Can anyone offer advice on rope selection? I see that there are both cotton ropes as well as polyester ropes available on the secondary market. What are the advantages / disadvantages of each?
Cotton vs Poly Ropes
- Thread starter dockattner
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I would say about half of people prefer cotton and other half the poly rope. I use poly rope. The best way for you to decide is to try them both. You can buy the simple rope walk machine from Domanoff and make your own rope of any material, diameter and construction. Building your own rope is easy and fun. It is also a very practical solution compared to buying the ready rope.
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Rope making machine. VR. Vertical type. | ShipWorkshop.com
Simplest, fastest, easiest, compact, no skills needed, instant results. It is a small but powerful tool for making professional ropes for your model. (Check this video on YouTube for how it works. Turn on subtitles.) The VR Rope making machine, ropewalk, is intended for making professional ropes...
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Kurt Konrath
Kurt Konrath
I have heard that cotton rope can have problems with fuzz on occasion.
I can't say I can tell the difference between the two, but others with more experience may have something to say.
I can't say I can tell the difference between the two, but others with more experience may have something to say.
Yes. Cotton rope will have fuzz and you will have to deal with it by some of those techniques people invented: waxing, shaving, flaming whatever. Poly rope looks much more presentable compared to cotton but has tendency to unwinding on the ends. This is easily taken care of by applying some CA glue on the end.
That depends on the scale of the model and the age, I think, less on the material. If I can no longer see whether the rope is fuzzeling because the rope is too small, it doesn't matter. If the ropes are clearly visible, I would always use cotton because it just looks more natural. The comfort of the model maker has to take second place ;-) Sisal ropes were used on Noãs and other ships of this time, for example. Plastic would look bad there.
If Sisal rope was used back then would it matter if cotton has a little fuzz?
I would go for poly rope and like YT said make them yourselve. On your model of Vasa you need such an amount of different rope sizes and lay it is best to make it to scale.
An additional plus of poly rope its lenght is not influenced by humidity.
At last you can perfectly glue it with CA.
In respect to look and feel compared to cotton, have a look at @mati.n pinnace, he uses poly ropes and is work is really from another place, just perfect.
An additional plus of poly rope its lenght is not influenced by humidity.
At last you can perfectly glue it with CA.
In respect to look and feel compared to cotton, have a look at @mati.n pinnace, he uses poly ropes and is work is really from another place, just perfect.
I'm sorry, in the enlargement the ropes look like steel ropes. Perfectly assembled indeed - too perfect for my taste.
Hi Mash,
Nothing so personal as taste
, but comparing mati work to the real deal he is pretty close.
Can you show us some of your cotton ropes, would very interested to see the differences, this as I also use poly ropes.
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Hi Maarten, of course, on the one hand it's a matter of taste. As I said - this is really excellent craft, chapeau. On the other hand, that's not necessarily what I personally mean by "historical model making". No plastic belongs in such an exposed place. Of course, I also use all sorts of materials to give the most accurate or approximate impression possible. We have the saying "it has to look like but it doesn't have to be". I usually stick to that. Your photos of the Batavia confirm that - that is today's material. Of course, what else. Nobody would think of using 1: 1 replicas of the Santa Maria ropes made of sisal these days, as was the case. It is the sheen of the material that I find "unnatural".Hi Mash,
Nothing so personal as taste
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Can you show us some of your cotton ropes, would very interested to see the differences, this as I also use poly ropes.
I agree with Mash, modern ropes don't look like sisal
Do you know what threads\ropes looks like sisal and can be used on models?
I tried poly and found it had a shine to it and was hard to tie knots. I make my own rope with cotton Aurifil brand and I think it looks very good.
Thanks for the reply. Do you have images for self-made rope, just to have an idea of how does it look? That would be great.
Yes the poly ropes have a sheen to them, the cotton ropes have matt finish.
I am one of the three people in the world that doesn't have a cell phone and my laptop cam isn't fine enough to see the curls. If you look at https://syrenshipmodelcompany.com/ it looks like his ropes. This is my rope.
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That's exactly what I meant. It looks a lot more natural to my taste. I also get my material from a small factory in Germany, where it is made by hand. Certainly I couldn't do better.