Group;

What is a good size I should pick up for using as an anchor chain for a 1/700 kit?

Going to the local craft store and I know they carry a section in the jewlery making section.

Thank you

Sam

I suppoose that a lot depends on the type of ship you're building, An anchor chain for a battleship or aircraft carrier will be a lot bigger that the chail used on a destroyer.

Now, that being said, I don't have a lot of experience with ship models; but on the USS Fletcher (DD992) I built, I used 40 Links-Per-Inch Model Builder's Chain from Builders In Scale. Seemed like the right size to me, and it was already black. You can sort of see it here in this WIP shot:


I'll probably use the same size on my USS The Sullivans (DD537) when I build that, but I have no idea what size I'll use on my USS Ticonderoga (CV14). Big I would guess.

Jim

I've used jewelry chain before and the expense and size is not really good. Check your local Hobby shop's Model Railroad section to see if they sell chain. That is were I found the A-Line brand of model chains for my ships. They also come painted black.
A-Line Chains

As far as size goes 40 links an inch is adequate for most 700 scale ships. I have not seen any chain smaller than that.

Thank you for the info.
I'm building a waterline 1/700 IJN Light Crusier Sendai from Aoshima. I'm building mainly OOB with just some work as far as adding chain, drilling out all port holes and I also added deck plating to the hull using masking tape. I'm not adding any PE and just want to practice my skills on this one. I'm also not a big fan of airbrushing so really working on my brush painting skills and detail painting.

I'm kind of hooked with 1/700 ships. The detail in the kits are getting better and I could really expand my collection due to the size of the ships.

Since I'm still fairly new to this, just got back into it hot and heavy a year ago, I have learned so much from this forum. My skill have improved but not to the point of showing off my work yet.

Thanks for all the help.

Sam

Dear Sam,

My suggestion is that you don't use chain at all on a 1/700 kit. I really think that the finest chain available is still far to big to give a convincing scale effect.

If I lay a length of the finest chain that I have been able to obtain (I think it's somewhere in excess of 40 links per inch) on the deck of a 1/700 model, then I have something that is standing proud from the deck by about 2 scale feet. When I was on board the USS Wisconsin last year, I could easily step over the chains, the individual links laid about 1foot on maybe slightly less proud of the deck. On the destroyer HMS Cavalier at Chatham, each link is probably less than 6 inches long.

Although I would probably use chain on a 1/350 battleship (not that it is my scale), in 1/700 I have been getting much better visual results by braiding fine wire. I do not get a real chain but the visual effect is much more convincing.

Take some wire from the core of a high quality hi-fi speaker cable or from stripping down co-axial TV aerial cable. This will be about 0.08mm in diameter. Take three lengths, knot together at the end and hold the end in a vice or pin it to your workbench to hold it secure. You can then plait or braid the wires in exactly the same way that a girl will plait her hair. If you don't know the sequence of moves, ask any woman of your acquaintance. It's dead simple.

What you end up with is something that is fairly convincing for fine chain, although a bit flat in cross section.

If you want something a bit more three dimensional then you can use four strands of wire and braid what is known as a "four strand square sinnet" Precise instructions for doing this can be got either by obtaining "The Ashley Book of Knots" by Clifford Ashley from your library or by purchasing my recently published book "Ship Models from Kits" by David Griffith. (That was a totally shameless plug, and naturally I'd prefer you to make the purchase, though I will not be offended if you go for the library loan, as The Ashley Book of Knots is just the most delightful volume!!!)

Using the wire from hi-fi cable will give you a "chain" that is an appropriate size for a destroyer or cruiser. For a larger ship I'd suggest exactly the same technique but using a slightly thicker wire, such as 0.1mm dia or 0.125mm dia copper wire which I obtained from www.wires.co.uk here in Britain.

If you go across onto www.modelwarships.com you will see this type of chain on my model of HMAS Sydney, which is in the gallery section of the site. I haven't got anything on this site yet, as I've not really been frequenting it very often and haven't worked out to do things with photobucket.

Give it a go, it really isn't that hard, and you'll be surprised how much better it looks.

Kind regards,

David Griffith

David;

Thank you for the great info.

Sam