EZ Line Rigging Question

[BoroDad]

Just started rigging my Wingnut SE 5a and began with the landing gear. I had problems getting the EZ line into the drop of CA that I had placed because it doesn't look like it has enough strength (it seemed to bend and not take hold).

Was wondering if there's a better way to do this (i.e. I tried placing the string then putting the CA but that seemed a little messier).

Is this just an art thing that I need to practice or is there a trick that all you stringbaggers have learned...this is my first project with rigging...

thanks for any help or advice!

[peebeep]

Try spotting the CA on the model where the rigging is to be fixed. A small drop on the end of a cocktail stick should be sufficient. Touch the rigging line into some kicker - a cotton bud immersed in kicker will be good for several swabs - position the rigging onto the CA and you should have a near instant bond. The rigging line needs to be close or near close to the correct angle to the model surface before the CA sets.

peebeep

[majortomski]

Take a large sewing needle and cut off the tip of the EYE. Pour a drop or two of CA in an open container. Now dip the open needle tip in the ca, you will get a very small drop of CA between the two forks of the eye. Apply this drop where you want it then set the EZLINE in the drop. If you want to, make a second needle for adding a drop of accellerator. PS don't get the needles mixed up! And keep a flame, candle, small torch availble to burn the dried up CA off the first applicator.

MTC YMMV

[Old Man]

As Mr. Peebeep has said, Sir, you want to have a little CA accelerator on the end of the line you touch to the waiting CA gel glue. Give it a 'one mississippi two mississippi' before letting go with the tweezers. When you do let go with the tweezers and pull them away, be careful to do it in a way that does not snag or pull on the attached line; I assure you bitter experience lies behind this suggestion....

[BoroDad]

Good suggestions...BUT...it was the most frustrating experience I've ever had...rigging should be left to octopus' only. Drop of CA in the right spot...wet the end of the line with accelerator...carefully put the end in the CA...watch the CA harden and not capture the end for some reason. After several attempts, my SE5a has grown ugly CA warts where they shouldn't be...not sure if this is a common experience or just my indoctrination into this frustrating part of the business.

If anyone has a video of this being done successfully, please let me know...I'd love to see it!

Seriously though the advice was helpful!!

I'll post pictures hen I have time to get a photobucket account and remember how to do it...

Cheers!

p

[ThatJeffGuy]

When I did my 1/32 Albatros last year I used "Bob's Buckles" along with the EZ-Line. Google Bob and give them a try. They're kinda

tiny even in 1/32 though....can't imagine the crazy-guys using them in 1/72.

[peebeep]

If you're having trouble with adhesion on the line, try priming the end of the line with a smear of thin cyano before the kicker. Some lines do seem to have Teflon like properties.

I've not used Bob's Buckles myself but they do look very impressive on completed models.

peebeep

[Old Man]

Good suggestions...BUT...it was the most frustrating experience I've ever had...rigging should be left to octopus' only. Drop of CA in the right spot...wet the end of the line with accelerator...carefully put the end in the CA...watch the CA harden and not capture the end for some reason. After several attempts, my SE5a has grown ugly CA warts where they shouldn't be...not sure if this is a common experience or just my indoctrination into this frustrating part of the business.

If anyone has a video of this being done successfully, please let me know...I'd love to see it!

Seriously though the advice was helpful!!

I'll post pictures hen I have time to get a photobucket account and remember how to do it...

Cheers!

p

A couple of possibilities, Sir. Obviously, this is guesswork, as I cannot see what you are doing, but you are describing the CA failing to hold the line, and I have done a lot of rigging using this method....

Too much accelerator can make the CA harden 'on itself' so to speak, without contacting the material carrying the accelerator. I used to dab the CA on the end of the line and put accelerator on the waiting surface, and found this happened surprisingly often, that the glue on the line simply made a glittering little bead, and that was that. If you have a drop of accelerator on the end of the line, I can see the same thing happening.

Stretching the line too far can produce enough 'pull' that it will tug away from CA that is not yet fully cured (and it does take a breath or two to set right). You want to stretch the line as little as is practical. If the lne on the drawing, say, is eighty millimeters, you do not need to cut the line any shorter than seventy-five millimeters. Only enough stretch to make the line straight is necesary or desireable.

One thing I still find myself doing on occassion is breaking the line from the glue by catting it with the tweezers when I let go and remove them from the scene. It is surprisingly easy to do, and not something one expects to happen.

And sometimes, the stuff just does not stick. But that should not happen more than about once every dozen tries at the worst. If a line does not 'take' in a couple of tries, pull it off and cut a new one....

[BoroDad]

Anyone use Tenax to do this? I've seen it on the shelf and thought it was an instant adhesion on first contact...not sure if that would be a better approach (ya gotta be sure it's where you want it though)...

[Old Man]

Anyone use Tenax to do this? I've seen it on the shelf and thought it was an instant adhesion on first contact...not sure if that would be a better approach (ya gotta be sure it's where you want it though)...

Never heard of it, Sir.

Tenax is a solvent, so you would certainly want to test what it did to the EZ-Line, and you would be risking surface deterioration where you applied the stuff to the model.

For what it is worth, I would not expect good results from this.

[BadCop]

The technique I'm planning on trying with my Sopwith Pup involves making some eyelets from fine wire, then looping the ez line through some thin brass tubing. Once I've assembled the lengths of rigging line, then dipping the ends of the eyelets in the pre drilled holes that Wingnuts conveniently provide. Better described Here but I plan on using EZ line rather than fishing wire.

Trent

[billb]

I've used EZline on a few things.

I use a very small twist drill to drill about half way through both surfaces (each end of the run)

Guaranteed that at some stage I break the end of one of the drills.

That broken drill makes a perfect superglue applicator because the thin superglue runs up and stores in the drill bit.

Then touch the loaded bit into the hole and you get a lovely drop of superglue in the hole.

Place the first end of the line in the hole and let it set up very well.

Cut the line to ~3/4's of the length between the holes.

Put another blob of glue in the other hole using the drill bit again (burn off dried glue every now and again).

You need some way of holding the model still without your hands so you can use tweezers to grasp the free end and take it to the other hole and stick it in deep.

Then use your other hand to waft a brush loaded with accelerator near the new connection.

Hold for 20 seconds and release gently.

Lessons from experience

I find wafting the accelerator afterwards works much better for me than having the accelerator on the line as adding the accelerator later means you can get the line into the hole properly before the glue grabs.

Don;t cut your line too short. It grabs and sets and looks good but after a month or so they start snapping off. With the elastic it only needs a little bit of stretch to look good.

Drill all your holes before you put the model together!