Making Scale Rope

W hen it comes to our hobby, there probably aren’t many

things more fascinating than a ropewalk. Newcomers
scratch their heads, and question why the strands
don’t unravel, while veterans are hard pressed to explain why!
together. The looper, which relieves tension as the strands twist
around each other, is nothing more than a fishing swivel.
The final element is the tail section, which has a series of
pulleys mounted on it. Weighted line is passed over these, and
Their attempts are invariably quite TOP
feeble, and they usually end up LOOPER
replying: “All I know is, it works!”
At the June presentation, Bob
Filipowski tried to explain the theory TAIL SECTION
by twisting two strands of thread PULLEYS
between his fingers. (He said he had
read that somewhere.) But all he got
was a balled up wad of thread! So, he
went to plan “B”. He enlightened
everyone by stating: “All I know is, it
works.” Where have we heard that
before?
Actually, according to Longridge the
reason the strands in a rope do not unravel is that while each applies tension to the looper and carriage. The size of the rope
strand is trying to untwist, its torsional energy is converted into being formed will determine how much weight is utilized. When
mutual friction against its neighbor, and it is this friction, which working with fine thread, tension on the carriage may not be
counteracts any tendency to become unraveled. Now, aren’t needed at all. Filipowski suggested keeping a log that lists what
you glad you asked? weight combinations go best with various size lines. Once you
Anyway, once things got past have that information, and the resultant diameters, an inventory
that hurdle, they went pretty well. of sizes can be made for your model when it is time to rig.
Bob started out by describing the Most line on a ship
key elements that make up a was hawser laid,
ropewalk. The heart of the which means that it
machine is the drive unit and was composed of
whirls. Historically, rope was three strands that
made in three and four strand were wound
varieties. However, for the model clockwise. This type
ship builder, there isn’t any of line was also
advantage in building a “walk” referred to as
with four whirls. Filipowski stated common or plain
that when completed, both types rope. Fortunately, most commercial thread is turned in a
of line are indistinguishable. clockwise direction when produced. One of the few exceptions
The drive unit can be hand operated, but a variable speed; is imported linen, which is wound counterclockwise.
forward-reverse motor makes the work move along at a much Shroud laid line was composed of four strands, and came with
faster pace. Bob was able to control speed with the use of a or without a core. For modeling purposes, Filipowski feels that
common electrical dimmer switch mounted in a portable control this is impractical, since the finished product is indistinguishable
box. The membership was advised that although dimmers work, from hawser laid. Cable laid rope was normally used for
a certain amount of motor torque is lost with this application. shrouds and stays, and was made with nine or twelve strands.
However, for making rope, this is not critical. This cordage was always wound counterclockwise. There was
a reason for this, which will be explained later.
Forward / Reverse Some sample cards
Speed Control were passed around,
which illustrated the
sizes that could be
obtained from various
types of line. One card
showed four variations
that were derived from
.015 diameter cotton
thread. They included Three 3-strand hawser cable laid rope.
two 9-strand cables
that had been formed
in different manners. Putting three strands on each whirl, and
The carriage, which carries the top, is mounted on a chassis running them simultaneously formed one example, while the
scrounged from an old model railroad caboose. It is essential second sample was composed of three individual 3-strand
that the wheels turn as freely as possible so as not to impede hawsers, which had been twisted together.
movement as the rope begins to form. You might want to One interesting phenomenon when working with 9 strands is
consider making different tops for different diameter rope. The that the whirls must be run counterclockwise, even though the
nine and twelve strand cables can get quite large! individual threads or hawsers have a right handed twist. This is
The bed was composed of three 3-foot lengths of Lionel track exactly how real cable was made! A sample of wrong-way
mounted on Unistrut channel, which helped lock the sections wound cable was shown, and the difference was quite evident.
 Scale Rope II

I n June Bob Filipowski demonstrated how you could

obtain different diameters of scale rope with the help
of a ropewalk. The July demonstration explained a
means by which this rope could be accurately measured
to the dexterously handicapped: It’s nowhere near as bad
as rubbing your stomach and patting yourself on the
head at the same time!) Bob uses two pieces of tape to
mark the distance he will be using for measurement.
and applied to what ever scale model ship you are
building.
Microscopes and a degree in mathematics are not
needed. To obtain the diameter of any line, you merely
have to count the number of turns it takes for that line to
completely cover a known distance. Depending on the
diameter of the rope, a 1” or ½” increment is usually
adequate. That distance is then divided by the number of

