| Anemaat | 20 Mar 2009 8:25 a.m. PST |
Hello, I would like to start painting my WW.II 1:3000 ships and the following question arises: masts of not? What do you think? Though they can do easily without I believe the ships would look nicer with masts including crossbeams. How can I realise this? What material would be needed? Any advice is more than welcome. Regards, |
 McKinstry   | 20 Mar 2009 8:43 a.m. PST |
I always did that and even toss a few on my 1/6000. Brass rod and wire will do the trick and it does add that something extra. |
| Anemaat | 20 Mar 2009 8:57 a.m. PST |
Where do you get them from? Electricity wire? And how do you attach them? With metal glue? Do you drill holes in the hull to fit them? |
| RobH | 20 Mar 2009 9:02 a.m. PST |
I use nylon bristle (from pet grooming brushes) for the masts on my 1/6000 fleets.
Link
They are slightly out of scale but do give something visual and are a real boon to picking up the figures for moving on the table. They are fixed by using a suitable sized drill bit in a pin vice to create a hole and superglue in place. Very easy The advantage of the nylon is that it is flexible so will bend in use but always springs back to vertical unlike fine wire. |
| daveshoe | 20 Mar 2009 9:50 a.m. PST |
For my 1/2400 Panzerschiffe ships I used thin floral wire (which you can get at pretty much any craft store) for the basic masts (using the pin vise to drill the hole). For the crossbars and upper masts I used the old toothbrush bristles in the same way (and ofr the same reason) as RobH describes. This picture isn't my ship, but I got the idea from the guy that did this ship.
picture Dave |
| Anemaat | 22 Mar 2009 2:57 a.m. PST |
Very nice method, Dave. With what type of glue do you glue them? Other responses are still welcome… |
| Anemaat | 27 Mar 2009 2:06 a.m. PST |
To use of nylon bristles is above expectations and glueing the nylon bristles on metal works reasonable fine with metal glue. However I didn't manage to glue nylon on nylon for crossbeams on the masts. What type or brand of glue is needed to achieve this? |
Mal Wright  | 14 Apr 2009 3:46 a.m. PST |
I prefer nylon bristles because they will flex and resist damage. Its also inexpensive to buy a brush with suitable thickness bristles and expend it for masts. You should be able to attach cross sections with super glue. I've made tripod masts that way too. |
| Anemaat | 16 Apr 2009 1:06 a.m. PST |
I have used metal superblue en superglue especially for polyethyleen and polypropyleen. It didn't work for me glueing 2 nylon bristles together. Are you stating that common superglue will work! Please let me know. Then I have to buy that (as well)! Do you have a brand for me? Thanks! |
| Mal Wright | 04 May 2009 10:23 a.m. PST |
Common old super glue of any of the brands, certainly works on my ships. My cross sections are usually at the join points of a tripod mast. |
| Anemaat | 06 May 2009 10:29 p.m. PST |
And the cross beams sit there firmly? |
| Mal Wright | 08 May 2009 2:34 a.m. PST |
Well….unless you swing the models around your head a few times and chuck them across the room!  |
| Anemaat | 09 May 2009 10:52 a.m. PST |
They must withstand 10G … at least! |
| Mal Wright | 10 May 2009 7:10 a.m. PST |
Absolutely! Plus getting knocked with a beer bottle, having a snack dropped on it, hit with a handful of dice etc. |
