Lead Out Wire Diameter

[Deric Herrmann]

Is there a rule of thumb for diameter for the Lead out wire for a certain engine size / Plane size...?

Building a Vector and the Leadouts that came with the kit seem a little over kill but I could be wrong.

Any Suggestions?

[Tim Wescott]

I go with half again as big to twice as big as the lines I use for flying.  In practical terms this means that I use 0.027 for leadouts on everything "40 sized" and 0.012 for 1/2A.  I don't fly much in between, so that works for me.

[Jim Hoffman]

I use.036 inch diameter braided cable for leadouts for stunters using 40 size and up motors. Leadouts ought to be bigger (and more robust) than flying lines because they are intended to last the life of the airplane

[Dane Martin]

From my understanding, lead out's are measured in bigness and thickicity rather than mere thousandths of an inch.

[Paul Smith]

I guess it mostly depends on how much you value lightness.

If performance is an issue, just go ONE grade above the flying lines. 

If not, like in Scale, .027" is the answer.  One .027" is good for 125 pounds.  Two is 250 pounds.  Who is going to hold the handle if you need more?

[john e. holliday]

Never measured the Perfect Lead Out Cable as it was pretty thick.   Now a days I use .027 cable for lead outs on any thing bigger than 1/2A's.   Discarded .015 and .012 flying lines make for 1/2A lead outs.

[RandySmith]

HI

Use .027 for 40 size  and  .033 to .036 for  60 size

Randy

[FLOYD CARTER]

Breaking strength of leadout cable isn't the real issue.  More important is resistance to bending where the lines exit the wing tip guides.  Guides are usually brass tubing, or brass grommets.  either method promotes bending of the cable if you are not careful handling the model.  For me, bending sometimes happens during transit, where my planes are a tight fit loading into my car!  BTW: solids are the worst offenders.

[Deric Herrmann]

Thanks guys, always good to hear from folks that know..!!!

I feel better about what came with the kit.

Brodak does make some nice kits.!