All,
For a while now, I've been making turnbuckles in 1/32nd and they look ok if not as nice as Des'
The things that make mine look worse (among other things) are that the collar looks too thick to me in scale and I almost always mess them up when I add the glue to lock everything in place. I decided to try something that would be 1) smaller and thinner and maybe more scale and 2) would allow me to forgo the glue step. With a little practice, I think I've found it. I'll try and explain my steps withe these pictures.
1) Cut off your tubing to an approximate length. The shrinking won't make it too much smaller. So cut it just a bit over sized. In the picture, you see a sewing needle, a piece of my rigging with the tip colored black and the tubing which is the near vertical piece by the "9".
2) Thread it through. This just takes a little patience and tweezers. No harder than what Des has shown except the tubing is flexible.
3) Next, I put the tiny tip of a sewing needle into the tubing sleeve on the end that will accept the rigging for the second time. If you look carefully, you can see the tubing end just a little bit flexed.
4) Now put it through your ring connection at the rigging point. This is part of a WNW Salmson fuselage.
5) Here it is after you put the end back through the tubing. You do need a magnifying lens or glasses, some tweezers again and nice fingers. I find that the black tip of the rigging along with the slightly enlarged tubing end make it a doable task. Just take your time.
6) While of the above is going on, pre-heat your soldering iron. With the sleeve pulled tight the way you want it, simply put the tip of the iron near the tubing. It shrinks up like a champ and after it cools is tight enough that glue isn't necessary (at least so far!). Trim as needed.
7) The finished bay with the rigging colored by a black marker.
So far, the tubing I use shrinks before I've had any trouble melting the fishing line rigging. It takes some practice, but I think it looks cool in the end.
The tubing I'm using is surgical heat shrink tubing of the kind used in pace makers and electrical things put in patients. I searched and found a company but the minimum order was prohibitive cost-wise. I contacted their distribution and told them what I wanted it for. They sent me 4 feet of cut-off sample for the price of shipping (about $12 USD) whereas I'd have had to spend well over $100 just to test this crazy idea out so I'm pleased.
If you feel adventurous, give it a go! I'll rig a whole plane with it soon and let you see how it looks.
Here are my dimensions and make of tubing I used...sorry you guys had to ask...I should have included this!
My rigging says 0.004 inches so I multiplied by two and got 0.008 inches. The tubing I got has an inside diameter of 0.01 inches and a wall thickness of 0.00015 inches (before shrinking) so except for the flexibility, things slide through ok with a little coaxing.
Part # 103-0020 Black
Vention Advanced Polymers
29 Northwestern Drive
Salem, New Hampshire USA
03079-2838
ventionmedical.com for an on-line catalog. That's what I used to find my tubing size.
P.S. I have absolutely no affiliation with these folks but I thank them anyway for taking the time to deal with a crazy modeler. I assume there are similar companies around the world that would do the same.
Cheers,
Dan
