Old School- using thread for crane cable

[Lemosteam]

So I have an old Railway Express Miniatures Bantam Dragline crane, and I am using the original packaging thread as provided.  Yes I know I could have used something else, etc., etc. etc.

(forgive me for the inaccurate ID of crane components below)

I have made extensive modifications to the boom end, and added a cable boom lift pulley system to the model as shown below; at the top of the boom and at the lift system on the body.  I still have to add the main lift cable down to a dragline bucket I will fab up.

My question is, the weight of the boom is not heavy enough to make the thread taut. I want to stretch it and in place and do something to have the thread keep its taut form.  How do I get the tread to still look taught?

I was thinking of thinning some glosscote and soaking the thread in the the taut position.

Any shipbuilders out there have some ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[Chris333]

I have a quarry crane to "thread up" so I'm interested as well.

[Tom Todd]

As a teen ager (many years ago, about 50 years ago) I was building a Revell plastic of the USS Constitution.  I used a lump of beeswax to keep lines taught.  Run the thread over the block and some will rub off on the thread.  Usually not enough to really see.  Anyway that kept the rigging taught.

Tom Todd

[BCR 570]

Of interest to me too as I have a crane build in my near future, and was wondering what to use.

Tim

[Lemosteam]

Well, at least I found a way to make the cable taut. I also though of brushing thin CA down the thread too. It soaked into the knot under the lower pulley well.  It might also help with fixing the thread at each pulley location too.

@pnolan48 ?

[Dredgeboater]

Mr Lemosteam,

How about using fly tying thread, waxed, or sometimes available as fine as spiderweb...

Dredgeboater

It is better to be roughly right, than to be exactly wrong.....

[Lemosteam]

"Mr." Thank you for the cordiality!  Use that term loosely with me.  Ha.

Thanks but I am not going to re-thread this thing (popped one forehead vein already ) and if it was readily available at home maybe, but I don't.

Waxed thread seems odd to me as I would think the thread would catch on every burr or make the thread thicker than it already is.

[peteski]

I also vote for pulling the thread through wax (or candle paraffin will work) to "defuzz" the thread.  It will also make the thread stiffer. That is before installing it in the model.  I have rigged sailing ship models that way. Soaking in CA will  likely make the fuzz stand out even more.

Another possibility would be to use surgical suture ( @robert3985 posted extensive info about that). It will likely be even finer that sewing thread and fuzz-less.

[Mark W]

An alternative, that might be possible with the thread already installed, flash them off with a candle flame.

Skip to 5:50 for demo:

[narrowminded]

What about something as simple as Elmer's glue, maybe watered down a little.  It would add some body and for a matter of wetting a little could still be reworked if the need arose.

[MK]

The model ship builders use bees wax as already mentioned.  CA and Elmer's will make it too stiff to go around pulleys.

[pjm20]

Maybe EZ Line could work as well?

[DKS]

Beading thread.

[robert3985]

I also vote for pulling the thread through wax (or candle paraffin will work) to "defuzz" the thread.  It will also make the thread stiffer. That is before installing it in the model.  I have rigged sailing ship models that way. Soaking in CA will  likely make the fuzz stand out even more.

Another possibility would be to use surgical suture ( @robert3985 posted extensive info about that). It will likely be even finer that sewing thread and fuzz-less.

Bees Wax is the preferred wax for de-fuzzing model ship rigging thread.  Works much better than paraffin.  After swiping the thread through a cake of bees wax a few times at high speed, wipe it at high speed on a scrap piece of cloth to get the excess off and melt it a bit more into the thread.

Non sterile silk suture is ideal for many model applications and is available in several thicknesses.  You can buy it on eBay or Amazon, but make sure you buy it on a spool and not attached to suture needles.  I have used a single spool of black silk 6-0 (six-ought) for years, starting with using it for my last commercially constructed scratch-build American 1850's single tops'l clipper model in 1/8" scale for the rat-lines.  If I remember correctly 6-0 silk suture is about .0025" in diameter, and for other sizes you can find charts easily online. What's nice about it is that it doesn't stretch over time, is very smooth, consistent in its diameter and quite flexible.

Photo (1) - 6-0 black silk suture used for smoke-jack bracing on my UP cabooses:


If you would rather not wait to get silk suture, I would recommend that you look for Polyester Dacron thread at WalMart in an approriate color and diameter.  Often, Dacron thread is labeled as only Polyester but Dacron doesn't stretch over time and remains colorfast.

Good Luck!
Bob Gilmore

[Lemosteam]

I will not be re-stringing this thing. Can we stay on topic? What ideas do you have for stiffening the thread?

I don't think I can wax it after the fact, it's too delicate for my big hands already. I do think the soldering iron or my mini torch can eliminate most if not all of the fray.

I like @narrowminded 's idea to use thinned ELMERS. I think the thread is cotton and as such a water element might doo good to actually shrink the line, like a cotton shirt in the dryer.