JLewis

Time to mock up the body shell so I can make sure all the plumbing fits. After all this I want the body panels to fit correctly with all the wires and hoses tucked inside. I taped together the body and glued in some of the pumps and tanks with white glue so they can be disassembled. Slowly I am building every pipe and hose and wire one at a time. It has been slow going. Once they are all done then hopefully things will speed up. Thanks for looking

I like your fittings using the hex rod. What do you use for the right angle pipe? Do you just butt join the different parts or do you pin them together in some way? Thanks

Thanks Randy. I was just starting to think that nobody was looking. It's funny that making stuff myself is so much more satisfying than buying aftermarket stuff. Aftermarket stuff is absolutely beautiful and better but when I think that I can produce a pretty darn good looking braided hose for less than a penny it pleases me. Again, thanks for the comment.

Time to start pulling some things together. I built a new fuel distributor body to replace the vinyl pieces from the kit. I used a small ring of styrene and drilled holes radially to mimic the real thing. I routed the fuel injector lines to the new distributor and glued them into place. Next was the magneto. Unlike a distributor, a magneto usually has all the spark plug wires exiting from one side, generally on two levels with four wires coming from the top level and four wires coming out of the bottom level. I measured the width of a four wire set and found that a 2.5 mm opening would handle four wires side by side. I started by cutting a 2.5 mm slot into 2 pieces of styrene that were .6 mm thick. I sandwiched the two slotted pieces with a center piece of .010 in sheet to provide a partition between the two levels. I then mounted this on a piece of 4 mm sprue. I trimmed and mounted this on the engine and routed the wires to the two different levels. I painted the new magneto black and added a cap to it. Thanks for looking

Just adding a few more parts. Exhaust, rear struts. Slow but sure

First couple of hoses in place

things are moving along thanks for looking

I think my hose idea will work out and since each one costs about 2 cents in materials, I'm happy. The center of the coax we removed looks just right for some fuel lines to the injectors. I drilled holes in the end of .030 hex rod and drilled out the injector tubes to fit. a little gold on the end for contrast and then install then into the injector tubes

The cable I have says the primary wire is silver coated copper while the braid is tinned copper.

I agree that race cars are an ever changing canvas. I think the best you can do is pick a moment in time, or a particular example, and build that. I am using the excellent walk around from the British Racecars website: http://www.britishracecar.com/ScottHughes-McLaren-M8F.htm Thanks for looking

So, back to making braided hoses. Ed, the coaxial is not marked but i assume it is Rg178. I have some RG174 that is slightly larger. I have found that outside diameter varies slightly with different manufacturers for the same numbered cable. I am going to try to make something like the vinyl hose int the picture above. I get four of the #15 hex beads and a piece of the coax braid that is longer than the piece you are trying to recreate. stretch the braid so it becomes as small as you can get it. I also trim one end at an angle to make it easier to thread the beads on to it. I threaded the four beads onto the braid. I also put on a small piece of the shrink wrap tubing to represent the short tube between the first and second fitting on the right of the example. Next I take a piece of the wire and insert it into the coax braid. I thread the beads on first because it is much easier than trying to thread the beads on with the wire inside. You can slide the wire in by carefully opening up the end of the braid and finding the center that had been filled with the original core. The wire stiffens the hose allowing you to position and bend it into any shape. It also keeps the braid from flattening out around curves. Now I slide the first bead down to the end of the braid and glue it in place. Be very careful with the CA glue, this small braid wicks the glue just like a cotton wick and too much glue will harden up the first half inch or so of the braid. I use a toothpick to just touch a little to the bead. Leave some of the center wire exposed at the end to make installing the finished hose easy. Next I slid the piece of shrink tubing down and shrink it in place. Then the next bead is slid into place and glued. Now you can bend the hose to match the piece you are trying to reproduce and glue the last beads into place. In my example the vinyl piece had a double nut on the end so I used two beads. I trimmed off the braid after the last bead and bent the wire at a right angle to match the example. The last thing I did was to put a tiny piece of shrink wrap on the end to represent the terminating pipe and shrunk it into place. That is how I made my hose. I painted the shrink tube aluminum and the beads clear red and blue to finish up. Here is another example of a hose I tried to recreate Here is a remote oil filter ready t install Thanks for looking

I'm sorry that I was so confusing in describing scale. When I am trying to build some detail I always want to have the material I am using represent the real thing as closely as I can. For me, it is easier to work in millimeters because in 1/24 and 1/25 scale, one millimeter on the model equals one inch on the real car. (I know, it is not exact but it is close enough for me.) So, in my mind I seem to go back and forth. If I look at a picture of some part of a car, i might see a hose, for instance, that I know must be around a half inch in diameter. I know then, that I am looking for some material that is one half of a millimeter instead of having to calculate in inches and look for material that is 0.04 inch in size. It is just easier for me. In the same way, when I look at something I am thinking of using, I do the opposite and convert it to inches to get an idea what size that material would be in 1:1 scale. My comment described the bead as representing 3/4 of an inch in real size. In other words, I measured it as being 3/4 of a millimeter, therefore it is 3/4 of an inch in 1:1 scale. Have I got you confused? I will be more careful to describe sizes in a way that is much clearer in the future.

