Hi all, Hope this post finds everyone happy. My question is about monophilment rigging.How do you do it, and how to make it tight? I use streched spure or fine steel wire when it works, I’d really like to figure out how to use line. Any feedback would be greatly appericated. Thanks AARDVARK ps , this is in reference to aircraft
A fair amount of experience on that. Aircraft or ships?
For ships, a first question is scale. I don’t use mono for anything bigger that 1/350.
And the clear nylon stuff is hard to work with. But there are good gray or black lines available that are easy to tie, and most don’t dissolve from CA.
Look for fly tying line, like Uni Caenis. It’s my favorite.
Another option is EZ Line. It’s elastic so it self tightens. Some drawbacks- its not round but kind of flat. And CA seems to make it shrivel. but it knots easily.
G Morrison, Thanks for the reply. This is for aircraft. I edited my my post to reflect. AARDVARK
I have done a lot of rigging and I use invisible thread. It is stretchy so tightens well and if it sags you can light a match, blow it out, and then hold it by the line and it will shrink. Hint…spraying dull coat on your rigging makes it look larger as you can see in the pic [:(]
Don’t take this the wrong way but if you post this in the aircraft section you would probably get more views
For aircraft, especially biplanes, I drill holes all the way through the lower wing. I start by tying threads to top of interplane struts, big knot, with lots of thread remaining. I feed thread through holes in lower wing, place a clothespin on end. I place a little CA on thread right below lower wing surface. Then I use tweezers to pull thread slightly back into wing, bringing glue into wing. I then let the weight of the clothespin keep tension on thread while glue sets. Then I trim off thread at lower wing surface with scalpel. You may need to touch up with just a tiny spot of paint.
I find 5 mil mono okay for tying knots, 10 mil and thicker very hard- but it can be done. Like tying knots in music wire!
Try WW1aircraftmodels.com for rigging tutorials.
Something else I forgot to mention. WW1 aircraft were rigged with stranded steel cable. Thread makes a good material for those. Starting in the late 20s, and throughout the 30s and 40s, rigging usually was stainless steel rods. SS music wire makes a good material for those- you can buy stuff in diameters as small as any thread, even monofilament I have found. Usually these rods terminated in major structures. So you can drill holes halfway into wings, and holes in fuselage, to capture ends of wires. In smaller planes the wires are stiff enough that sag is very small. I saw a friend rig a Stearman this way, and it was wonderful, so I now rig planes of that era that way. Cutting to the correct length is a bit problematic- start a bit too long and chop tiny bits off end of wire till it fits.
Hi all, Thanks for all the advice all of you have given me. I really appericate it. Thanks again AARDVARK