The Ship Model Forum

i am building a 1/350 Bismarck and want to know the best way to do the photo etch cable reels?

Check the listings for 1/350 P.E. at:

http://www.tomsmodelworks.com (Bismark & Tirpitz PE sets).

http://www.goldmm.com (Assorted Cable Reels (1/350) - 350-23
A set of 48 cable reels in twelve styles, four reels of each style. Includes USN, IJN, RN, and KM designs. Relief-etched in 3-D for extra detail. Brass.)


http://www.whiteensignmodels.com : WEM sells the Gold Metal Reels if you like ordering from them.

One or all three of these P.E. companies has what you want plus a lot more for the Bismark & Tirpitz.

thanks Dave, i have the photo etch, im more refering to how people assemble them i.e what do you put in the center and how to hold it there?

Ah so ka! Now I understand. I use left over plastic sprue since it is already round. I just chop off a piece the appropriate size in relation to the PE Cable Reel. I paint the piece black or very dark gray to match the color of the hose. The Cable Reel also gets painted at this time to match the ship models color. When dry I cement the piece of plastic sprue in the center of the Reel with CA glue. Hope this helps.

Hi , Look at part 13 of my North Carolina build in the feature builds 2004, under hawser reels, it shows you how to build them , ARH

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Simple but effective.

thanks guys

I do as Dave suggested. Here's a shot of my USS Laffey (from the online build on this website), and the cable reel consists of the YMW brass piece bent into the U shape as required, and then a piece of hollow styrene rod slid in there and painted.

-Devin

Oh gosh.....I don't think anyone would want to do the same for 1/700 scale ships....the cable reels are just way too tiny in 1/700 scale...

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Carrier Battle Groups, Yeah!!!

Kind of a delayed answer, but I just chanced upon your question.

Building on the previous answers, you could go one step further, by winding a fishing line around the cylindrical piece of plastic you will glue to the PE part to form the core of the reel. The fishing line is transparent but if you paint the cylindrical part black you achieve a nice effect: you can actually see the greasy metallic wire wound around the cylinder.

One way to do it is to cut the cylindrical plastic core of appropriate diameter to a length of 2-3cm so that you can comfortably handle it. This length will suffice to provide the core for a few cables reel. If it is not a black piece of plastic, paint it flat black.

Then stick or tie one end of a length of fishing line somewhere, hold the plastic cylinder with one hand or clamp it down somewhere steady and start winding the fishing line with your other hand around the plastic cylinder. Keep winding it tight and dense, the next wind right next to the previous one with no gaps. It should look very tidy. Just one pass will do. Do not wind the fishing line more than one level deep.

When you have covered as much of the cylinder as you can, keep the fishing line taught and apply a drop or two of thin superglue on it with a toothpick and spread it all over the wound fishing line. The trick is for the superglue to go between the cylinder and the fishing line, and not to cover the fishing line, as it would spoil the effect. Keep it taught for one more minute and then you can let go.

Now you can cut the cylindrical part to the lengths you need and the superglue will keep the "wire" in place. You can even sand the bases of the cylindrical parts after you cut them to trim them to the size of the PE set.

Cheers

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George A. Georgopoulos

As usual, simple ideas are the best ones. How in .... I did not think of this!. Thank you very much gag. You just solved my problem with the Sovremenny cable reels for the cranes.

Cheers.

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I will miss you Werner. Fair winds and following seas.

I used almost the same technique that Gag used but I used a very small piece of plastic as the center spindle and then I winded some tread to create the cables. In retrospect I should have done as Gag said because I ended up winding the tread for 1 hour at a time. It made for a satisfying look but it was time-consuming and kind of boring after the 7th reel!

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Ventis Secundis

Oh, I like that! I normally go with the smooth tube to make it look like it's canvas covered, but I might have to leave the covers off on the next build to try that out.

-Devin