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Can anyone recommend... rope?

Discussion in 'General Figure Talk' started by gerryj199, Jun 22, 2020.

  1. gerryj199 PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    United-States
    Hi everyone,
    I'm wondering if anyone can help with a recommendation on some appropriately scaled rope for a figure that I'm working on.

    I'm working on a 120mm mounted NA Plains Indian and I've been trying to find some sort of rope that I can use for the reins. If I can't find anything I'll use wire, but I'd prefer to have something more organic and flexible.

    Can anyone recommend or suggest a solution that would be in the appropriate scale?
    Many thanks,
    Gerry
  2. yellowcat A Fixture

    Country:
    Canada
    Hi Gerry,

    Early this year I was looking for some rope to be used for the reins for my two Verlinden 120mm mounted Samurai. Only one of the the kit came with a small piece of string which was useless. I have checked every kind/type of string, rope, twine that are avaliable.
    Here are the strings /rope which are suitable and in scale for the horse reins. The top one is from the kit, the second cotton kite string, third hemp bead cord, fourth silver plated craft wire, last one my twisted copper wire. To stiffen the kite string and bead cord I soak them in dilute white glue mix with water. I use Weldbond white glue. Let it dry and check on the stiffness. You may need to soak it a few times to get the right stiffness to be used as reins. The kite string was from Daiso, the hemp cord and silver wire from Michael's.

    Cheers,

    Felix

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  3. Alex A Fixture

    Country:
    Canada
    I second that. twist some copper or stainless steel wire.. will never decay
  4. yellowcat A Fixture

    Country:
    Canada

    The kite string and hemp cord is soaked in dilute white glue to make it more stiff. It will never decay and I think it looks more natural. The silver wire is good too.
    David Spencer and Nap like this.
  5. billyturnip A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    theBaron and gerryj199 like this.
  6. Mirofsoft A Fixture

    Country:
    Belgium
  7. gerryj199 PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    United-States
    Wow! What a great community this is!
    Thank you Felix and the others, these are incredibly helpful suggestions.
    Best
    Gerry
    Nap likes this.
  8. theBaron A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States

    You beat me to it, Roger! But natural for a sailor to think of that ;)

    My mind went back to the Revell ship models I build as a kid. They all came with spools of thread to do the rigging-usually a couple different thicknesses of tan or light brown, for untarred hemp, and black for the tarred lines. If you don't mind using used product, you might find some now on eBay, or among any modelers in the area.

    Prost!
    Brad
    billyturnip likes this.
  9. billyturnip A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    And the funny thing is I don't build ship models, all that rigging, no thanks.
    Nap and theBaron like this.
  10. gerryj199 PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    United-States
    Just ordered up some hemp rigging. I have some of the Alexandros naval figures and I can use it for those as well. (When I eventually get around to painting them!) :)
    Thanks again
    Gerry
    Nap, theBaron and billyturnip like this.
  11. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England

    Great response to Gerry's question ....didn't realise there was so much choice !

    Happy benchtime to all

    Nap
    theBaron likes this.
  12. MCPWilk A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    The secret with model ship rope is firstly not to go over scale, secondly to soak the rope in water the unstiffen it and get it to hang naturally and finally to coat it in dilute PVA glue to hold the 'sag' of the rope in place. Good luck,

    Mike
    theBaron and Nap like this.
  13. Ferris A Fixture

    Excellent info everyone. This is what forums are about!
    Nap, balder and theBaron like this.

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