Easy way to lay cable wire on aircraft

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Does anyone know an easy way or can make any recommendations on how to lay cable wire on WWII aircraft. I have never tried it as I know it is an advanced technique of melting and molding sprue. It’s just that it looks so good, I would like to put some on my aircraft. For example a wire running from the antenna to the rear wing to just give it a bit of realism. Any thoughts or ideas would be most appreciated. For example, can string or a certain type of thin purchased wire be used be used somehow glued with crazy glue? (what is this wire for on the aircraft anyway - to stabilize it in flight?)

Many thanks to all.

Paul

2

I think what your refering to is the ADF sense antenna. They are located on either the top or bottom of the aircraft. Usually attached at the front to a mast and at the rear to the vertical stabilizer. If located on the belly then it would be attached to another mast at the rear. The sense antenna is used in conjuction with a loop antenna to recieve radio frequencies. Which allows pilots to navigate to specific locations depending on which frequency they select.

Stretched sprue works well to replicate these. Just hold a piece of sprue over a candle until it sags, then remove it from the heat and pull the ends apart quickly. The quicker you pull, the longer and thinner it will be. Don’t let the sprue catch fire. Most of all pratice make perfect.

I hope this is what you are looking for.

Darren

3

Paul,
My recommendation would be to use fishing leader material. Get it as small as you can. You can easily attach it with super glue. Once it is attached just run a heat source such as a hot knife under it. It will tighten right up. It’s also much stronger than stretched sprue.

Beyond ease of use the reason I like fishing line is that it gives a more scale result than sprue. It gives the appearance of a thin metal line unlike sprue. If you look at photos of WWII aircraft you can hardly see the antennas. It should be that way with your model. Very subtle and not take away from the model.

One last good reason. You don’t have to worry about getting burnt, or burning your house down with a candle [:)]

4

Some WWII aircraft were equipped with multiple antenna wires, such as the P-40, which often had IFF wires running from the fin to the wingtips. As technology progressed during the war, external cables were often replaced by newer antenna designs or internal antennas. Late war Luftwaffe aircraft were often equipped with Morane antennas, a hollow folding wood mast on the undersurface of the wing which could be extended in flight and a wire antenna could be trailed from it to improve reception and transmission.

5

I use a spool of sewing nylon which looks semi transparent and holds very well with a touch of super glue. One spool last a long time too.

6

My preference is thin wire. Most hardware stores sell this fine wire in brass, copper, or steel. There is a variety of sizes to pick from and it will depend on the scale of the arircraft as to which on looks about right. I prefer this to the stretched sprue method because the wire is more flexible, just like the real thing.

7

This is also being discussed here:
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=232

Lots of other ideas, including mine.

8

&%$ ver(^%

9

there is a product called EZ-Line and it can stretch upto 700% and still retain its original tension. I use this and it works great. It can be used for both scales 1/72 & 1/48, comes in various colours also. I looks like a very thin peice of elastic. It can be glued easily and can be cut easily, Just a great product.

Cheers Leo

10

08 guitar string is what I use - it don’t need stretching or tightening as it holds itself well. It can be sharp though so be careful.

11

I’ve used stretched sprue, nylon “invisible” thread, fishing line, and fine copper wire (don’t through any piece of electronic equipment out without first scavenging it for parts and material!). I also have a spool of fine-gauge wire sold in craft stores for beading, but I bought that specifically for using as biplane rigging wire. Some guys even use a strand of human hair.

The subject’s scale plays a part, too, in choosing the material. Fine fishing line that looks good in 1/72 may look too fine in 1/48. And a piece of fine wire on a 1/32 subject may look like a tow cable, if used on a small scale subject.

No matter the material, I find the issue to be attaching it securely and cleanly. You’d like it to stay put, and look as real as possible. Sometimes one is sacrificed to the other.

I will drill a fine hole, if I can get away with it, as a secure attachment point. For example, on a 1/72 P-40, the antenna is attached at one end to the top and front of the horizontal stabilizer, and at the other, to a mast behind the cockpit. With a new blade, with a sharp tip, I made a nick in the left and right halves of the fuselage, at the attachment point on the stab, and secured the line I wanted to use, when I glued the fuselage together. When the aircraft was finished, I glued the other end to the tip of the mast, using CA glue. I cheated a little, on the mast, pulling the line across the tip, rather than butting up against it, to get as much of a surface as possible for the adhesive. At that scale, it worked. Then I finished the antenna with a couple of blobls of white glue close to the attachment points, depicting insulators, and they help draw the eye away from the attachments.

I have a couple of F2A’s to do, too, and there is a helpful detail from VF-2, I think it was. They removed the antenna mast from its position in front of the cockpit, because it vibrated in flight. They reattached their antennas (OK, antennae, for you zoologists) to the port wing, attached to a flat flange of metal. That can be reproduced by a small scrap of flat styrene, with the end of the antenna line glued between that and the wing surface.

You’ll want to try different techniques and see which one you like the best.

Regards,

Brad

12

John P! Wildman of the Watchungs![(-D] LTNS!

13

I tried to get to that thread by pasting that URL into the address line of the browser, but the browser returns, “Page cannot be found”. [:(] Which forum topic is it under? I’d like to read it.

Regards,

Brad

14

Yeah, you can use wire and such, but sprue is my preffered method for a couple reasons, not the least of which is that it’s free and you’ll never run out as long as you build… [:D]

Stretching sprue is the easiest form of thermo-forming and about every modeler’s first step in that direction of scratch-building and thermo-forming… I use sprue all the time on my 1/48th birds, because every other type of string, line, or wire looks out of scale, more like cable TV coax in that scale, rather than the 1/8th to 3/16ths-inch diameter wire it really is. Sprue can be stretched to any thickness, from hair’s-width to small rod, and I can use different colors to eliminate painting it.

As for gluing, yeah, I use CA (superglue) to attach it, as well as to simulate the insulators at each end of the wire.

The wire is the actual radio antenna, not the antenna mast that sticks up from the fuselage. 'Course, some aircraft have whip antenna also, so check your refs…

15

Whatever material you choose, be aware that some types of material are strongly affected by temperature & humidity, human hair is a good example. It can slacken and tighten depending on barometric pressure. I recently tried beading wire on a U-Boot build and it tightened itself so much with time that some parts of the model broke and needed repair. I personally have had the best luck with fishing line.

16

I use a product from the fabric store called Invisible Thread. Its semi-transparent black “thread”.

[basically, its fishing line tinted black.]

17

Generally if you do that you attach it slightly loosened so that if you do have it tighten up it won’t do what it did. But also for some stange reason the antenna wires on real aircraft look real tight in flight but at rest on the ground they droop.