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Getting “rope” to lay properly?

jasonized

jasonized

Joined
Jul 19, 2026
Messages
23
Points
28

Location
Northern California Coast
Hey folks, so another newbie question. Worst problem doing rigging is the stiffness of the scaled rope. It just wants to keep being straight, so getting a proper coil is almost impossible (so far). Any “secret” (or not so secret) tips or techniques?
Thanks for considering!
Jason
 
Your ropes of scale material should work much better for you. The rope usually "wants" to coil in a specific direction. Let it. Here is a description of a method I used to make rope coils. I found it quite easy. This is from my constitution cross section build log.

"To form the rope coils on the tackle, I borrowed the method that Olha Batchvarov used in her you tube video. She placed the line down on a sticky tape surface and used a round form to get the coil. I used a spare cannon wheel, as I did not want the coil to be too large. I carefully placed the line around the form pressing it down to stick into place. I then took the wheel off and coiled the rest of the line inside the other line. The procedure went quite easily. One could just as easily wind the line outside the first coil if you wanted a larger coil." The coil is then coated with dilute PVA glue.

IMG_9816.jpeg

Rob
 
Thanks Rob! Looks reasonable enough. The problem I am having is it doesn’t want to coil at all, any direction. Kept springing out. I did not think of using a sticky base…. I’ll let ya’ll know!
Thanks!
Jason
 
Here is some related discussion.

Making ropes take up catenary curves.

When a rope is hanging loosely but supported at both ends it takes up a U shaped curve called a catenary. Here are some examples from the instructions to the Vanguard Models Alert (1777). All of my rigging lines are both too light and too stiff to take up that shape naturally. Pulling them...
shipsofscale.com
 
There was somewhere another topic where guys formed polyester ropes on the model with some miniature heating device intended for mounting some self adhesive embroidery beads.
 
Wow.. such different techniques.. I liked the catenary curve stuff, may try some to help my rigging. Don’t think I want to try heating up my model, though… knowing me, everything would turn brown…
 
I’ve found that if I wind several wraps of line around the base of an Exacto Knife handle and hold the wraps together with my fingers while applying a drop of CA glue on the wraps (just two or three wraps otherwise the coil is too “thick” and doesn’t look good) and smear the CA drop into the wraps with my finger (I do it on a couple of sides of the coil so the coil stays together and doesn’t separate or unravel) and let the CA dry I am always able to slide the coil off the Exacto Knife handle without the line sticking to the Exacto handle. (Maybe the CA doesn’t adhere well to the metal of the Exacto handle.) I use the technique for both deck coils and “hanging” coils (on cleats and belaying pins etc). If I use it on hanging coils I squeeze the middle of the coil to get an elliptical shape (it helps to wax the line well beforehand) and if I want a coil to lay on the deck, as I wrap the line I move the handle (I twirl the handle closer to the deck as I wind the line around the handle and that enables me to not have too much slack in the line, I try to gauge the length of line that would look good. I’ll send you a couple of photos next post because I’m a little hung up right now lol. Life and hard apple cider is a’callin’ me ;)
 
That’s basically the way I’ve been doing it.. maybe it doesn’t work well for me because the line is so springy.. I have a tough time keeping it tight. Any laps in concentration at all, and it springs open and I have to start over. Sometimes it pops open just to prove the universe loves a good joke. Sigh.
I just got some rope from ropes of scale, and it seems to have a better lay on it, staying close without sacrificing my first born.
Cheers!
 
jasonized said:
That’s basically the way I’ve been doing it.. maybe it doesn’t work well for me because the line is so springy.. I have a tough time keeping it tight. Any laps in concentration at all, and it springs open and I have to start over. Sometimes it pops open just to prove the universe loves a good joke. Sigh.
I just got some rope from ropes of scale, and it seems to have a better lay on it, staying close without sacrificing my first born.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
can you get rope of scale to adjust the lay on the rope so that you get something that isn't as stiff? I don't know how that company works.
I am also wondering if you tried a different material too like cotton.
 
Jack Sparrow said:
can you get rope of scale to adjust the lay on the rope so that you get something that isn't as stiff? I don't know how that company works.
I am also wondering if you tried a different material too like cotton.
Click to expand...
That’s what I meant…. I just got the new rope. I ordered both types, cotton, and poly. So far, looks like the cotton will be my go to rope going forward.
 
jasonized said:
That’s what I meant…. I just got the new rope. I ordered both types, cotton, and poly. So far, looks like the cotton will be my go to rope going forward.
Click to expand...
awesome. Did they change the lay for you or you just got a different material? I am just curious if that is something that they do or not.
 
Jasonized, are you happy with the quality of the lines? I recently bought some lines from Corel and they are pretty good, look good, not stiff, lay nicely. I’m not sure what they’re made of but the quality is very decent. Too bad Mr Passaro of Syren stopped making his ropes. But I’m happy with Corel’s. I bought some lines from Amazon but it’s way too stiff, feels like it’s waxed to the max and I can’t get a nice flexible bend in the line, eg when reeving it through blocks it retains a lot of stiffness, doesn’t lay nicely and therefore looks goofy. If anyone has recommendations for excellent quality rope please let us know.
 
Try Dry Dock Models. I recently purchased some line from them. Quality is excelleny.

drydockmodelsandparts.com

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Dry - Dock Models & Parts is providing high quality ship model fittings and parts
drydockmodelsandparts.com drydockmodelsandparts.com
 
jasonized said:
Hey folks, so another newbie question. Worst problem doing rigging is the stiffness of the scaled rope. It just wants to keep being straight, so getting a proper coil is almost impossible (so far). Any “secret” (or not so secret) tips or techniques?
Thanks for considering!
Jason
Click to expand...
Did I miss where you included the context for this?

What part of the rigging are you trying to make a coil? A picture perhaps?
 
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