discussion HT leads?

[Guest]

Hi all, I want to add HT leads to my 1:24 scale cars. Does anyone have any advice on what is the best thing to make them from?

 

[PaulTRose]

you can buy aftermarket ones already done but what i do is go to HobbyCraft and have a look on the shelf doing jewelry for the coloured wire.....comes in all sorts of colours and is pretty cheap, black is obviously an useful colour......make the dizzy from some small tube such as the plastic bit from a cotton bud only needs to be a few mm long.....paint the bit of tube black.......cut enough length (as in a V8 would need 8 + 1 to the coil.....although i sometimes miss that one out)....make the lengths extra long.....stuff the lengths into the tube, i tend to get all flush apart from one which i push through then to locate into the engine,.....a few spots of thick ca in the bottom holds it all together....drill a tiny hole in the engine where the dizzy goes and glue it in.....drill out with a tiny bit where the plugs go in the block......do one lead at a time....trim so its a bit longer than you need to go into the relevant plug hole.....spot of ca and push it in so it looks right


i have also stripped down a dead usb cable for its wire inside but it dosnt bend easy to follow the shape of the engine but it does look nice cos you can pick the colour you want, loadsof colours inside a usb cable


hope that helps

 

[Guest]

I tend to use lead wire as it is very pliable but stays put when shaped.  Being soft, it doesn't fight back when you are shaping it as it has no inherent 'spring'. 

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the help guys. I will have to hunt around at home and at work to see what I can find.  I have a few old laptop wireless cables which, when the outer sheath is stripped off look good as after market braided cables and with the core pulled out and flattened make decent looking seat belts but they are way too thick for HT leads

 

[Guest]

Well, I think I have found the perfect thing to make HT leads from.

Cat 6e network cable.View attachment 276413

The cores are solid copper so when you bend them they stay put and the thickness looks right.

What's even better than that is the fact I can get as much as I want for free as I have just finished networking up a new office conversion and there is upwards of 100 meters of cable left over.

As soon as I can find some spare time I will hook up an engine and post some pics.