Wire Colours?

[vince14]

I have recently returned to modelling World War One aircraft (after a fruitful stint on F1 cars) and I'm currently using fuse wire for rigging my machines, as I'm not yet brave enough to drill holes into the darn things to use thread. However, I'd be interested to know what colour other modellers paint the rigging. I've seen everything from black through grey to even just running the wire briefly through a flame to take off the shine. Any suggestions?

[PeterL]

Vince, I too am a big fan of fuse wire for rigging and am similarly chicken hearted when it comes to drilling holes in my models. I find that if I first run the wire quickly through a candle flame and wipe off the soot with a tissue it makes it easier to roll and gives it I nice dull metalic sheen. AFAIK the real thing was covered in greese and appeared black, but dark grey is probably better on a model where paint would only add bulk.

[vince14]

Thanks for the advice, Peter. I gave it a try and am impressed with the results!

[BobE]

Representing wires in 1/72nd scale is an intriguing problem.
I have used waxed grey thread, stainless steel wire and both light and dark monofilament.
The grey thread was easy to work with but a bit too thick and hard to make taut.
The stainless steel wire was much easier to use but only in certain applications the high shine doesn't look right. I did the pass it through the candle bit and that does help a lot but is tricky and adds to the preparation work. By the way, does any one know if a product called "Blacken It" works on stainless steel? I understand model railroaders use it to blacken brass.
The monofilament is harder to work with as it curls a lot during handling but I think it looks the best. Looking at photos of the real planes I notice the wires are usually barely visible.
The light mono being transparent gives this effect, just glinting a little in the light.
The dark mono which I find most satisfying is a translucent dark brown which actually looks blackish. This really shows off all that rigging work to advantage.
The one thing I, personally would not recommend is painting rigging of any kind in this scale. You can never get the paint to distribute evenly on material so thin and the result is much too thick.
Of course in the final analysis "Ira Dicta" rules the day.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Bob E *8)

[Matt_Bittner]

Sorry, but "Blacken It" will not work on stainless steel.

I use stainless steel wire you can obtain at Small Parts (http://www.smallparts.com). After I glue it on I think spray the model flat. That helps hide the sheen of the wire. Some may say that "flat" is not right, and it should be "semi-gloss", but thinking of "scale effect" flat looks better in 1/72nd (the only scale ).

[BobE]

* * * Thanks Matt! Saved me a trip to the hobby shop.

* * * I vacillate with regard to gloss versus flat finish.
* * * I use semi-gloss. *

* * * Keep 'em flying!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Bob