Questions re Stewart Products 25 Ton Diesel Crane

[peteski]

Thank you Randy.  I work with .008" brass wire a fair bit on my models so I would be quite comfortable going that route for the cabling. 

Using a chemical blackener, instead of paint, would result in even thinner looking "cables".

[robert3985]

Thank you Randy.  I work with .008" brass wire a fair bit on my models so I would be quite comfortable going that route for the cabling.  I am waiting for photos of the BCR crane to compare with the photos of hte Stewart  model posted here.

Tim

Another possible solution to the "cable" problem is using non-sterile suture silk.  This is a woven product and is available in a bunch of different thicknesses and in black. 

I use it to represent the smokejack support cables on my U.P. cabooses, and what you see in this photo is .003" or a little less than half an inch diameter in 1/160th scale.

I'm gonna use it on my UP derrick kitbash scheduled for the NMRA Salt Lake Show in November, but a different thickness as the prototype cables were a lot bigger than 1/2" dia.  The prototype is sitting in the Utah Railroad Museum at the Ogden Union Station where I can climb on it and take measurements.

I wonder if I've got a good photo that shows off the smokejack supports? Here ya go...

[BCR 570]

Thank you for your interesting suggestion.  Where would one purchase such a product?

Tim

[robert3985]

Thank you for your interesting suggestion.  Where would one purchase such a product?

Tim

It's been decades since I bought my little spool of Ethicon 6-0 Surgical Silk, which I used for ratlines on 1/8" custom ship models I was engaged in building and selling at the time.

Since I need to know where to get some thicker stuff for my upcoming derrick kitbash, I decided to do a search and found a couple of places in about half an hour who sell it on wooden spools, much like what I have, but it's more expensive than I remember.  I gotta remember I bought mine in 1974, so from an inflation standpoint, maybe it's not really more expensive overall.

It's sold in "ought" sizes (the more "oughts", the thinner it is) and here are the diameter measurements for several pertinent "ought" sizes.

6-0 is around .003" dia.
5-0 is around .004" dia.
4-0 is around .006" dia.
3-0 is around .008" dia.

Since I've never used anything but my 6-0 silk, the larger sizes may be stiffer than I'd like, but not as stiff as wire, so the line they take on my model (and yours) should look natural.

If you want sizes that are REALLY small...it's available down to 11-0, which is a mere .00039" in diameter, or almost exactly a scale 1/16" in 1/160th scale.

However, in my searches today, I only found it down to 6-0

It's pretty expensive and it comes in "reels" (instead of spools) of around 20-something yards and the price varies per "ought" size a bit so the cost (minus shipping) is between $22 and $28 a "reel".  I've had mine since 1974, so it was money well spent, and I'm gonna see if I can find a reel of 7-0 or 8-0 for some of my finer supports and projects I haven't even thought of yet in addition to the larger diameter silk after I take my prototype measurements.

And, you don't want to get it in sterile packages with needles attached, which seems to be the way it's mostly sold.

Here's one link: http://www.finescience.com/Special-Pages/Products.aspx?ProductId=221, and a cheaper source (but you have to register) here: https://www.harvardapparatus.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=11051&langId=-1&division=HAI&pageId=ProductDetail&productId=43051&parent_category_rn=&top_category=&breadcrumb_trail=&breadcrumb_categoryIds=&isDoc=   

WOW!  That's a long link!

Good luck and keep us posted as to what you do.