Does anyone know where I can buy the elastic cord that is used for scale electrical wires? I know a magazine had an article concerning this a few years ago. Thanks
Isn’t the scale for HO telephone wires " invisible" ? Theoretically it would be impossible to see wires on a telephone pole or wires on a fence( that is, prototypically)
If you don’t want to spring for the EZ wire, try latex thread available from a fabric store. Yeah, I know. I’ve never been to one of those myself. But sometimes you’ve got to swallow your pride and walk past the aisles of pink pony pillows to find what you need.
I tried something like that before. It did a great job of snaring the cat.[(-D]
I’ve never measured the wires on utility poles, but they look about 1/2" in diameter to me. That scales to .0057" for HO scale. It’s about the diameter of 6# test fishing line and about 2 1/2 times the diameter of a human hair. Both are visible to me.
I saw a layout that had EZ wire and it really added a lot to the credibility.
Whatever you use, remember to let it hang in gentle catenary curves. Even in the depths of a South Dakota winter, telephone wires don’t draw up tight between poles.
I tend to favor ‘virtual’ wire (and ‘virtual’ catenary where my 1500VDC juice motors run.) One (two) less things for the Awkward Squad to get their elbows into.
In the prototype world, telephone wires tend to ‘disappear,’ only to re-surface slashing across that beautiful scenic vista (or six-axle mobile generator unit) that you just photographed…
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
100 pair cable is just under one inch in diameter, and if my math is close…that would scale down to roughly 1/8" diameter for telephone cables. The power lines are much smaller; remember that the phone lines are usually about 5-6 feet below the power lines on the poles.
Don Z.
I think that (1" prototype) would be about .011" diameter in HO scale.
Bob
And that would explain why I couldn’t get past Business Calculus in college. You’re right…I missed the leading 0.
Don Z.
I agree, but it is very difficult to get the parabolic curves of drooping wire to work. I used the EZ line and it works, is durable, and looks good. However, I found it impossible to get three wires to droop realistically and consistently. If one wire droops more than the others it looks lousy. It is easy if you do the wires straight and tight.
In real power wires, it is the weight of the cable that makes it droop in the way we see. For our models, the line weight is trivial. We are fighting physics. Does anyone have a good way to get the EZ line to droop as we want it to?
Marty
You also have to keep in mind the era in which you are modeling. If you are modeling pre-1990s, the cable on telephone poles tended to be thicker than it is currently. If you REALLY want to be proto-typical, put heavy gauge wire and run it with woven metal strand next to it to help hold it in the air on longer runs.