Need help on installing support wires on Walrus

[Spitfires Forever]

Greetings,

I am contemplating building the SMER Walrus sitting in one( not sure which but it is around here someplace) of my closets. Before I start building I would like to find out what is the best way to go about rigging the wings and struts with the support wires/cables, what kind of wire or other materials needed to do this while looking "in scale" and how to not create some "booby-trap" device out of my kit that will not "spring apart" upon the slightest applied pressure. Any publications, YouTube tutorials, pictures, websites, etc? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

[keefr22]

Greetings,

I am contemplating building the SMER Walrus sitting in one( not sure which but it is around here someplace) of my closets. Before I start building I would like to find out what is the best way to go about rigging the wings and struts with the support wires/cables, what kind of wire or other materials needed to do this while looking "in scale" and how to not create some "booby-trap" device out of my kit that will not "spring apart" upon the slightest applied pressure. Any publications, YouTube tutorials, pictures, websites, etc? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

There's an excellent tutorial here from Viking a fellow BM member -

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...c=72714&hl=

I use a variation on this method, as I'm not organised enough to keep track of all the rigging wires as John does & would end up with a right rats nest if I tried it that way. Instead, I drill the attachment holes right through the lower wing (my models are always attached to bases, so if I'm less than perfect with clean up after attaching the wires it won't show as badly as if I drilled right through the top wing.) I then attach individual wires from the top of the struts right through the holes in the lower wing, supergluing them under the wing & then cleaning up & touching up the paint. For rigging that goes into the fuselage I just drill 'blind' holes at the location points, touch the end of the 'wire' in some superglue, stick it in the hole at one end, hit it with a spot of accelerator let dry & then stretch & attach the wire to th elocation point at the other end. I say 'stretch' as for rigging wires I use Aeroclub elastic, which is also known as 'knitting in' elastic & can be got from sewing shops - or as ever, e-bay!!

HTH

Keef

[Barneydhc82]

I built the Ca Walrus a few years ago (1/48 scale). It would have been a very flimsy structure but I pre-drilled all of the wire attach points using a #76 drill bit in a pin vice. The model was assembled except for the upper wing panels but with the engine pod in place. I then painted the components and rigged the engine pod with .005" stainless steel music wire, the upper wing panels were added along with the struts, then the remaider of the rigging installed.

In drilling the holes for the rigging; drill the holes at approximately the same angle as the rigging when installed; drill the holes in the bottom of the upper wing slightly deeper than those in the top side of the lower wing.

Use a set of dividers to measure the approximate length of the distance between holes then add about 3 mm. Test fit each piece by sliding the wire into the top hole then flex it to fit into the bottom hole. This might take a bit of trimming to get the length right.

If the wire fits OK place a small drop of super glue on the junction. Now add the wing floats using the same procedure.

When finished the model is very strong and will handle some prety rough handling...except for the landing gear which is the weakest part of the model.

View mine at http://www.barneysairforce.com

Barney

[Spitfires Forever]

Thanks for the tips gentlemen, this type of information is why I post exclusively on BM. I was thinking along the lines suggested but was not sure whether stiff wire would work best, or a soft wire, or even thread, which is just too "hairy" looking ( The Monogrm Kingfisher was my first and only attempt at rigging an aircraft, and I used common thread) so now I have a better idea as to what I need to do. A multi winged aircraft without the rigging is like a cockpit without seat belts, unfinished. I will try these suggestions on my SB6 race plane and go from there.

Cheers, and thanks again

[jRatz]

Here is my CA Walrus, rigged with steel wire.

I borrowed a technique from the Tamiya Swordfish Photo-etch Set which sounds very much like what Barney did above, except that I only glue in one end of the wire and allow the other end to ride free in the hole until I have done them all. Only then do I start to anchor the opposite ends, generally working on the same wire on each side. This approach seems to let the airplane and the rigging settle in, so to speak, and is very strong when done.

Edited April 25, 2012 by JohnRatzenberger

[keefr22]

As you mentioned Smer, this is their Tiger Moth rigged with Aeroclub elastic;

And this is a Valom 1/72nd scale Walrus also done with Aeroclub elastic, which I now think maybe looks a little overscale in 72nd. I've now found similar stuff called 'bait elastic' in the fishing section of a local 'we sell everything' type of store called the Range. I haven't yet fully rigged a biplane with it though, but don't envision anything different being needed technique wise.

Personally I don't like wire (I dislike working with metal, full stop) as the only times I tried it I couldn't get it to stay straight & taught, but looking at John's excellent Walrus that may just be me being cackhanded. Again!!

Keef

[Spitfires Forever]

As you mentioned Smer, this is their Tiger Moth rigged with Aeroclub elastic;

And this is a Valom 1/72nd scale Walrus also done with Aeroclub elastic, which I now think maybe looks a little overscale in 72nd. I've now found similar stuff called 'bait elastic' in the fishing section of a local 'we sell everything' type of store called the Range. I haven't yet fully rigged a biplane with it though, but don't envision anything different being needed technique wise.

Personally I don't like wire (I dislike working with metal, full stop) as the only times I tried it I couldn't get it to stay straight & taught, but looking at John's excellent Walrus that may just be me being cackhanded. Again!!

Keef

Your kits look very nice, and solidly rigged, thanks for posting the pics. I built the Aurora version of the Tigermoth when just a little lad and remembered that it was a fun build, and one of my favorite "double wingers". I am going to try rigging my Supermarine S6B and see how that works for me. If I do well there then I will move on, but I don't see trying to rig a Gotha Bomber or anything like it for quite some time. If my Walrus turns out well then I will be happy. What is nice is that the filament you use does not seem to stress out the wing spars, especially those at the top of the wing on the Walrus. One of my biggest worries was that the tension from the wires/filament would cause the plastic struts to snap. It looks alright there. Well thanks again for taking the time to reply and posting those fine photos.

All the best

[jRatz]

For the record, I've grown tired of wire rigging -- for one reason, with a solid wing, my method doesn't work as well and it is far harder to get the wires on straight & taut. For that I'm back to fishing line.

[Spitfires Forever]

For the record, I've grown tired of wire rigging -- for one reason, with a solid wing, my method doesn't work as well and it is far harder to get the wires on straight & taut. For that I'm back to fishing line.

I think that both techniques have their merits. for the solid, single wing fighters like the P-26 Peashooter the hard wire seems to be the ticket. Hopefully it will work for the S6B. As an experiment I tried the cut wire method whereas earlier I tried the stretched sprue method on an old build and that was futile, the wire/guitar string method worked quite nicely. On the walrus it would seem that a stiff wire cut accordingly could work well in some places wheas the strung method will work better at others. As for my Swordfish, I bought the PE set. I will post the pics, dogs breakfast or no, when I am done. I will head down to the sporting goods store for the proper size filament this weekend and will give that a whack.

Cheers

[Chuck1945]

Over the years I have used stretched sprue, the stretchy thread, and fly fishing line (as well as plain old thread on Aurora bipes as a lad in the 50s - ugh!). Stretched sprue (and fishing line) has always posed a problem of taughtness, and using a just extinguished match to tighten the rigging always seems as a disaster waiting to happen, at least for me. I used the stretchy stuff from Aeroclub 20 some years ago and it definitely solved the problem of making sure the rigging was tight, although I kept waiting for the kit to implode. Currently I am making my initial try using .005 stainless wire. Since it comes in straight lengths there should not be any issues keeping it taught looking. One of the members of my local IPMS chapter uses this exclusively and has good results so I am hopeful this will be a successful experiment.