each end. Problem was that the solder was so maleable it would sag and bend once installed. I'm thinking of trying annealed aluminum wire next, but I'll have to build a pretty substantial miniature slip roll. Stay tuned for progress on that one!

Some kits come with stainless PE of that type of forged flying wire.  Would be nice if we could convince some PE shop to do generic sets of various lengths.  Since these have to be exact length, you could have the one end necked down and cut the other end to length.  The cut end could go in the least visible area.

Don, are you ready for a can of worms? I have for years been trying to find a good way to make realistic streamline wires. They have a short section of round wire just before they enter the clevis or turnbuckle, and of course, they're rolled flat for most of their length. So, this means each one is a unique length combination of flat and round section. I have a Williams 1/32 GeeBee which will NEVER get finished unless I solve this one. Any ideas?

I do something that a lot of folks really do not like to do, but it works for me.  I drill holes through both wings.  I start at one wing- say lower, feed the thread through, then CA at one wing, say lower.  Then I feed thread through and weight it with a closepin, holding model so gravity keeps line taut while I CA the line at the other end.  Using a really sharp knife (I use scalpel with fresh blade) cut the line flush at each end.  Then I daub just the tiniest spot of paint on the outer surfaces where line came through, using toothpick.

For fuselage terminations, I start line at fuselage end, just gluing end of line into hole, and do the weight trick at other end.

By the way if you are planning to rig the Dr.1 you should know the only rigging it had other than ailerons...elevator...and rudder........ Was the inner Cabane struts above the guns and below the fuselage to the Landing gear... both rigged in a "X" pattern.   In case you didnt know already that is

Thanks everyone! Great tips!

Since I am a fisherman, I have plenty of line laying around so that's what I use ,and am happy with it.  you don't hafta install it super tight as a hot match stick with no flame tightens the line very well.  Just run the blown out match close to the line without touching it and it magically tightens itself.  I use CA to glue it to the plane and it is a very quick process.   I usually color the line with acrylic gray or flat steel after installing it.

Some people use super light fishing line, 2 lb or so. You can take a silver sharpie and color it. I wouldn't use a black anything. If you look online at biplanes you will see that most cables are a silver-grayish color.

Chris

I'd get extra fine in either white, black or French blue. $10.98 for a 100 foot spool isn't bad actually.

Yes it would. It;'s cheap.

That looks like the stuff! I see their scale recommendations, I did not check prices, would it be wise to have both sizes I'd guess? For different uses?

OOPS, sorry guys. I prefer 1:48, and am just getting into 1:35 Armor as well.

Thanks!

It really depends on the scale. For a first effort at any scale, jeff is right, EZLine makes it painless. As you get experience and build in larger scales, there's all kinds of other stuff.

More than likely you're referring to EZ Line. It's great stuff and can be used for any kind of rigging. You buy it directly from them at www.berkshirejunction.com/ezline.html and they even send you an invoice to mail back a check with after you've received your order.