Hey Friends

I was wondering what you use for tie down ropes on your models? I have been trying some string but it seems too big. Thread doesn't look right to me. Any help would be great.

Thanks
HastyP

check out the ship building area in your local hobby store.. they carry cotton thread for ship's ropes.. looks like a good sized hemp rope on a 1/35th model and looks fairly well if you give it some color with pastels..

I've been using .15 mm which is a good size I think for a tie down rope...

here is a link to one of my models that I used it on..

M8 with tied down stowage

If you have access to medical supplies, sutures make excellent tie down ropes. Braided nylon or silk both will do. They don't have any fuzz to deal with like sewing thread. I know you can't run down to Wal Mart and pick these up, but ask around, you may have some luck.

Patrick

After doing some searching, I found this site. They have expired sutures at really cheap prices. The size of the suture will vary, so use caution when picking. I have used sutures many times for tie downs and they work really well. Maybe one of our resident physicians could give some insite as to how to pick the best suture for the job.

Patrick

Thanks for the ideas fellows!

Delbert I happened to by in my hobby shop last night and bought some of that ship rigging and it looks great. Thanks again.

HastyP

Hey Paul
What I like to use is tea bag string. My wife drinks tea all the time, so one day sitting with her I was looking at here tea bag. The string looked good enough for modeling. If you let the string soak in with the tea it changes color, longer it soaks the darker it get. Here's what I was able to with it.

If you use sewing thread, a technique to avoid the fuzz is to run it through a candle. The wax kind of lubricates the string and "de-fuzzes" it, if that is a word :-) Hope this helps. "Q"

A trick, IIRC James Tainton uses is stretching sprue, fig it (is kind of loose), and then use a hairdryer.. the stretches sprue shrinks a bit... he used it to make the wires used to attach branches on his Hornisse.