That’s another one I never would have thought of. Fly-tying wire makes a lot of sense, especially if it’s flexible enough to bend into shape but will stay where you put it.
The 0.2 mm size really caught my attention. I’ve already bought some wire in several sizes—roughly 0.35, 0.41 and 0.58 mm—but I’m working in 1/48 and I really didn’t have a good feel for what those diameters represented on the actual aircraft.
So I did the math, and this was pretty interesting:
Model wire Full-size at 1/48 Approx. actual diameter
0.20 mm 9.6 mm 0.38 in
0.35 mm 16.8 mm 0.66 in
0.41 mm 19.7 mm 0.78 in
0.58 mm 27.8 mm 1.10 in
That makes me think the 0.2 mm fly-tying wire could actually be really useful for some of the smaller hydraulic lines and wiring. Some of the wire I already bought may be a little heavy for those details.
Of course, the real aircraft doesn’t have everything plumbed with the same diameter line either, so having several sizes available is probably the right answer anyway. I’ll still need to work from reference photos and choose what looks appropriate for each line.
Looks like I may be adding fly-tying wire to the shopping list too. 
Thanks for the suggestion!
