Bracing wires for RAF/FAA biplanes

[Papertiger59]

Hi Gentlemen,

My question is about bracing wires for interwar RAF/FAA biplanes. Were they "round" or "flat", by "flat" I mean "Raf-wires" ?

This question deals with the kits I have in my stash.

Hawker Woodcock

Hawker Hart Family

Hawker Fury/Nimrod

Fairey Flycatcher

Fairey Fawn

Fairey Swordfish

Fairey Seafox

Fairey Campania

AW Siskin

DH-9a

Gloster Grebe

Gloster Gamecock

Gloster Gauntlet

Gloster Gladiator

Avro 504

Avro Bison

Sopwith Snipe

HP Heyford

Vickers Vimy

Vickers Vildebeest

Westland Wapiti

Supermarine Seagull

Supermarine Southampton

Supermarine Walrus

Supermarine Stanraer

Blackburn Shark

Blackburn Baffin/Ripon

Thanks,

Chris.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Papertiger59

[John Aero]

By this time they would all be streamlined RAF wires. Noting that most of those kits are only available in 1/72, I wouldn't worry too much.

John

[Papertiger59]

Thanks John !

[Blackfordhibby]

Just a wee question related to this subject. Does anyone manufacture the Raf-wires in 48th, I would imagine they'd probably be PE?? For an Eduard Gladiator (if that makes a difference) this will be my first biplane.

Regards

Peter

[John Aero]

I would have thought Eduard would do their own. Extratech and Part I think did a Gladiator set.

John

[Blackfordhibby]

Thanks John

Had a wee look at the suggestions and did a wee bit more digging. Looks like Tamiya brought out a PE set for their Swordfish.It seems to have what I was looking for, with a wee snip here and there.

Regards

Peter

[alancmlaird]

I'll thow a cat among the pigeons here. I made 'RAFwires' out of stretched sprue with its flat sides for 1/72 scale - completely accidently!!! 

I was stretching the sprue over a candle flame as usual (back in the day) , but I used a piece that had a short 'branch' on it a right angles, expecting it to just pull out to a round cross section. It didn't. It retained a flat cross section, much to my surprise. I made some more (enough to rig a then-new Airfix Pup). It was a complete pain to do (keeping the wire in the correct line of flight was agony!), and I used up the sprue from three kits just to get enough of consistent quality for use.

I hate to say it, but the final result was excellent, the appearance of the different apparent 'thicknesses' depending on the angle of view was absolutely spot on.

The model was crashed and trashed many years ago, unfortunately.

Would I do it again? Almost certainly not!

[Troy Smith]

a suggestion made on Hyperscale, IIRC, was Kanthal Ribbon Resistance Flat Coil wire, it  gave a link to ebay  US,  I found some on ebay UK

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232017299575

 

the poster suggested the 0.3 X 0.1mm gauge for 1/48th,   full size the  would be a width of 14.4 mm, (0.3 x 48)  I'm not sure how wide/thick streamlined bracing wire is, but perhaps someone who  knows maybe able to add futher info.

 

HTH

T

 

[Bear Paw]

On the subject of flat line rigging wires I came across an unusual if not serendipitous situation with e-zee line. I am now on my second reel of fine black line but did notice whilst using the line that sections of the line were flat and definitely not round.  This line was not good for the WWI German aircraft that I was using for at the time. I presume it was a fault with part of the reel I had as it was only a small part of the reel that was like this.  Has any one else noticed this?  

Andrew. 

Edited April 21, 2017 by Bear Paw

[Work In Progress]

On 07/04/2017 at 10:08 PM, alancmlaird said:

I'll thow a cat among the pigeons here. I made 'RAFwires' out of stretched sprue with its flat sides for 1/72 scale - completely accidently!!! 

I was stretching the sprue over a candle flame as usual (back in the day) , but I used a piece that had a short 'branch' on it a right angles, expecting it to just pull out to a round cross section. It didn't. It retained a flat cross section, much to my surprise. I made some more (enough to rig a then-new Airfix Pup). It was a complete pain to do (keeping the wire in the correct line of flight was agony!), and I used up the sprue from three kits just to get enough of consistent quality for use.

I hate to say it, but the final result was excellent, the appearance of the different apparent 'thicknesses' depending on the angle of view was absolutely spot on.

The model was crashed and trashed many years ago, unfortunately.

Would I do it again? Almost certainly not!

 

I thought everyone knew this! Yes, if you file a length of sprue to a given cross-section, and then stretch it, it will retain most of its cross-section when you stretch it (only smaller, obvs) .

So for a small scale rendition of RAFwires try stetching some Slaters strip.

[alancmlaird]

5 hours ago, Work In Progress said:

 

I thought everyone knew this! Yes, if you file a length of sprue to a given cross-section, and then stretch it, it will retain most of its cross-section when you stretch it (only smaller, obvs) .

So for a small scale rendition of RAFwires try stetching some Slaters strip.

Every manufacturer of Blackpool rock could certainly testify to its efficacy. 

[Work In Progress]

I had not thought of that, but yes, brilliant analogy when you think about the lettering in the rock.