Pins and needles.. (for building)

Using sewing-pins to stick-down balsa-parts for gluing is a method as old as.......... well.. older than "I" am.. but did you know how many different types of pins can be found in the sewing/crafts-departments at your local Walmart or craft-store?

My dad used to use "ball-point" sewing-pins to stick-down his balsa pieces during an airplane build. My mom still curses him for the pin-marks and "Ambroid-blobs" left on our old dining-room table..

Here's some ball-point pins that I recently bought. These won't hurt your finger as much, when pushing them through the wood and into a base-board. I usually measure the "shaft" with a caliper.. and mark the package..



At .0205" these shown above are of the smallest diameter of most of my other sewing-pins.

Then there's the "safety-pin".. (inventor Walter Hunt-U.S. Patent# 6281 dated 1849) spring-steel with a perfectly-formed "eye-coil".. on one-end.. and a protective "clasp-closure" on the other end. Available in many sizes from tiny.. to large.



Aero-Modeling uses include (but certainly not limited to..) pushrod guides (with clasp-portion cut-off.. and legs imbedded/glued into structure), fair-leads/thimbles...

control-line lead-out eyelets/guides..





or even a quickie-link for a C/L pin-stooge..




Then there's "eye-pins"... which can be found in the "craft-jewelry" department.



Uses include (but again; not limited to...) pushrod guides for 1/2A or sub-1/2A flying models, lead-out guides for 1/2A or sub-1/2A C/L models.. not to mention rigging for flying-wires on 1/2A scale flying models. Wouldn't it be rewarding to build at least one scale stick and tissue "Golden-Age" airplane with flying wires?

Just some food for thought...