Advice wanted: how to do riggings on very small ships

[terrinecold]

as promised a new picture. I am done with the 4th ship (one more to go). I used the .004 thread. The results were a bit mixed:
GOOD:
1) that thread is incredibly easy to thread through the tiniest hole.
2) the thread is easy to make tight or to knot with tweezers
BAD:
1) hard (impossible?) to glue, you need to knot every parts for some riggings like the masts it is OK but for others (the foresail) it is a pain, this is a piece of thread which is not mechanically solicited and it would have been easier to just glue it toward the back.
2) as it's name indicate (invisible thread) it is hard to see, in the case of my model, there is no real need for the rigging to hold the masts (it helps but it was fine without) they are there for esthetic reasons and it is a bit to bad not to see the thread well

Also I tried to use the heat to shrink technic to tighten one of the thread going from the mast to the rear of the ship but couldn't get it to work.
All in all very interesting to know this trick.

Finally I learned a few other things doing this build:
1) I used a jig (wine cork) to hold the mast while rigging them, it was a good idea
2) I installed the mast and attached them to the ship before gluing the sails, it was a bad idea
3) I forgot to color the edges of the hull before putting up the mast, also a bad idea as it was a pain to do it after

[sporticus]

I think the thread looks better than than earlier stuff. It is more in proportion and looks more like rigging. The earlier stuff looked more like thread! But it's what you prefer that really matters.

I like the effirt you are putting into getting it right, very commendable. Was just wondering if you could find something finer for the spars, they look very chunky in proportion.

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

I once watched silversmith making very thin (silver) thread for filigrain work. One end of alength of about 50 cms was clasped in a vice, the other in an old fashioned hand operated drill. Then he started pulling and turning the drill slowly. The material stretched and stretched, and became thinner and thinner.
A while ago a Dutch top builder told me he did the same sometimes with metal wire for ship's rigging. Advantage: such lines do not sag, and while attaching them to masts etc. they are cut to the exact lenght needed, and do not pull the mast away from the vertical. Worth a try, perhaps?

[Texman]

You said the thread you used did not tighten up with the addition of some heat. Is
the thread your using a nylon thread? If it is, it is possible there was not enough
heat to tighten it up.

If you want the rigging to really show up, you can run a "sharpie" type marker along
the thread before installing it, to give it some color. For my aircraft rigging, I use the
silver marker. You could use any color that you desire.

[terrinecold]

Originally Posted by sporticus

I think the thread looks better than than earlier stuff. It is more in proportion and looks more like rigging. The earlier stuff looked more like thread! But it's what you prefer that really matters.

I like the effirt you are putting into getting it right, very commendable. Was just wondering if you could find something finer for the spars, they look very chunky in proportion.

Yes it looks more like rigging because independently of the material I did a bit of research... at this scale I can't do ratlines and all the lines as I want at max 1 point of fixation at the rear of each mast and one forward but on this ship the threads are in a position which make sense (one going forward of each mast, two to the back and the side forming 3 lines holding the mast. 2 holding each yard to the mast).

[terrinecold]

Originally Posted by Texman

You said the thread you used did not tighten up with the addition of some heat. Is
the thread your using a nylon thread? If it is, it is possible there was not enough
heat to tighten it up.

definitely not enough heat as I was afraid to melt or burn it. What I'll do with the next and last of the serie is practice the shrinkage while the masts are still on the jig. Then I can do it again to repair the ship in the picture.

If you want the rigging to really show up, you can run a "sharpie" type marker along
the thread before installing it, to give it some color. For my aircraft rigging, I use the
silver marker. You could use any color that you desire.

the thread I use is very similar to this Signature Monofilament-Smoke Size .004
So I think it should still show a bit...

[terrinecold]

Originally Posted by Diderick A. den Bakker

I once watched silversmith making very thin (silver) thread for filigrain work. One end of alength of about 50 cms was clasped in a vice, the other in an old fashioned hand operated drill. Then he started pulling and turning the drill slowly. The material stretched and stretched, and became thinner and thinner.
A while ago a Dutch top builder told me he did the same sometimes with metal wire for ship's rigging. Advantage: such lines do not sag, and while attaching them to masts etc. they are cut to the exact lenght needed, and do not pull the mast away from the vertical. Worth a try, perhaps?

I don't think I'll be skilled enough but I can try the finer metal thread that I can find at a hardware store.

[terrinecold]

one more pics just for the pleasure, yesterday evening I added a small base. I still have to work on my imitation water but I saw several threads of advice on this topic in the forum if I remember correctly.

[terrinecold]

about the fine metal thread, I have been thinking about the tiny copper filaments in coperwire. That could be used.

[legion]

There is a really good rigging tutorial on War Artisan's Workshop -, as well as a small scale Enterprise model.