The devil is in the details. How do you do it?

[conchan]

This forum has some awesome talent that is making me want to improve.  An awesome feeling.

I’d like to improve my detailing skills on the engine and undercarriage. What do you use for the various lines, hoses cables and belts? And clamps, where do you find clamps at 1/24,1/25 scale?

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Stay safe and enjoy.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Any spare bits of wire that you can scrounge up here and there will work for various different hoses and wires.

Strip the jacket off of a single strand silver wire and you have fuel line or material for carburetor linkage or return springs.

 

As far as clamps go, you can pretty easily make your own from thin strips of aluminum from a soda can bent to shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

[Oldcarfan27]

He's the Yoda, help you he can!

Look at how all his lines a there and neatly placed. You want the area to look busy, but not cluttered. He also uses a lot of wash to bring out details and make it look used. The only times the engine is perfectly shiny and clean is the day it leaves the dealership or after it's been restored and never driven again. The rest is heat/cool cycles, oil leaks, grease, dirt, old paint and repairs that happen through everyday use.

Also, day one engines aren't painted with high gloss paint, more of an eggshell finish. Avoid the "dipped in syrup" look, it detracts from the scale appearance and just looks like it's going to attract dust any minute. 

Use different shades and textures to represent multiple parts. Engine compartments have thousands of little parts and assemblies and they don't get painted from the same can at the same time. 

[Fat Brian]

The jewelry section of the craft store will have tons of things that can be repurposed for modeling. Various gauges of aluminum wire can be had in bare or red, blue, and gold anodized for all manner of things. Also, you can order wrapped wires for plug wires and such. Brass rod is also helpful for hinges. Tiny hexagon beads can be bolt heads. I also like to have a well stocked bag of Evergreen and Plastruct plastic stock. Square, round, rectangle, tubes, angle, C channel, hexagonal rod, sheet stock, it all has a use and it's easier to figure out how to scratch build something when you have pieces to work with. 

Here's what you can do with a pile of Evergreen and a handful of watch parts.

Edited August 6, 2022 by Fat Brian

[conchan]

On 8/2/2022 at 10:53 PM, StevenGuthmiller said:

Any spare bits of wire that you can scrounge up here and there will work for various different hoses and wires.

Strip the jacket off of a single strand silver wire and you have fuel line or material for carburetor linkage or return springs.

 

As far as clamps go, you can pretty easily make your own from thin strips of aluminum from a soda can bent to shape.

Thanks for the advice. I’ll hit up Yuko’s favorite craft stores and her box of odds and ends to see what is there. I can only aspire to reach your level of detailing. Awesome work.

 

On 8/3/2022 at 7:03 AM, Fat Brian said:

On 8/2/2022 at 10:53 PM, StevenGuthmiller said:

On 8/3/2022 at 1:22 AM, Oldcarfan27 said:

He's the Yoda, help you he can!

Look at how all his lines a there and neatly placed. You want the area to look busy, but not cluttered. He also uses a lot of wash to bring out details and make it look used. The only times the engine is perfectly shiny and clean is the day it leaves the dealership or after it's been restored and never driven again. The rest is heat/cool cycles, oil leaks, grease, dirt, old paint and repairs that happen through everyday use.

Also, day one engines aren't painted with high gloss paint, more of an eggshell finish. Avoid the "dipped in syrup" look, it detracts from the scale appearance and just looks like it's going to attract dust any minute. 

Use different shades and textures to represent multiple parts. Engine compartments have thousands of little parts and assemblies and they don't get painted from the same can at the same time. 

Thanks for the advice on the “look”. 
 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by conchan

[conchan]

On 8/3/2022 at 7:03 AM, Fat Brian said:

The jewelry section of the craft store will have tons of things that can be repurchased for modeling. Various gauges of aluminum wire can be had in bare or red, blue, and gold anodized for all manner of things. Also, you can order wrapped wires for plug wires and such. Brass rod is also helpful for hinges. Tiny hexagon beads can be bolt heads. I also like to have a well stocked bag of Evergreen and Plastruct plastic stock. Square, round, rectangle, tubes, angle, C channel, hexagonal rod, sheet stock, it all has a use and it's easier to figure out how to scratch build something when you have pieces to work with. 

Here's what you can do with a pile of Evergreen and a handful of watch parts.

Thanks for the hints on what kind of material is used. Great work on the scratch built winch.

[skymnky721]

Hobby Lobby has  craft wire for flower arrangements  thats perfect for wiring motors/lines,,cables.  And the jewlery isle has  rubber wrist bands,,that work great for motorcycle cables,,and the after market outlets too.

