Thinking of having a good old scratch, help needed please

[BattleshipBob]

Evening

I am going to have a go at scratching some water, exhaust pipes etc in the StuG's engine bay. Now for some this may seem straight forward but for me a whole new ball game

Some help, if possible

What can i use for the various pipes, plastic rod or something flexible and how the hell do you work out its size??

I can now see theres also plates to make as well, underneath the radiators

Thanks in advance, bob

[Dave Ward]

Bob,
I would suggest looking here https://slatersplastikard.com/plastikard.php
I've bought plastic card, strips, rods etc from them for years - good fast service - and a first place for scratching plastic
Dave

[BattleshipBob]

Thanks Dave, will have a look

[Guest]

Bob,
You are a b****y disapointment do you know that, got all dressed up in my bright pink and yellow spandex and bicycle clips, back scratcher in the saddle bag and then realised what you were after.
As Dave said, Slaters or EMA supplies, but i do know they have a minimum order price. For bending use the end or side of a soldering iron fixed in place to leave your hands free.
Mike.

[BattleshipBob]

Sorry Mike, trying to imagine the sight of you on your bike :thinking::upside:

[Guest]

What can i use for the various pipes, plastic rod

Plastic rod is probably your best choice, unless the pipes are no more than maybe a millimetre in diameter and need lots of bends, in that case brass rod or copper wire will also work well. Get all of this from a model shop.

and how the hell do you work out its size??

If you can find good cross-sectional drawings, you can probably work out the size from them, if the pipes are visible. Else, you guesstimate Use a ruler, dividers, a piece of card or cocktail stick or whatever else you can use to get a reasonable measurement from the model, check photos if you’ve got them, adjust as seems necessary, and make the part. Then find it doesn’t quite fit and try again

[Dave Ward]

I have used pre-fluxed solder as a template for pipes, you can bend it easily, then straighten it out to get true lengths, it's a bit soft for permanent fixing, but it's a good pattern. Brass & copper are OK for thin pipes, but get heavy in larger sizes ( not to mention costly! )
EMA Plastruct make extruded sections in styrene, but most of their stuff is ABS plastic, which needs another adhesive...............
Dave

[Guest]

Sorry Mike, trying to imagine the sight of you on your bike :thinking::upside:

Not pretty I can tell you, saddle bags and knobbly knees all round....

[Guest]

I have used pre-fluxed solder as a template for pipes, you can bend it easily, then straighten it out to get true lengths, it's a bit soft for permanent fixing, but it's a good pattern. Brass & copper are OK for thin pipes, but get heavy in larger sizes ( not to mention costly! )
EMA Plastruct make extruded sections in styrene, but most of their stuff is ABS plastic, which needs another adhesive...............
Dave

Hi Dave,
EMA supply their own cement in liquid and you can get a good supply in fairly cheaply. Dozen bottles in a box, just use as normal and not as smelly as other liquids.
Mike

[Tim Marlow]

Personally I hoard off cuts of electrical cable. Coms in all sizes up to about three mil and is soft enough to form things like this. Also look at fly tying lead wire, great for cables etc, and brass pin wire which is great for handrails.
I think plastic rod is the hardest to form like this due to the inherent spring of the material, and it’s propensity to fracture on tight bends.