Those flexible ducts

[bobcrozier]

I needed intake ducting for my Warbucks Mustang. I racked my brains and then recalled an old tip from years ago - from where I cannot recall - I came up with this:

It makes use of Revell's Contacta Liquid Special. I had a bottle given to me and decided I would find a use for it!

Well - its good for gluing in small chrome parts and clear parts to painted surfaces - winscreens, lenses, wing mirrors etc. its a bit like Microscale's Kristal Klear and Humbrols Clearfix. You could probably use either of these or even just some good old PVA glue.

First I took some fine plastic coated wire approx 0.5mm (20 thou)dia. and wrapped it round some 3.2mm ali tube, anchoring it with some tape at each end.

I used wire wrap wire:

If you can't get hold of it the scale ignition wire sold by the like of Detailmaster and others is identical (another tip there!)

Then I painted on a fairly liberal coat of Contacta and let it dry (approx 1hr).

Then I removed the tape and pushed the spiral off the end of the tube. At this point it may stick, the four I made came off OK after a bit of pushing, but I can imagine it being a problem, so maybe a little wax on the ali tube before wrapping on the wire might be a good idea!

At this point the "tube" is still floppy but quite firm in cross section. If handled carefully it can be "moulded to fit" around the engine bay.After some time it becomes more rigid, but still remains somewhat flexible.

Here it is mated up to the little airboxes that mount on the carbs

Paint it to suit!

Should work for larger radiator hoses and brake cooling ducts etc.

Bob

[randx0]

that's a pretty good tip I have put it into my memory bank for future use thanks for sharing!

[James W]

Thanks, always good to hear about products like that.

[MikeMc]

After seeing the finished tube in this months MCM I am even more impressed!!

A little Matte Black paint .....WOW!!!!

[JHDrew]

I can tell you where you remember this tip.

Quite a number of years ago Randy Derr and I ran a series of articles in Scale Auto called "Low Buck, High Tech Details". This was just one of many tips we presented over the years. Yours is close to what we wrote. It brought back some fond memories just looking over your version of the tip.

Our articles were voted the favorite of SA readers back in the day.

Ah, those were fun times!

You did a great job Bob.

[Olle F]

That looks great! I have been experimenting with different ways of making those hoses but have never been able to make one that looks as good as yours. You might want to try thinned Plasti-Dip instead of that Contacta stuff next time. I used this to make a wire harness, and it came out pretty good. You can thin it to the consistency you like, and it will give you a nice, even coat that is also very flexible and durable. I couldn't even scrape it off with my fingernail, so it was very easy to install the harness without damaging it.