Rigging – 3 Techniques You Should Know

Transcript*

Intro

Hello all. This is David from Sunward Hobbies and this is you. You’ve just come back from the hobby store. You bought this cool World War I plane. You open up the box. You look at the instructions. You see the rigging diagram. And then you put the instructions back in the box. You close it up and you trade it in. All because you are too chicken to do rigging. I mean, it’s obvious. Why else has this been sitting on our shelves for years? So, in today’s video, I’m going to show you how to do rigging and why you should really not be scared of it.

What is rigging?

Welcome to rigging 101 where I will show you how to tackle this intimidating task. So I’ve got some tri-wings here as our test subject. So what is rigging?

Rigging is essentially a series of bracing wires mainly on World War I aircraft uh and some older ships. It was basically used to control the movable surfaces of an aircraft. For example, the aileron would have wires attached to those little knobs there, which would run towards the cockpit and be attached to the control yolk. So that way when a pilot pulls the stick left or right, it would position the ailerons up or down, letting the aircraft roll.

Now, in World War I, since aviation was still in its infancy, uh these raging wires were just out in the open for everybody to see. But, uh, as the war went on and into World War II, stuff like that, engineers got better at hiding the rigging wires so that they could just be hidden within the airframe.

In fact, uh the Fokker DR1 here was one of the first aircraft to perfect that as they managed to hide all the rigging within the wing. And all you could see really is just two crisscrossing wires right in front of the pilot which uh controlled uh the wing surfaces. So, uh, yeah, if you ever are intimidated by raging and you want to take the step towards it, uh, the Fokker DR1 or the Fokker D7 I would recommend you starting off with as they have little to no rigging at all.

Elastic Rigging

Now, on to the rigging process. So, there’s three main ways of doing this. I’ll start with the most common one, elastic rigging. So this is essentially stretchy wire.

So that how it works is you glue one end, you pull it, you pull it tight, and then you glue the other end while holding it tight so that it’ll be nice and taut and it won’t lose that stretchiness. Uh unlike cotton rigging where uh you can’t stretch it at all. So, what you see is what you get. So, you’re going to take some CA glue, and it has to be CA. Can’t be plastic cement. And you’re going to put a little tiny bit in your first area there.

Then you’re going to want some tweezers and grab your rigging. Just place it on there. And to make sure that dries instantly, you want to take some BSI Insta Set accelerator and give it a little spray. And that is now on there quite tight. So again, you’ll just want to dab of glue going across the wing now. And uh this is one of the hardest parts of rigging, just trying to hold on to the wire.

All right, I got it. Okay, I’ve got it. Now I’m going to take some CA glue. Dip it on there. We’re going across the wing. Now take your accelerator, hold it for a few seconds. And there you go.

Music Wire Rigging

Method number two, and this one is for those who just can’t be bothered to work with the elastic rigging, is to take some music wire. Now, depending on what scale your model is that you’re working on, you’ll want the thinnest one you can find. So, I’ve got the 0.38 mm, which it might be just a little too big for this 1/72 scale DR1, but uh was all I could find at the moment. So, I’ve got two pieces cut up already. This one is pretty self-explanatory.

You’ll just again want some CA glue. Put a dab where it’s going to go. And in this case, since you’re working with a solid wire with no stretchiness at all, you’ll also want to glue where the other end will be going. So, get your wire and just wedge it in there. Not bad.

Stretching Sprue Rigging

And now for the third, and I’m not joking, the most dangerous method, so I only recommend this for adults, is stretching sprue. So, every model comes on a sprue tree, obviously, but those sprue trees, once the parts are all off, aren’t exactly useless. What you can do is cut off a piece like this one here. And with some fire, you can soften the sprue with heat until you can pull it and it’ll stretch thinner and thinner until you’ve basically got rigging wire.

Now, I’m going to try and demonstrate this properly. So, you’re going to want to take your fire source, either a lighter or a candle or over your stove, and place it above. Don’t go too close. Just move it back and forth. So, yeah, nothing happened yet.I’m just being very cautious cuz you can screw this up easily. See, it’s starting to Yeah. And you just slowly pull it apart. If you pull it apart too fast, it’ll just snap. So, yeah, I’ve got this so far. Uh, it still needs to be a little thinner, so I’ll keep trying.

[Music]
Just a little more.
[Music]

So, as you can see, I’ve got a thin stretched out piece of sprue. I’ve actually got two of them. And all you got to do is cut out the length you need.

[Music]

And like with the music wire, you just glue both ends and wedge it in. And since it’s plastic, you can paint it whatever color you like.

David’s Method

Now, normally this is where I would end things, but I have one more little trick I’d like to show you. I debated whether to even show you this as uh as far as I know I’m the only one who does this, but uh I’ll go ahead because I like you so much.

So, you may notice when I was working with the elastic rigging earlier, even I kind of struggled a bit trying to set it on there and make sure it’s in the right spot when it dries. I found a way to kind of make that easier. So, what I do is I take a pin vise and I’ll drill a hole above the wing. So, right above where the raging wire would go. So, I’ve got my two holes drilled on the top there. And I flip the whole thing upside down. Grab one end and weave it through the hole.

So I weave it through there. Then I take some masking tape, cover it up. That’ll hold it tight in place. And then I take my CA glue and just apply a little amount to fill in that hole. So, in this instance, you don’t even really need the accelerator as the tape will hold that in place for as long as you need it to. Just snip off that little thread. And it’s completely tight. glued on. And before you experts say, “That’s stupid. Now you have holes in the wings. You don’t know what you’re talking about. Watch this video instead.” A hem. Just take some putty. Fill in those holes. Sand them off. Prime paint in your face.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is the three main ways to do rigging. I mean, it’s not even really that it’s that complicated. It just requires a lot of patience. Everything great in life is worth waiting for. So, if raging just seems like too daunting of a task for you, just do it in little increments.

Do one section one day, take a break for a few days, do another section, keep at it, and before you know it, you’ve got a DH2 rigged beautifully. So, I hope this video gave you the confidence to try some rigging. And you can find all the tools you need for it at Sunward Hobbies in store or online.

Thank you very much for watching this video. Remember to like, comment, subscribe, follow us on our socials, and until the next one, adios.

About the Author:

David Peckam has built scale models since he was 12, specializing largely on military aircraft. He is a makeup artist and background actor for films and TV. He enjoys watching hockey and of course, movies. He has an excellent knowledge of hobby products and if you have questions concerning scale model airplanes.

*Video by David Peckham
Video Edited by Daniela Castellano
Transcript generated by youtube
Edited by Angelo Castellano