Hey lads was wondering if anyone had happened upon this stuff for tie downs stowage etc. Was looking for some string or equivalent around the house, when found some flower arranging wire. This wire is covered in white string, the string being wound as rope to scale would be... With a simple dip in relevant paint colour, it works perfect as rope for stowage as I used for a tent roll on my M20, as once shaped around an object it holds its position just lovely. the stuff came in a plastic pack (which I bought to make barbed wire [pre-knowledge of fuse-wire!] previously on a trip to the local arts supply, from memory) and possibly had a dozen or so lengths of approx. 300mm which may have been doubled up to give twice as much! Hope this will be of help...............

Other ideas to complement yours can be:
- if you are (or you know) a fly-tyer you'll find in your tying box a lot of material to replicate ropes successfully
- just have a look in your mother's (wife's, fiancee's or girlfriends would be also good) sewing basket. You will find several kinds of sewing threads of various ticknesses that just perfect once dipped in a 50% white glue and water mixture...
Ciao

Model ship rigging is another possibility. It comes in various diameters and is in actually twisted 'rope'.

Amati is a brand that I have in a couple of sizes. I was able to pick it up at my local hobby shop a few years ago, but he usually does not carry it.

Hi there Pte Honeycut,
other things I've found that are good for rope and tie downs are:
1. Picture frame hanging wire with it being metal it's a good one for tow cables for tanks etc. and curves just like the real thing, you just need to superglue the plastic tow eyes on to it.
2. Ordinary string and instead of painting it, dye it using a dark clothes dye (a little tub of dye last ages), once in place drybrush to show age, wear etc.
3. Thread for smaller items like bedrolls etc if you need it thicker just twist a few lengths together.
Along with your ideas, I hope these may help.
Kenny.

I have had some good results with this also. The other methods sound pretty good to.

If you know someone who works for a doctor or at a hospital, sutures are a great source of tie down rope. Get the braided nylon, undyed. The small U shaped needle is ideal for passing under tie downs and back around stowage.

Patrick