What material for 15mm chariot reins?

[Pattus Magnus]

So, this is probably slightly mad, but I want to add reins on some 15mm chariots. What material do you recommend for the job? I was thinking thread stiffened with glue once they’re in place might work. Alternatively, very fine wire, along the lines of fuse wire some folks use for 28mm bow strings. Are there other possibilities that might be superior?

(Disclaimer: the army will only have a few chariot bases, so while reins may be a little out there, it’s not completely bonkers. If it were a New Kingdom Egyptian force, or one of their playmates, I wouldn’t even consider it…)

[Tarnegol]

Perhaps this stuff: https://berkshirejunction.website/ez-line/

[carlos marighela]

Leaving aside the obvious candidate of epoxy putty/ green stuff,  I've used the frames to brass PE sets for straps etc. It's thin enough to cut fairly easily, bends nicely but keeps its shape.

Heavy duty aluminium foil, the sort you get in disposable baking trays also works for things like that and doubling it over adds rigidity.

[Shahbahraz]

I used flat dental floss. Easy to work with and becomes pretty rigid when painted. It has the 'strap' effect rather than being round in cross section.

[BeneathALeadMountain]

I would recommend either rigging thread for small model ships (available in incredibly fine diameters) or pulled sprue. For robustness I would go with the sprue method.

# Find a nice piece of excess sprue (if you don’t have these then I believe some people here may be able to help!). Cut about 5cm.

# Go outside (ventilation is important) and use a match/lighter to heat the middle of your piece (it’ll only take a couple of seconds), grip the non softened opposing ends and pull them apart. Pull them to the thickness you want and hold them for a few seconds to set. This takes a little practice but is very easy. Once it’s cooled you can store it and use when needed if you make too much.

# hold up your sprue against where it needs to span and trim it to length. Always double-check in the old “measure twice, cut once” philosophy. If the models plastic attach with tiny drops of plastic glue or cyanoacrylate for metal.

# The “reins” can then be sprayed if the model isn’t already base-coated or hand painted if it is.

# Ta da!

I’ve used this method for bow strings on 28mm, cables in 15mm and ships lines in 1/1200 and in my opinion provides the best solution.

Good luck

Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain

[Pattus Magnus]

Thanks for the suggestions, they’ve given me some options to consider. I’ll post some updates once I have decided which method to try!

[jcspqr]

I use flat dental floss for reins in 28mm. 

[Cat]

I've unravelled 1 thread from embroidery floss for reins.

[Pattus Magnus]

Those chariots look brilliant! That’s the kind of effect I am hoping for. It should be a bit simpler with only two horses per chariot.

[bluewillow]

Electrical tape our cotton wiped in white glue to stiffen.

Cheers
Matt

[DivisMal]

I haven’t done this, yet, but did some rigging on Napoleonics ships from Warlord Games where I had very good results with thin yarn. Make a loop, place it around the horse’s head, fix it with some super glue, then either wrap it around the hands of the driver or do the loop trick again, fix it with superglue. If you want the strings tight, you can use superglue, here, too.

Cut off any yarn with small scissors.

I’m really no pro, but this was my second or third attempt. I used the very thin nylon yarn in the Black Seas box sold by Warlord Games which was my Xmas present some years ago.