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hydrophyte

Creating Realistic Transparent Wings

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Hi! I'm a new member here. I do not plan to tie flies for angling anytime soon, but I am am interested in building replica insects and it looks as though fly-tying methods are the best approach.

 

I want to get started by creating transparent wings with convincing veination and patternstion to go with replicas of pretty large animals like dragonflies, butterflies and Neuroptera.

 

Are there any resources that can help me get started? What kinds of plastic film will work for this kind of thing? I am guessing that I will want to start by making vector drawings with vein detail that can be turned into images for laser printing on plastic film sheet. Does that sound right?

 

Thanks for considering this!

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Welcome to the site, Hydrophyte.

 

If you go to the "realistic flies" forum, you'll find plenty of threads about realistic tying. Several of them have tutorials on making great wings, indistinguishable from real.

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Thanks! When I posted last night I was using the phone, so I didn't get a very good look at the navigation of the whole site. I will look over in that sub-forum to see if I can figure out the basics.

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Thanks again for these tips!

 

I'll share the first project that I am working on. My idea is to create replicas of fossil insects. This image shows a forewing that I traced from a photograph of Cretaceous Nemopteridae (Neuroptera) fossil...

 

web-Neuroptera-wing.jpg

 

I hope to turn this into an image for printing on clear film, although the best examples of realistic wings that I have seen so far are scratched by hand into the surface and/or use hackles.

 

Are there any good lists of basic fly tying tools around? I hope that I might be able to find some used tools. Can any of the commercial starter kits be recommended as worthwhile purchases?

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Are there any good lists of basic fly tying tools around? I hope that I might be able to find some used tools. Can any of the commercial starter kits be recommended as worthwhile purchases?

 

 

 

 

Many of us recommend the Beginning Fly Tying lessons on Fly Anglers On Line. The first few lessons cover tools and materials.

 

Opinions vary on using starter kits. My two cents, realistic tying is very demanding so you'll probably want good tools. Some starter kits have good tools, but many are the low end.

 

As for printing on film, it could be difficult to print on thin film. You might have better luck printing on transfer paper and transferring to an appropriate film.

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Thanks. I will review the Al Campbell publication.

 

I had hoped it would be easier to start with a commercial kit, but it looks as though it will be smarter to assemble tools and supplies separately. For one thing, I will need a vice that can hold pretty big hooks. I will try to come up with a couple of specific plans and it would be great if i could get some advice for specific supplies.

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Thanks. I will review the Al Campbell publication.

 

I had hoped it would be easier to start with a commercial kit, but it looks as though it will be smarter to assemble tools and supplies separately. For one thing, I will need a vice that can hold pretty big hooks. I will try to come up with a couple of specific plans and it would be great if i could get some advice for specific supplies.

 

Will you be tying on a hook? Since these aren't for fishing, you might just tie on a pin, rod or tube. In that case, there are some vise attachments that might handle them better. e.g. extended body attachments, tube fly attachments.

 

Extended body segments are tied on soft material or around a pin that's removed.Take a look at this Fly, Fish, Food video. or search for sbpatt's "Carnage" style SBS's. He does a really nice job showing how to tie extended bodies.

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Thanks. I will review the Al Campbell publication.

 

I had hoped it would be easier to start with a commercial kit, but it looks as though it will be smarter to assemble tools and supplies separately. For one thing, I will need a vice that can hold pretty big hooks. I will try to come up with a couple of specific plans and it would be great if i could get some advice for specific supplies.

 

Will you be tying on a hook? Since these aren't for fishing, you might just tie on a pin, rod or tube. In that case, there are some vise attachments that might handle them better. e.g. extended body attachments, tube fly attachments.

 

Extended body segments are tied on soft material or around a pin that's removed.Take a look at this Fly, Fish, Food video. or search for sbpatt's "Carnage" style SBS's. He does a really nice job showing how to tie extended bodies.

 

Thanks! I imagined tying with hooks because hooks would provide an easy way to position the replicas, but it is good to have this in mind as well. Some of those extinct insects, especially the ones from the Permian, were really huge. There were some that had very heavy and broad bodies with leathery wings like large roaches. I hope that I can also figure out how to make that kind of wing.

 

1er_Congr%C3%A8s_international_d%27entom

 

(Expired copyright image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1er_Congr%C3%A8s_international_d%27entomologie,_Bruxelles,_1-6_ao%C3%BBt,_1910_(1911-12)_(16477916279).jpg)

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I hope to start assembling a shopping list. Can anybody recommend a vise that will work? I hope to find a functional vise for $50-$75. To review, these flies are not for angling and they will include replicas for pretty large animals resembling insects such as stoneflies, dobsonflies and large tropical roaches. I will need to use large hooks, but as Bruce mentioned above, I might also want to consider tying with tubes or rods, so a vise that can handle this kind of tying could be helpful.

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I imagine you will want something that will rotate the number of decent rotary vises in that price range is pretty slim, I would recommend the Montana mongoose not sure if I'd capable of doing tube Flys but I imagine the adapter could be purchased, cabelas had then on sale for 160. One of the members here recently purchased a tier Mcflier vise off of eBay for about the price you are wanting to spend he seems happy with it it maybe harder to find a tube adapter for it though.

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The thread title the flier mctier is shown on is labeled, vise up grade might be worth looking at the older style jaws won't be much of an inconvenience to you since you won't be churning out a fly every couple minutes.

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I have been shopping around some more and I think I am going to go with the Griffin Superior 2A. It sound as though it's sturdy enough and it holds large hooks.

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