How do you make tie downs for loads, those black bands… not chains.
jellybean
*********Sorry, I should of added HO scale. I always assume!!! ***************
You need to be creative. I have a roll of jewelry chain I picked up at a flea market that I sometimes use for lashing down machinery loads. I have used stiff wire, and thread in some cases.
I have seen dental floss used effectively. Some brands are flat and wide. It was blackened with a felt pen.
Brent
You didn’t say what scale, but for N scale fine black sewing thread works. It’s too small to really see that it’s round not flat.
For my steel coils I cut small strips of black electrical tape and wrapped it around.
If you’re working in a slightly larger scale I found a craft, ah I hate being sick, can’t think what to call it, anyway, works as rope, several threads wound together. You can get it in rope colors, or a mixture of blacks and greys, as a faded strap. Jo-Ann had it, 2.50 for enough to do several fleets. I was tieing Christmas trees to Gons, it does very nicely. Odds are, you;ll find one that’ll work for you. Just be sure that if you plastic weld it, not to unbraid them.
To maintain tension the easy way, try elastic thread in an appropriate color.
However, this assumes that the load is secured by something other than the tiedowns. My flatcar loads have refrigerator magnet bases and locating pins of one standard geometry.
Of course, I couldn’t get away with that if the flat car decks weren’t steel…
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1064)
For my steel load I used black decal’s you would use on RC cars. Its about $5.00, and you get about 3ft of it. Its sticky on one side, and easy to use. I used red decal for the clamp on the bands.
Just cut to size.
IF you can find a store carrying drafting supplies there is/was a product called ChartPak tape that is/was used for making colored lines on mylar drawings. It comes/came in widths from about 1/64" through about 1/4" in a variety of colors and is like any other type of tape having glue on one side. Reason for the dual verbs is I haven’t done any conventional drafting in 20 years so don’t know the availability but it was excellent stuff for this kind of application.
Detail Master, a maker of details for 1/24 & 1/25 scale models, carries 1/32" and 1/64" black pin strip material; in HO scale, that would work to be roughly 2 3/4" and 1 1/3"’ straps.
I have not tried that method yet.
I do have some Great Planes 1/16 black striping that I intend to use on some HO scale pipe loads. This is a RC airplane finishing product that is available online or at a RC shop.
Here is what I use. It works great and looks great. Plus i have these old tapes sitting all over the place.
I hold down a 6" scale on 1/2 of the tape and slide a new sharp blade along the scale to cut the tape in 1/2. And there it is.
I then glue one end under the load and let it dry.
After it dries I use something to get tension on the tpe while the glue dries. I then just trim the excess tape and there you go.
Mike
I use black sewing thread:
Nick