[W Humble]

I've mentioned this before: I'm a po' boy who has to economize on parts and materials costs, and have been in that mode so long that if I had deep pockets, the habit would still run strong!  I use old-fashioned telephone cable, the kind with the multi-colored single-strand wires inside for some wires and tubes.  Find some, don't need much; strip the individual rainbow wires out.  Strip one end about one-half inch, and put the metallic wire in a vice.  Then carefully begin tugging the insulation until it starts slipping away from the core wire; go slow and progressively -- I often get as much as three-feet loose and in good conditon at a try.  Also, the copper inside that is left is useful for light stuff.  Wick

[Straightliner59]

4 hours ago, W Humble said:

I use old-fashioned telephone cable, the kind with the multi-colored single-strand wires inside for some wires and tubes.

I love that stuff! I have a fair amount left. I've been eyeing an obsolete box, that appears to have some hanging out of it, loose. It might find its way to my shop. ? I use the copper for fuel lines. Great stuff!

[mrm]

Aside from the materials used, I think it is very important to go in stages. Start small and simple. Worst thing to do is bite more than you can chew, go after the "looks-authentic-even-under-microscope-look" and then get frustrated and pushed away from it because it didn't quite work out. Besides a lot of time Less is more. Start with just wired distributors and radiator hoses. Then add the plug wire boots. those will test your commitment. And honestly, a set of prewired distributor, turned aluminum coil and sparkplug boot material is like $5 or $6 in a variety of colors. It is not worth the gas looking for stuff to substitute it with. For fuel lines, brake lines or various supply or cooling lines under the hood or chassis I love using different thickness solder. Main reason why is because it is very soft and easy to cut and bend and correct if necessary. Besides it polishes to a very realistic finish. Very important tip! Get extras of all the tiny micro drill bits you are going to need. They brake when you just look at them the wrong way. 

[bytownshaker]

On 8/2/2022 at 9:53 AM, StevenGuthmiller said:

Any spare bits of wire that you can scrounge up here and there will work for various different hoses and wires.

Strip the jacket off of a single strand silver wire and you have fuel line or material for carburetor linkage or return springs.

 

As far as clamps go, you can pretty easily make your own from thin strips of aluminum from a soda can bent to shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

Beautiful Hemi Steven, did you make your own spark plug wire boots.

Thanks Edgar

[StevenGuthmiller]

31 minutes ago, bytownshaker said:

Beautiful Hemi Steven, did you make your own spark plug wire boots.

Thanks Edgar

Sort of.

 

The boots in this case are probably not exactly accurate, but they look better than just drilling a hole and installing a wire.

I drilled a hole for the wire at an angle so that it would lay flatter to the valve cover and then just added a drop of epoxy to each wire where it was inserted.

Then painted them black.

 

As I said, not completely accurate, but I thought it looked good.

 

 

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, mrm said:

Get extras of all the tiny micro drill bits you are going to need. They brake when you just look at them the wrong way. 

Ain't that the truth!!

 

 

 

Steve

[W Humble]

Speaking of twist bits: our local Harbor Freight store used to sell sets of fine bits (fragile tho, alas!) with shafts that fit my Dreml chuck, and now I'm down to about three (from two sets; cheap enough!) bits, and they no gots!  I don't see this item in Mircro Mark, etc.  Is there still a source?  Indispensable, for me!!

[bytownshaker]

1 hour ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Sort of.

 

The boots in this case are probably not exactly accurate, but they look better than just drilling a hole and installing a wire.

I drilled a hole for the wire at an angle so that it would lay flatter to the valve cover and then just added a drop of epoxy to each wire where it was inserted.

Then painted them black.

 

As I said, not completely accurate, but I thought it looked good.

 

 

 

 

Steve

Thanks,

simple but effective!

[OldNYJim]

6 hours ago, W Humble said:

Speaking of twist bits: our local Harbor Freight store used to sell sets of fine bits (fragile tho, alas!) with shafts that fit my Dreml chuck, and now I'm down to about three (from two sets; cheap enough!) bits, and they no gots!  I don't see this item in Mircro Mark, etc.  Is there still a source?  Indispensable, for me!!

I ordered this set a while back, and have been happy with them:

https://a.co/d/d4vjcOZ

 

[conchan]

On 8/9/2022 at 6:48 AM, skymnky721 said:

Hobby Lobby has  craft wire for flower arrangements  thats perfect for wiring motors/lines,,cables.  And the jewlery isle has  rubber wrist bands,,that work great for motorcycle cables,,and the after market outlets too.

I'll see what there is in the local version of HL here. Thanks for the information. 

