Stretched Sprue Rigging

Started by James Robert Feuilherade · 4 · 10 years ago
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    James Robert Feuilherade said 10 years, 4 months ago:

    Attached some pics of my Roden 1/48th Bristol Fighter, rigging all done with stretched sprue. I've used it on a 1/32, but superglue is required for fast attaching! Very good for small span areas on a 1/32. It really comes into it's own when used on 1/72 scale kits. With a pair of deviders to measure distance between struts, some tweezers to hold the sprue, white glue (vital) and some stretched sprue, carefully cooled so as to be dead straight, some very complex rigging on 1/72 can be done easily (and yes...it is actually fun!) with stretched sprue. The more you use it, the better you get at it. Send a message to me for my tips, for what they are worth.

    I have yet to get hold of a WNW kit. What great kits! Some guys have done awesome jobs on these, really will have to get hold of one soon. Strange they have yet to do a Sopwith Camel? Seeing it shot down more enemy aircraft than any other type... one would think!

    3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    bob mack said 10 years, 2 months ago:

    that looks terrific

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    Gregor d said 10 years, 2 months ago:

    Ditto! Fantastic job there James. I've few bi-planes in the stash including a couple of Gladiators that i've been putting off due to rigging fobia :). May give it a go after i've done my 1/48 P-51B which is WIP.

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    Rob Pollock said 10 years, 2 months ago:

    Lovely job, James.

    I still prefer 'rigging thread' for these aircraft. although drilling out attachment points either for thread-ends or for turnbuckles can leave the model looking like a cat's-cradle of thread before the final push, it does in fact strenghten the model overall, and I've found that stretched sprue is quite brittle and subject to breakage even if only lightly mis-handled.

    The last WWI kit I did was last year - a Roden 1/32 SPAD with the Eduard aftermarket set, which brought the kit up to a sharp standard (I've posted a few photos of it on this site.). I used the turnbuckles provided but with thread, which was in scale. Looks ok.

    I will say though that to get the sprue in absolutely identical diameters is a real skill, and you seem to have managed it well.