the heavier the object, the thicker the wire needs to be. i used 24 for my stars.
this always confuses me - im pretty sure its lower the number, the wider the wire. (in the uk, so not sure about that store - but it seems they sell most things!)
xx
The smaller the gauge number the thicker the wire. I also just tried this with bad results. I purchased thick enough wire I think but couldn't figure out how to get them into the cake where they would stand up. They kept tipping over and ripping out of the cake. I'll be following this thread to see what everyone has to say.
When I did my son's airplane cake I stuck a piece of pvc pipe down the center of the cake, iced over it, and then stuck the wires in the pvc. It worked great! No problems with wires tipping over or ripping out of the cake. You might also be able to use a heavy-duty straw if you only have one wire. Good luck!
Just realized I am logged in under my husband's account - you can see my airplane cake in my photos under bethhansen. 
Beth is the wire in the cake running the entire length of the cake ? My question I guess is when you do this, how much wire actually goes into the cake or the support straw? Did you put anything in the PVC pipe other than basic frosting to hold the wires?
I put the wire in buttercream cakes, so I definitely need the support of a coffee stirrer. What I do is melt some chocolate and add the wire/s in to secure it and then stick the straw in the cake. This way I have no problems with tearing or moving around of a hollow straw!
Hope this helps!
Vettie
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