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Flexible ducts


slownlow

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I currently don't have an unused microbrush to photo but hopefully you can visualize one from the 2 used ones in the pic. When new they have a small tuft at the tip for small paint or glue application. They are made of plastic and I use only the serrated section, bent the curve and pinn the ends by way of short lengths of straight pin to the engine and body.

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Another approach (although very tedious) is wrap small gauge wire around the threads of a bolt, then wrap that assembly with wet paper. Just before the paper is dry, bend the assembly to the desired contour.

You just inspired this idea...lubricate the threads of a small diameter bolt, heat-shrink it, and screw the bolt out.

Worth a try, anyway.

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I had a similar problem on my 1:43 289 Cobra. I made mine by wrapping a bare copper wire over a brass rod. I then removed the "spring" off the rod ( I had to loosen the coils slightly).  Then I dipped the "spring" into a thinned black Plasti-Dip liquid (the stuff used to dip tool handles).  It took some experimenting with how much to thin the plastic dip so it works just right. I let it dry and dipped it again, probably for the total of 3 times to build up the thickness.  That resulted in a nice flexible ducting.  It is fairly small diameter (remember, this is 1:43 scale).

 

EngineChassis09_zpsba62a894.jpg

EngineChassis08_zpsf9a66090.jpg

Edited by peteski
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Very nice looking ducts!

If you wrap the wire around a threaded bolt, the threads will make the spacing even. After wrapping the wire, unscrew the bolt and proceed as usual.

Thanks!

The threaded bolt works, but in my example I used thick enough wire that I wrapped each turn tightly touching the previous turn. It sort of looked like one of the thick guitar strings before I dipped it in the Plasti-Dip.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Take a metal rod or dowel the same diameter as the ducts.  Wrap small gage wire around it.  Then wrap Teflon tape around the wire.  Coat it with diluted white glue and paint.  Cut to length.  There's a tutorial on Italianhorses.net on how to do this.

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The straws look great, hopefully they last a while.

Great looking ducts shown.  Peter's look fantastic!

A year or so ago I tried this method on a 1:25 truck:

-IMG_0634.thumb.jpg.73735212b965313cad15

-IMG_0649.thumb.jpg.65f77a164d591ab511f6

-IMG_0659.thumb.jpg.5c97c2ff076182a6c138

Since the whole truck (except body) was brass and nickel, I wanted metal ducts too.  These are aluminum tubes, with an indentation around and a wire wrapped into the cut grooves.  Looks fairly believable on a finished model.

 

 

Edited by 10thumbs
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Pete, what did you use to thin the Plasti-Dip?

I looked at the ingredients list on the Plasti-Dip can and used some of those chemicals. IIRC, it was Naphtha and acetone.  Then I poured the thinned stuff into a small diameter glass test tube (about 2" long) and I dipped my metal spring in it multiple times (letting the previous coat dry).  It took some experimenting for arriving at the right viscosity for dipping.

 

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  • 2 months later...
On 9/24/2017 at 9:25 PM, Deathgoblin said:

How do you glue/paint the tape? Most plumbing tape is Teflon, and not many things stick to Teflon.

True!! :)  I guess that wasn't a good idea.  Sorry.

I've used the teflon method and it works, and paints. Its been a while but I'll try to dig up pics.

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