I guess i will start by saying i live in Seattle so you could say it is a little humid here at times. Well i have been in the rigging stage on my Revell Constitution and over the past couple of months i have noticed the change in my rigging tension has been pretty minor with the changes in weather. I have used melted bees wax on my lines and twisted it in good with my fingers and the change in rigging tension has not been that bad when it rained out. A few days ago we had a record rain for Seattle!! over 5 inches in a day and when i got home from work and looked at my connie it looked like the rigging lines had all grown by a quarter of an inch. i could not believe how much they had slackened. All of the lines were done pretty taught to begin with and they were sagging so much it was crazy!! I think i might have to try something else for the Seattle climate as far as rigging material goes.
I feel your pain! I have had the same trouble with models I have built in Colorado in the summer and then brought to Seattle in the winter. I thought I might try running a damp Q-tip along the lines before the final attachment. Then they could only get tighter, right?
I’m using 6/0 fly tying thread, for the most part.
Fred
my fear of tying them “wet” so they could dry tight is that the spars and masts will bend it it gets too tight. a lot of those parts are pretty flimsy on the constitution model and bend way too easily.
Huh,
Gentilemen, this is an interesting topic. I able to take humidity for granted, even during painting. Quite frankly, I’m surprised that a severe rainful outside could have such an effect on a model inside. I guess I’m lucky to live a “Sheltered” modeling life, because it gets dry here in winter. A/C negates the humidity in the summer.
Captain Black, I see what you mean by not wanting to tie them wet. A line shortening would seem to create alot more problems than a line lengthening. Have you purchased a dehumidifier?
You guys taught me something new.
Semper Fi,
Chris
That’s very interesting…I have a model of the yacht “America” (see avatar) that was built in 1968, in Brunswick, Me. , was sent to eastern Long Island, then moved to Dagsboro, De., then to Freehold, N.J., and finally to northeastern Illinois. Haven’t seen any appreciable change in rigging tension, or heard of any, in the model’s history, in spite of the varied environments it has been in. Then again, the model has been cased since it was built. I built the case, but would not guarantee that it was moistureproof.