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Wire for detailing


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I picked these up the other week at the craft store, either Michael's or A.C. MOORE, I can't remember. I thought they would work great for detailing landing gear, wheel well bays, cockpits, etc. The nice part about them is they are already colored so, no painting needed. They can be found in the "beeding section" of the store and come in a variety of colors and gauges. I just bought what I thought looked right for 1/48th scale. I figured I would pass it along and hopefully it helps.

Steve

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That's a nice find! I have spools of enameled copper wire in various gauges, but the colors range from red to green. I HATE painting this stuff because it flakes off so easily during handling. The pre-colored black and silver wire would make short work of adding brake lines. Do you know if they had this in 30 gauge?

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That's a nice find! I have spools of enameled copper wire in various gauges, but the colors range from red to green. I HATE painting this stuff because it flakes off so easily during handling. ...

Have you tried etching the metal with fine sandpaper or maybe even vinegar before painting? Also, while I don't usually prime plastic, I always prime metal.

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Have you tried etching the metal with fine sandpaper or maybe even vinegar before painting? Also, while I don't usually prime plastic, I always prime metal.

I don't think that would work in this case because the wire I have isn't bare copper: it's enamel-coated. It's the kind of wire used in coil/transformer windings, and the enamel coating provides electrical insulation, and it's tough to remove.

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If you expand your search at Michaels' or any of the other similar concessions to include the floral arrangement section of the store you can find some small guage wire that is painted green. Several size packages available as spools or in straight lengths that can be used for any number of things in your next modeling project. Link to Michael's page with the products in question

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All,

This thread is incredible. I have never purchased fine or small gauge wire. I have always found an endless supply of fine gauge wire just sitting on the side of the road. In the town where I live, old broken appliances or electronics are left on the side of the road for the city sanitation department to come by and haul off to the dump. Usually these items contain small to medium circuit boards that have all sortos of chokes,coils, or small transformers that can be easily stripped of their wire. Also some welding leads have very small wires contained in them that make up the larger welding cables. Welding supply places will sell you or even give you the shorter "scrap" pieces after that have already made up their welding leads. Even if you just had to buy just one foot of a piece of cable used to make welding lead or some high end audio speaker wire, there are literally thousands if not tens of thousands of small diameter wires that make up these larger cables. I have been back in the hobby now for almost thirty years and have always been able to find the right side wire that I need and have never had to buy any.

The best way that I have found to paint the stuff that I used which is bare copper wire is to get a "Sharpie" permanent marking pen. They come in a variety of colors but since most of my wire is used for antenna on aircraft, the only color I need is black. I hope this helps!

Best Regards,

Ken Bailey

(SonyKen)

Edited by SonyKen
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  • 1 month later...

FWIW, I find lead wire (0.2mm to 1.00mm) the best medium for detailing gear bays/legs, seats, etc. It cuts with a knife so length can be adjusted easily in situ, is much more flexible than copper, beading wire or other materials, accepts paint quite well and sticks with the tiniest blob of superglue. Another advantage is that you can roll a round object along a length of it to flatten it if you want a neat, flexible strip rather than a round profile -useful for canopy closure sealing strips and such. It's only drawback is that it breaks quite easily if you get rough with it, but a little care and it works a treat!

Not sure about North America, but available here in Europe.

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