.009 Guitar string aerial wire

[Sweb]

That's about it. Most musical instrument shops carry individual guitar strings. The .009 (inch) is an especially asked for string because it's usually the first string that breaks on a 12-string acoustic guitar being so thin. It's about 30 inches long and makes for several nice looking aerial wires or whips. Caution: Don't stab yourselves. They're very thin and will pierce skin readily. Being music wire it will lay straight on its own; especially in short sections for aerial wires.

[Wurger]

Sounds good. But I don't believe it is a good solution.Apart from these skin wounds the metal wire is quite difficult in gluing. Especially to the styrene , even when using CA glue. I wouldn't suggest it.

[Airframes]

I tried using guitar strings a few years ago, when I could still play guitar. I had mixed success, due to the resasons Wojtek mentions. Also, it only looked right on some 1/32nd scale models, whereas on others of the same scale it appeared too heavy. However, for military vehicles in 1/48th and 1/5th scale, the next strings up, in 'tape wound' steel strings, make fantastic towing/recovery cables and hawsers.

[Wurger]

I agree with Terry about these vehicles.The string wire can be a good material for all cables etc.

[Sweb]

Sounds good. But I don't believe it is a good solution.Apart from these skin wounds the metal wire is quite difficult in gluing. Especially to the styrene , even when using CA glue. I wouldn't suggest it.

Solution: Wipe a small amount of CA on the string end such that it is only there and does not increase the diameter of the wire to any significant extent. Use the medium cure viscosity. Then put some accelerator on the part of the model where the wire attaches. Touch the wire to the model and it seizes in place instantaneously. DO NOT put the CA on the model, only put it on the wire. Like many aspects of modeling, it's more about technique than materials.

[Wurger]

However , I'm still not convinced to that. Also the technique has nothing in common with a hardiness of the metal-styrene joint. It doesn't matter if you apply the CA glue on the wire firstly or on the styrene part. Simply a CA glue is not enough good for sticking very small surfaces especially these metal ones.

[hawkeye2an]

I have to agree with Wurger. The bond just can't be made strong enough. Has anybody tried this EZ-line stuff?

BOBE'S HOBBY HOUSE-EZ Line

[Matt308]

Too expensive. Use Surger thread. It is phenomenally strong, clear and paintable if need be. For 1$ you can buy 300yds. Just look in your typical grocery/drug store and they carry it.

And more importantly it is to scale.

[Wurger]

Interesting. I haven't seen that earlier. At galnce a little bit thick for these small model scales. But undoubtedly very stretchy.

[kgambit]

I have to agree with Wurger. The bond just can't be made strong enough. Has anybody tried this EZ-line stuff?

BOBE'S HOBBY HOUSE-EZ Line

Haven't used it, but here's a review:

E-Z Line Review by Brett Green (Bobe's Hobby House)

The pic on the first page of BOBE'S HOBBY HOUSE-EZ Line makes the antenna wire look too thick to my eye (but it doesn't say whether he used the 0.003 or 0.006 thick thread). There's a link with the line used for rigging a Nieuport in 1:48 scale and it looks fine.

The problem is that this stuff is damned expensive. 13$ for 100 feet!

Does anyone know exactly how thick an antenna wire SHOULD be in actual size?

[Airframes]

As a very rough approximation, about the same diameter as loudspeaker cable. But, the diameter may be more if the wire is longer, depending on resistance and cross-talk interferance, and the length is dependant on the wavelength of the radio being used, the required and/or available range, the location on the globe, atmospheric conditions, and time of day. That's why you might see a 'doubled' antenna wire on some aircraft, and why many needed to also employ an antenna wire on a drum, as a trailing aerial.

[kgambit]

As a very rough approximation, about the same diameter as loudspeaker cable. But, the diameter may be more if the wire is longer, depending on resistance and cross-talk interferance, and the length is dependant on the wavelength of the radio being used, the required and/or available range, the location on the globe, atmospheric conditions, and time of day. That's why you might see a 'doubled' antenna wire on some aircraft, and why many needed to also employ an antenna wire on a drum, as a trailing aerial.

Thanks Terry. I was thinking the antenna wire would be something like co-ax cable which varies from 4.95 to 6.95 mm but that just seemed too thick for some reason. 14 gauge speaker wire would be ~0.08 inches (~2 mm). (Dimensions from the AWG system)

For what it's worth I did find the following information on rigging for WWI biplanes if anyone is interested. (From mulitple sources)

"The British used Flying wires that were flat in crossection. Landing wires were round in crossection. German aircraft used round crossection in all cases. But these round types were multistrand wrapped jobs.

The British Standard Specification BSS6WS (streamline wires) for 9/32” BSF wires was 0.404” (10.26mm) in width and 0.101” (2.56mm) in thickness. Dimensions for the ¼” BSF wire required a width of 0.348” (8.84mm) and a thickness of 0.087” (2.20mm).

Austro-Hungarian and French aircraft used round wires."

And for grins I converted the width of the British rigging for 1/72 scale:

1/4" = 0.25" (6.35mm) = 0.003" (0.088mm) at 1/72
9/32" = 0.28125" (7.143mm) = 0.0039" (~0.1 mm) at 1/72

Can't find any dimensions on the German rigging wires but based on a few restorations I've seen on the net I'm guessing they were somewhere in the 4 to 8 mm range.

[Airframes]

Great info Dwight. I know that there are PE rigging wires available in some scales, but I wonder how I'll make 'flat' flying wires when I rig my 1/48th Gladiator and SE5A! I think I'll cheat and just use 'invisible' thread, or stretched sprue!

[kgambit]

Great info Dwight. I know that there are PE rigging wires available in some scales, but I wonder how I'll make 'flat' flying wires when I rig my 1/48th Gladiator and SE5A! I think I'll cheat and just use 'invisible' thread, or stretched sprue!

There are some 1:32 PE Flat British rigging wires available (can't remember the manufacturer though). For 1:72 I'm just sticking with invisible thread.