Brass chassis question

[glenn]

Hi,guys

Im new here,im originaly from New Zealand but I now live in Australia,I have built a few box stock models before but I recently came across this website and have been inspired to build my chassis with brass tubing.there is not much in the way of hobby shops in my area but my local toyworld had 1/8 brass tube benders,i know thats a tad big scale wise but it will do for now,it came with a few small pieces of brass which bent up nice so i bought some of the brass tubing that they sell but it won't bend properly.

They can't tell me why so im assuming it's a different type of brass than what was supplied with the bender,i also tried ali tube but that also just crushes,am I doing anything wrong or will I have to keep trying to find the right brass?

[DanielG]

The brass that comes with the bender is soft brass specialy for bending. Brass tubing and shapes are made from a harder brass. You may be able to anneal it. Heat it red and plunge it into cold water and that may soften it enough to work with.

[glenn]

Thanks for the reply,I won't bother trying to anneal it I'd rather get the right stuff so I can buy in bulk,What should I be asking for as anything I get will most likely be purchased online? I just need to track down a supplier.

[brett]

Glenn, can you use rod? the three of four brass frames I've done were a done by using brass welding wire. Can be bent by hand so tube benders should handle it, take s a little more to heat for the solder to flow nicely but if you use something for heat dispersion (like vice grips) its not too bad. Way cheaper too.

[W-409]

Are you building 1:24 or 1:25 scale frame? I you are, my suggest is that use anything but lead. I built frame from brasstube to '63 Impala and it was 2,5mm thick. Oh yes and 2,5 mm is about one inch! But measure and make a good drawing and if you think about soldering with liquid gas, be very careful and unburned plates are helping very much. If you don't have them, do the soldering work on a big stone far away anything what can burn. I can say just good luck, it's not easy but my Impala frame was my first brassframe ever and I think, it's quite good. Impala frame

[glenn]

I'm building both 1/24 and 1/25 and yeh I might try the welding rod and see how that goes,i'm assuming I can still use the same solder as I have been using,I already built the bottom of my tube frame which didn't require bends and the soldering has come up quite good so I have a decent handle on that part,thanks for the advice guys-will post pics up in WIP once I can get some materials together