Group;

I'm really into 1/700 IJN ship building and have 2 and one sub under my belt with two waiting in the stash.

What do you guys keep on hand as for as supplies for your builds?

Not to include PE sets.

1. What size brass rods for masts?

2. What size wire?

3. What do you use for rigging?

4. What type of plastic card / styrene size should I keep on hand?

I also want to thank all of you for your input and support. In a short time I have learned so much and really starting to enjoy the process of model ship building.

Thank you,

Sam

Hi Sammuel!

I bought a bag of "assorted sizes" of brass/metal from KnS (got mine from GreatModels online store, I am sure other carry them too). Same for Evergreen styrene; I bought couple bags of "assorted sizes", basically a few of everything.

I get my wire and chain (don't laugh now) from my "local hobby shop', which is Michael's craft store. Love the 40-50% off coupons I get chain lenghts at the jewelry/beading aisle, wire in the floral aisle. I also get from them cheap (1-2$ USD) wood bases, as well as oil paints for weathering.

Finally, I bought from MicroMark a cheap caliper and wire gauges, so I could somehow measure the types and widths of what I need.

Source of wire? old lamp cord!

If you want better quality ship rigging and accesories (chains, etc), check out ModelExpo. Both MicroMark and ModelExpo have online stores as well as printed catalogs. Make sure you click on the banner in this page (there, to your left!) in order to visit these online stores

Cheers

James;

Thanks for the great info and you and I go to the same local hobby / craft store. Can't really beat the price and they almost have everything you need.

Sam

What James said is good advise. Get something of everything, start with the smallest size and get the next few sizes up for both brass wire and Evergreen shapes and sheets. I've also found the Evergreen HO 4x4 and 2x2 square strips and N scale boxcar sideing very useful on 1:700 scale ships as well as the A-Line brand 40 links per inch for use as anchor chains. So keep an eye on the model railroad sections of your LHS for something useful.

Some other useful materials: Regular copy paper. It is easy to curve around a drill bit to make solid walls and railing. You can use the very fine wire in a TV coaxial cable's sheilding for ropes and hoses in 1:700.

I use stretched sprue for all my rigging and a lot of other details when I need something smaller that Evergreen can provide.

Great advice.....thank you.

Sam