7 replies to this topic

[CrazyGirl]

ok , another question , i was going to build a roll cage from plastic , but i see on the WWW , world wide wed , i can get all kind of sizes of round brass ( cheap too ) i like this idea , has anyone done this , my guess is yes , but just want to pick your brains , Anne ,,,, PS sorry if i ask stupid Q's , i tend to be a pain

[MAGNUM4342]

ok , another question , i was going to build a roll cage from plastic , but i see on the WWW , world wide wed , i can get all kind of sizes of round brass ( cheap too ) i like this idea , has anyone done this , my guess is yes , but just want to pick your brains , Anne ,,,, PS sorry if i ask stupid Q's , i tend to be a pain

First of all Anne, the only stupid questions are the ones that go unasked. If you never ask you might never know.

[crazyjim]

I don't build many, if any, race vehicles that would require a roll bar, but there's no reason that I can think of why you couldn't use brass.

[plowboy]

Styrene rod is cheaper, comes in all sizes also and is a lot easier to work with. But yes, you can build your roll cages from brass. A lot of people do it.

[Ace-Garageguy]

To build well using brass, you need to master soldering. It's not hard but it's another, different skill (which you may already have). It requires more specialized tools, bending brass rod isn't quite as easy as plastic, and it's not as forgiving (meaning it's more difficult to fix a bend formed slightly out of place). Brass tubing takes far more skill to bend without kinking than brass or plastic rod. All that said, there are some kinda high-end modelers who use a variety of metals and other materials in some incredible work.

 

Most roll-cage tubing on real cars is between 1.5" and 2", so you don't need a huge variety of sizes to work in 1/24-1/25 scale. Building cages and roll-bars from the appropriate scale diameter plastic rod is really pretty easy and straightforward once you get a little practice in, and what with the price of copper these days (brass is a copper-zinc alloy), plastic rod should be considerably cheaper.

[DavidChampagne]

There are several detailed builds here using both brass and plastic.
I don't know how to do search for that but they are in the "On the workbence" section.
Look for subjects that contain Pro Mod and go from there.
Good Luck.

[Mooneyzs]

Hey Anne.... I had created some reference charts with sizes for tubing which can be for brass or plastic to get what would be the equivalent sizes to be in scale. Take a look here and hopefully it helps...

 

http://www.modelcars...showtopic=70954

[midengineaddict]

if you whant to bend brass tubing, you need that http://shop.dubro.co...2-tubing-bender