Posted by Sebastian Brad Comyns on June 29, 1999 at 20:07:37 in 207.166.219.226:
In Reply to: Loose rigging posted by Robert Adamson on June 26, 1999 at 23:37:15:
Theres a few ways Ive played around with to keep the lines from sagging:
#1: (and the way most people recommend) fishing line... an assortment of weights between about 4 pound test to 10 pound test. I have to admit though Ive not had much luck with this method... the knots always look too knot-like.
#2: (doesnt work as well as I thought it would) guitar string/piano wire... figured the twisted metal would look particularly authentic... works okay for funnel stays but thats just about it and even there its only okay.
#3: solid metal wire: hey, I was expirimenting! It looked awful although it didnt bend or sag for anything.
#4: Weight the thread from underneath the decks with washers. Only tie off at exposed ends... this keeps the line tight even if humidity stretches it out a little. It also allows for a little room for errors when youre trying to tie that line taught. This one is actually one of the best results Ive gotten, granted the model rattles when you move it around but then again, its a static model and I lob off the hands of anyone touching it!
#5: Nylon thread (affected by humidity a little less than cotton and dosent fray apart) COVERED with flat laquer as a layer of waterpoofing.
Hope that helps a little... its really a lot of playing around with different threads, gauges, materials, techniques, etc. What works well on one line looks wrong with another, etc.
Sebastian Brad Comyns