Jump to content

Rigging with Soft Iron Wire


John Aero

Recommended Posts

I answered a post in WW.1 but I thought that it was also of use here.

 

.

 

I recently found a box of flower arranging wire belonging to my late wife Angela so it's got to be 20 odd years old. The the wire is Soft Iron wire and comes in roughly 12" lengths and is rigid and can be cut with a modelling knife. However it bends easily. it comes in several gauges but only the finest of between 28-30 gauge is of any use and only for 1/48th. Mine is a few years old and has been stored in a card tube and the patina is dark brown. To straighten it if bent, simply roll it between two hard flat surfaces and it becomes perfectly straight again.

It's easy to cut into the measured lengths and with superglue on each end it can be held in a pair of tweezers and put into place. If it gets damaged then just pop it off and replace it.  I have used it on an old sales demo Tiger Moth restoration. It's great for the small centre cabane structure wires. and strut stagger wires.

 

John

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another use for the thicker Soft iron wires  is for pinning wings prior to gluing rather than using stiffer brass wire. I'm rebuilding an old 1/48th vac Moth of which the lower wings were snapped off and required to be butt joined. I drilled into the root ends and inserted a piece of malleable Soft Iron Wire which I super glued into each wing as a stub spar.

 

I next drilled the fuselage through at the front spar position and inserted a piece of Contrail tube to match the wire diameter as a firm push fit. The wings were firmly pushed in so they still remained flat.  I was now able to rotate both wings to the correct incidence angle and then the malleable spar allowed me to bend up and adjust the correct wing dihedral angle before finally gluing the wings to the fuselage.

 

John

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...