Large scale guys, school me on wiring harness's/looms please?

[dantewallace]

I was looking through the big boyz threads and saw a few of the newer cars sporting hand made wiring harnesses to look like the ones with the black plastic covering tape/ribbed plastic on the 1:1's. I have read that it's done by twisting wires together,but I tried that and it just doesn't look as good as others or even close. I searched for a tutorial but found none. Can anyone walk me through it a little more thoroughly or post a link to a tutorial on it?

Example at the link: Member Lanesteel240 did this on a gt500 and it just looks amazing. I have always wanted to do this to my newer cars because without them it just seems like something is missing.

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=71995&hl=gt500&page=2

[Ace-Garageguy]

Back on post 17, on the first page of the build thread you posted, lanesteel240 says :

"...Making a wire conduit loom was proving to be hard. Here is what i got as a first attempt. I think it will work though. This is a rough attempt the wire i used was to hard to strech out even. I will go with a smaller gauge "wrap" wire.

All i did was wrap one wire around another. Then i pulled the wrapped wire off and coated it with liquid electical tape. I know this has been done with glue but it seamed to me that the glue would take forever to dry. This stuff dont take long and it is already black." (Photos copied from lanesteel240's thread, under the "fair use" definition in copyright law)

If you look carefully at the later pictures you directed us to, it's pretty obvious that the really excellent wiring loom going over the cam cover is made the same way...by carefully WRAPPING fine wire over core wire, not simply TWISTING. It looks to me like all you need to do is try it (though the "wrapping" will take a little time and patience), and work on your technique until you get the look you want.

You will probably find that anchoring one end of the core wire in a vise, so that you can stretch it tight while you wrap it, will make life easier. Think of tying fishing flies.

It also seems he may be chucking the end of the wrapped wire in a drill and spinning it, rather like you do safety-wire, to tighten up the wrap after it's applied.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Ace-Garageguy

[dantewallace]

Ace, I read through that entire thread a few days ago and read his method of how he did this, I think I may have figured it out. The bottom wire is my first attempt,the top is my second but this time I wrapped a smaller guage around a larger guage and it seemed allot easier to work with. What do you think?

[Mike Kucaba]

This is 1/12th right? Looking at this I have seen very tiny coil springs that might work as the conduit, covered with the liquid tape. You might have to stretch out the coil some to get the individual wire to the intended component. This looks similar to the technique to make those hoses (larger) that run to cool brake discs or ram air setups.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Ace, I read through that entire thread a few days ago and read his method of how he did this, I think I may have figured it out. The bottom wire is my first attempt,the top is my second but this time I wrapped a smaller guage around a larger guage and it seemed allot easier to work with. What do you think?

Looking good !! You're definitely on the right track. A little more practice and you've got it. Pretty cool technique, definitely worth the effort.

[dantewallace]

This is 1/12th right? Looking at this I have seen very tiny coil springs that might work as the conduit, covered with the liquid tape. You might have to stretch out the coil some to get the individual wire to the intended component. This looks similar to the technique to make those hoses (larger) that run to cool brake discs or ram air setups.

Correct, I would like to make this for 1/12. The wire size is 30 GA

[Ace-Garageguy]

You know, I just remembered there's a builder on here who uses wire-wrapped guitar strings to represent wrapped brake-fluid lines and parking-brake cable housings..

Coating wire-wrapped guitar strings with the liquid tape could look machine-made perfect, and they come in different sizes.

[Mooneyzs]

Take a look at this thread that Stump did for a 1/12 scale Datsun. His wire loom looks spot on. I am sure you could contact him to see exactly how he did them.

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18121&page=10

[dantewallace]

Take a look at this thread that Stump did for a 1/12 scale Datsun. His wire loom looks spot on. I am sure you could contact him to see exactly how he did them.

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18121&page=10

Oh yes! yes!! I remember that build. I was highly anticipating it's completion but the thread was never updated. He even had plugs on the ends,incredible.