The Ship Model Forum

There are good and bad stamp collecor tweezers - the good ones have almost razor-thin edges, so that you can slip them under stamps - good for picking up objects from the work surface.

Wires can be straightened and stiffened by clamping one end into a vice and pulling at them with pliers. This doesn’t remove kinks though. Short pieces of wire can be straightened by rolling them between two flat pieces of hard wood.

Handle it verrrry carefully! Once it's kinked, it's easier to cut a new piece rather than trying to remove it. But you can still use the kinked piece for a shorter section somewhere else.


Tweezers like these are good for handling fragile items: https://www.micromark.com/Flat-Smooth-Decal-Tweezer They're also used by stamp collectors. Unlike pointy ended tweezers, the ends won't cross under pressure and damage the parts they are holding.

using that wire, how do you avoid bending it and/or keeping it perfectly straight ?

You can find 316 stainless wire down to 0.03mm - I have a 100m spool of the stuff. Not used it on a model yet though.

i use ez-line which is very easy to install and because it stretches, it is very forgiving when rigging multiple lines.. it's impossible for me anyway to exert the exact same amount of tension on every line and thus some will sag once another has been installed...i build plastic model WW2 ships and the EZLINE is great and looks good to...and none of my lines sag

Why do you want the material to stretch ? Any material that does stretch contains plasticers that will outgas and leave it brittle. If you want to keep your model for any length of time, stay away from such material.

For modern ships, that is non-sailing ships, probably the best option is wire. Wires are available down to 0.06 mm diameter on ebay et al. Materials are copper, silver and molybdenum (very tough and difficult to cut). Wire can used as single strands or two wires twisted together to simulate wire-rope (or even 'real' rope with the appropriate paint put on).

Another option are fly-tying threads that are available down to about 0.1 mm diameter (e.g. Veevus 16/0). Give sewing threads a miss unless you can get hold of high-quality polyester threads such as Gütermann Mara 220. Natural fibres will cause you endless trouble with 'fuzz', while polyesters are smooth.

thanks for the idea but thread doesnt stretch...

I would agree that sewing thread is useful as rope rigging on wooden sailing ship models (and large scale plastic sailing ship models) as they are usually a fairly large scale. But even the finest thread is way too thick even in 1/200. Fine (light weight) monofilament fishing line could also be used, but it's not stretchy.

Hmmm...I stand partially corrected. The above company's .008, and .012 rope is pretty fine, and looks like it could be used for heavy rope rigging in 1/200. I may try some of their rope on 1/72 models. Thanks for the link.

Try as I have. Go to a sewing shop and go through their thread. This is a very good source. Next, as I am a wooden ship builder go to https://syrenshipmodelcompany.com. They supply very high quality rigging in many scale sizes.

have added Togens to my bookmarks...will be shopping when its time to rig the ship....

how about that a Canadian shop too

thank you drastic plastic ! i knew about lycra but didnt HOW to find it on the net...thank you again!

The problem with EZ Line is that it is flat, like a ribbon, and is especially noticeable when painted metallic for steel cables. Infini Lycra rigging is round, not flat: https://hobbysense.ca/products/infini-l ... t_campaign
It's stretchy like EZ Line, but looks better.
There's also similar from Uschi:https://www.ebay.com/itm/174328502269
Wire, such as used for making fly-fishing lures (in appropriate colors!) can also be used: https://togensflyshop.com/collections/t ... wire-small
(Note; a local fly-fishing shop might be more convenient; I am not associated with the above store!)

looking for suggestions on material for ship rigging...been using ez line but am building my first 1/200 ship...any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated..thanks in advance