On 8/13/2022 at 1:45 PM, W Humble said:

I've mentioned this before: I'm a po' boy who has to economize on parts and materials costs, and have been in that mode so long that if I had deep pockets, the habit would still run strong!  I use old-fashioned telephone cable, the kind with the multi-colored single-strand wires inside for some wires and tubes.  Find some, don't need much; strip the individual rainbow wires out.  Strip one end about one-half inch, and put the metallic wire in a vice.  Then carefully begin tugging the insulation until it starts slipping away from the core wire; go slow and progressively -- I often get as much as three-feet loose and in good conditon at a try.  Also, the copper inside that is left is useful for light stuff.  Wick

Thanks for the detailed description. It is appreciated. 

 

 

[conchan]

11 hours ago, mrm said:

Aside from the materials used, I think it is very important to go in stages. Start small and simple. Worst thing to do is bite more than you can chew, go after the "looks-authentic-even-under-microscope-look" and then get frustrated and pushed away from it because it didn't quite work out. Besides a lot of time Less is more. Start with just wired distributors and radiator hoses. Then add the plug wire boots. those will test your commitment. And honestly, a set of prewired distributor, turned aluminum coil and sparkplug boot material is like $5 or $6 in a variety of colors. It is not worth the gas looking for stuff to substitute it with. For fuel lines, brake lines or various supply or cooling lines under the hood or chassis I love using different thickness solder. Main reason why is because it is very soft and easy to cut and bend and correct if necessary. Besides it polishes to a very realistic finish. Very important tip! Get extras of all the tiny micro drill bits you are going to need. They brake when you just look at them the wrong way. 

Yes, it will take me a few builds trying different tricks before I attempt to put them all together in one. 

Who makes the prewired stuff? I can't find it at Joshin (local hobby shop in Nagoya).

 

[conchan]

1 hour ago, CabDriver said:

I ordered this set a while back, and have been happy with them:

https://a.co/d/d4vjcOZ

 

Thanks for the link. I found the same thing on Amazon Japan.

[W Humble]

Oh, one last material suggestion I forgot: guitar strings.  Old strings, or ends pickers typically trim off have a lot of uses.  A wrapped steel string (or nylon) makes a good armored cable, etc.  I just used a bit to simulate a mechanical tach cable; looks pretty convincing!  Wick

[conchan]

2 hours ago, W Humble said:

Oh, one last material suggestion I forgot: guitar strings.  Old strings, or ends pickers typically trim off have a lot of uses.  A wrapped steel string (or nylon) makes a good armored cable, etc.  I just used a bit to simulate a mechanical tach cable; looks pretty convincing!  Wick

Very interesting.  That will be easy to pick up. Thanks for the tip!

[mrm]

2 hours ago, conchan said:

Yes, it will take me a few builds trying different tricks before I attempt to put them all together in one. 

Who makes the prewired stuff? I can't find it at Joshin (local hobby shop in Nagoya).

 

Oh, boy! I did not realize until now where you are. A whole different ball game.

Try these two reputable sites:

Modelcargarage.com 

Detailmaster.com

Also just search on ebay for "prewired distributor". There are quite few companies who make them. Parts by Parks is what I use a lot of times. 

Our days there are some cool stuff you can get 3D printed from Shapeways too. 

 

[Dpate]

On 8/2/2022 at 9:53 AM, StevenGuthmiller said:

Any spare bits of wire that you can scrounge up here and there will work for various different hoses and wires.

Strip the jacket off of a single strand silver wire and you have fuel line or material for carburetor linkage or return springs.

 

As far as clamps go, you can pretty easily make your own from thin strips of aluminum from a soda can bent to shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

what color did you paint the coolant tank? I hate seeing coolant tanks white just doesn't look right.

[StevenGuthmiller]

28 minutes ago, Dpate said:

what color did you paint the coolant tank? I hate seeing coolant tanks white just doesn't look right.

I just used flat white with just a tiny touch of tan and yellow, adding more of whatever was required until it looked about right.

(I assume you mean the washer bottle)

 

 

 

Steve

Edited August 16, 2022 by StevenGuthmiller

[bisc63]

Most of us have old/obsolete or just plain broken electronic devices laying around, and the attached wires cables can be a treasure trove of small gauge wires that can work for under-hood details. I'm talking about things like headphones, phone chargers, USB adapter cables, etc.. Tear into 'em! Often those small wires are actually bundles of really small wires, and that can be used as is, or stripped of its insulation for even smaller wiring details with the bare copper strands.

Edited August 16, 2022 by bisc63
typo