I have a harbor tug with a wooden dock. I need a lot of rope to detail the scene, the deck and the dock. Any suggestions?
Go to a craft store like Michaels, or even better a fabric place like Joanne’s. Look for heavy thread, like they use for sewing on buttons. If they ask what it’s for, make sure you tell them you want to tie a tugboat to a dock. That will confuse them thoroughly.
Use HO scale Hemp, of course! [:D]
At the fabric store, ask for “Upholstery Thread” it is heavier than regular thread and it is 100% synthetic, so it doesn’t have any fuzzys. This stuff also works well to simulate metal cables (wire rope) on things like cranes. Typically it comes in 3 colors - black, tan, and white. I use tan and color it as necessary with paint washes.
Because it is synthetic, you can use a soldering iron to melt the ends into little balls instead of tying little knots.
My local Wal-mart carries this thread in the fabric department.
I used a thread which had the appearance of separate ropes entwined together. The PRR tugboat Akron was built by me a few years ago but like a lot of my models I went on to other things before I did the weathering.
Doc
This stuff might work too.
threaded old style dental floss? model sailing ship rigging?
Look in fabric stores,Joanns, etc. for CROCHET thread. It comes in a jillion colors and is heavier than sewing thread,and also very flexible. It can be arranged in loops and rolls and it holds knots very well. You can make coils by wrapping the thread around a metal rod,soak it with diluted white glue and slide the coils off after the glue hardens. BILL
From 40 yrs experience building model sailing ships, use model ship rigging line. It comes in an assortments of sizes (diameters). Dye it in a dilution of india ink. Standing rigging was usually tarred, so it would be almost black. Running rigging (from hemp) would be weathered according to use. After it’s dry, coat it with bees wax to eliminate any “fuzzies”.
Rope is what it is called when it is on a spool. As soon as you put on a boat or a ship, it is called “line” and put to various uses that further refine its name.
You can find a wide selection here:
There are a couple ways to make thread look more like rope:
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Run it through bees wax
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Run it through elmers and pull it taught. (Especially useful for things like rigging where you don’t want sag…like on a crane line, or “counter-weights” on the end of a rope.
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Actually apply grease to it. As someone mentioned, some lines were put into tar to help waterproof them.
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Rope is often found coiled up on decks of boats (like a coil spring). You can do this with tweezers, grabbing the string and twisting it around in circles. When the coil is complete, apply a dab of white glue over the rope to hold it in place.
To simulate cable with using string:
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give it a dull mix of silver + flat black sprayed on.
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Run it through white glue. Dull coat it very very lightly. Dull coating will create some fuzzies if you add to much.
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for pulley lines, they are often greased. Run real grease over them!
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Add a touch of rust colored weathering powders. Not all cable is new! It is metal and will rust in the elements!
K mart (of all places) has a 50# test fishline that is woven that might do very nicely. You will have to die it something other than white and green but that should be fairly simple. You might also want to put it in a little bleach first to eliminate the green color (rinse well when done).
Gentlemen, thank you for all of your great ideas.