As stated earlier, the distances normally utilized are 1”

and ½”. When measuring extremely fine thread, covering
one inch can take well over one hundred turns. If you
decide to use the lesser length, it merely becomes a
matter of dividing the turn count into .5 rather than 1.
Once you have the diameter of a line, that decimal can
be used to determine what size rope it would represent at
different scales. Bob passed out a very useful table (See
the next page.), which covered scales from 1/16” to 1/4“.
This document listed both diameters and circumferences
of various cables and hawsers at these scales. In the
example shown above, 1” divided by 37 turns equals
.027”. Cross referencing this number to the table, this line
could represent an 8” cable at 1/8”, a 5.5” hawser at
3/16”, or a 4” line at ¼”.
This technique can be of value whether you own a
turns, which results in a decimal that represents the line ropewalk or not. Purchased line should be measured the
size. Bob stated that just about any round object would same way.
work with this method. Some of the most common Bob closed the presentation with one last bit of advice.
devices used are pencils, doll rod, and brass tubing. When rigging a model it is always better to keep your rig
Filipowski has found that a String-a-Long, which is on the light side. If the table doesn’t give you an exact
normally used for serving line, is the perfect tool. With match, and you can’t decide, always go smaller. You
this device firmly secured, the modeler can count the want your model to have a delicate appearance.
number of revolutions while he uses one hand to turn the
crank, and the other to guide the line along. (Editors note
 SCALE ROPE CONVERSION

(PI = 3.141592)
FULL SIZE 1/4" 3/16" 1/8" 1/16”
FULL SIZE
CIRCUMFERENCE SCALE DIA SCALE DIA SCALE DIA SCALE DIA
DIAMETER
IN INCHES 1:48 1:64 1:96 1:192
36 11.459 0.239 0.179 0.119 0.0597
34 10.823 0.225 0.169 0.113 0.0564
32 10.186 0.212 0.159 0.106 0.0531
30 9.549 0.199 0.149 0.099 0.0497
28 8.913 0.186 0.139 0.093 0.0464
26 8.276 0.172 0.129 0.086 0.0431
24 7.639 0.159 0.119 0.080 0.0398
22 7.003 0.146 0.109 0.073 0.0365
20 6.366 0.133 0.099 0.066 0.0332
18 5.730 0.119 0.090 0.060 0.0298
16 5.093 0.106 0.080 0.053 0.0265
14 4.456 0.093 0.070 0.046 0.0232
12 3.820 0.080 0.060 0.040 0.0199
10 3.183 0.066 0. 050 0.033 0.0166
9 2.865 0.060 0.045 0.030 0.0149
8 2.546 0.053 0.040 0.027 0.0133
7.5 2.387 0.050 0.037 0.025 0.0124
7 2.228 0.046 0.035 0.023 0.0116
6.5 2.069 0.043 0.032 0.022 0.0108
6 1.910 0.040 0.030 0.020 0.0099
5.5 1.751 0.036 0.027 0.018 0.0091
5 1.592 0.033 0.025 0.017 0.0083
4. 5 1.432 0.030 0.022 0.015 0.0075
4 1.273 0.027 0.020 0.013 0.0066
3.5 1.114 0.023 0.017 0.012 0.0058
3 0.955 0.020 0.015 0.010 0.0050
2.75 0.875 0.018 0.014 0.009 0.0046
2.5 0.796 0.017 0.012 0.008 0.0041
2.25 0.716 0.015 0.011 0.007 0.0037
2 0.637 0.013 0.010 0.007 0.0033
1.75 0.557 0.012 0.009 0.006 0.0029
1.5 0.477 0.010 0.007 0.005 0.0025
1.25 0.398 0.008 0.006 0.004 0.0021
1 0.318 0.007 0.005 0.003 0.0017
0.75 0.239 0.005 0.004 0.002 0.0012
0.5 0.159 0.003 0. 002 0.002 0.0008
0.25 0.080 0.002 0.001 0.001 0.0004