You are correct Ed, I gave the scale size in 1/24. The inner braid is about 3/4 of a millimeter, which is about 3/4 of an inch in scale.

The final thing is to use some tweezers to find the inner core wire and pull it out. Now you have three things. The outer case, the braid, and the inner core.

I am going to take a stab at creating my version of a braided hose. I have been playing around with this idea which is a mixture of other ideas and some fresh ingredients. So here is what I am going to use. First is an assortment of hex beads. I have four sizes that scal from 2.5 inches down to 1.25 inches. I got them in a metallic finish, but there are scads of different colors. Today I am using the number 15, which scales out at 1.25 in real life. This size costs $5.00 for about 1300 beads (they are sold by weight). next I have some coaxial cable. I found some coaxial cable with an outside scale dimension of 3/4 inch. I also have some .4 mm wire and some .60 mm shrink tube. The coaxial cable is currently $.77 for 5 meters or less than a penny an inch. here are the different bead sizes in comparison i take the coaxial cable and slice off a little insulation so I can grab hold of the inner sheath with some pliers. By pulling like you are milking a cow eventually the outer cover will slide off leaving the braid.

Thanks to CrazyEd, you sure know a lot more than I do about these rigs. I hope to do it justice. Quick GMC - these kits are not that rare, in fact I just got another one for $15.00. Owner said they weren't sure if anything was missing, but all that was missing was the decal sheet. The instructions are more like a novel with hints and suggestions. I probably never read them the first time I built this.

That's all for tonight. Thanks for tuning in

Last, I threaded th wires through the looms and all I have to do is drill plug holes for the yellow ends to go in and we have some pretty neat plug wires. i used this this method on a Corvette engine to do both the plug ends and distributor cap. I had always disliked distributors with the wires all just shooting out the top in a big bundle. I wanted a cap with proper boots. Here is the result of that

Now for plug wires. I found an electronic distributor that sells the exact wire that the aftermarket charges about two dollars a foot. I got ten pieces, each ten feet long in ten different colors. That's 100 feet for $5.65 including shipping. Probably enough to last the rest of my life. I also have been playing around with heat shrink tubing. I found some that was .61 mm with a two to one shrink ratio. That means it will shrink to about .30 mm which is just about 3/8 inch in scale. I cut four pieces and shrunk them in the plug wires.

I use a jeweler so saw to cut a thin slot to position the loom pieces in next I put the loom pieces into the slots in the valve cover and use a drill bit to line them up glue them up and send them to paint

So, tonight some fun. All of the images I see of the real thing have plug wire looms and long protective boots where the plug wires go down between the exhaust pipes. First I built a jig to enable me to make evenly spaced holes for wire looms. The jig lets you move a stop pin through each of four holes and you can drill sets of holes. When you get done you have a four, three, two and one hole set in .010 styrene. I then cut out each one leaving a little tail on each one, like an L shape.Now I measured the spacing on the valve covers and cut little slots at each loom spot.

For me, this era Lotus was the most beautiful race car ever made. Can't wait to see it come together.

Thanks CrazyEd for the tip. Were the period oil line styles braided hose? All the pictures I have found use braided: I like your idea. I will have to try it when I get home. There are a lot of hoses on this beast. I want to find a way to make a good facsimile without spending hours on each one. It is interesting how hard it is to adopt a different approach and slow down, treat each piece as a jewel in itself. I find I enjoy the research and testing of different scratch-building ideas much more when I give myself permission to take the time to experiment with different materials. I hope that tonight I can get some more picture-worthy work done.

Thanks for the welcome and encouragement. There is no turning back now, paint has been spilled! (Figuratively speaking). Not much to show, I know, but I have been trying to put in some homework before making the big jump into really making a mess of things. I do plan to replace all the vinyl hoses with my own versions, but I guess the frugal Yankee in me is reluctant to spend two or three dollars for each hose assembly. We will see if I can concoct my own suitable replacements for a more modest investment. Some expirementation is necessary. That is what makes this fun, trying to create detail from different sources. Thanks for looking and have a great night!

Well, here we go. This is a kit I built in the last millennium and had a pretty disappointing result. It is on one hand magnificent, and on the other hand frustrating. I am going to go at it again hopefully with the patience that old age gives you. I want to put in as much detail as I can without buying expensive aftermarket items. I am going to try some ideas about detailing with very inexpensive stuff and hopefully I can find my way through it. I have never posted on any forum before but I figure if I post the build, it will give me incentive not to give up on it. I encourage thoughts and ideas because the wealth of knowledge here is fantastic but I am not going to be a stickler for color perfection. I will use artistic license to perhaps use colors that, while not the exact match to the 1:1 car, will hopefully create a pleasing appearance and add to the detail. Wish me luck!