making brakelines

[JAFFA]

I was meaning to make brakelines to one of my latest creations,

and i was thinking about copper-wire, but i just cant make it stick,

i tried super glue, but that didnt work too well either, so im turning to you.

Anyone got any ideas??

[MrObsessive]

This may be a pain in the A** to do............but the best way to represent brake lines is to run them through hangers like the 1:1's.

I've made mine out of thin sheet aluminum (or blackened brass) with the holes drilled through with about a #75 drill bit or thereabouts. I then took some HO scale brass bolts and then epoxied the hangers to the chassis.

Copper doesn't do well with superglueing.........not many metals do. Besides it could get kinda messy trying to superglue something that thin. :shock:

Here's a few pics of how I did my brake/fuel/air lines...............

'57 Corvette....

'58 Chevy Impala........

Scratchbuilt brass bracket.....(excuse the unsymmetrical corners )

Hope this gives you some ideas........

[j_nigrelli]

holy holies!

talk about..... oh: ... Obsessive....

incredible details

[JAFFA]

Thanks Bill, (or mr Geary), the ideas with hangers really put me one step

forwards, allthough, sticking the lines to the cylinders is my currently

biggest problem...

[MrObsessive]

Jaffa, for most brakeline assemblies...............I use bead wire, which you can get at most arts and crafts stores. The exception was the copper wires you see in the one pic to represent "air" lines. It comes in various diameters (guages) to represent different types of lines.

For your cylinders, I would use a small drop of 5 min. epoxy and maybe scuff up the ends slightly for the epoxy to "grab" better.

Also, when you drill your holes for your lines, you want to make sure that the lines go in fairly snug............A wire guage helps for this and you can match up the size wire to the drill bit.

This will help in keeping them from pulling out, and I would leave just a slight bit of slack so there's not much tension on the area.

Pretty much like the 1:1's! :wink:

[Guest zebm1]

I use tha Air conditioning metal tape ( for taping duct board together), check out my Grant King Sprint car in tha "Glass" forum. The clamps that yu see holding tha oil lines together were done way back in 1988....and tha glue is still holding. I use that tape to represent those little "spring clamps" that hold brake lines to tha frame.

:twisted: Zeb

ps; 1 roll of that tape oughta last yu tha rest of yur lifetime.

[Taxdude]

For brakelines on rods or customs I use Ni-Chrome wire. I has a good shine and holds it shape very well.

For brackets I use photo-etched spark plug looms. Look for single or double looms with a mounting tab and go to town. I have also used the outer frame work from PE just cut to length drill the needed holes and mount.

[Maliburacr]

I'm with Bill on this one, the craft wire is tin coated copper and very easy to bend.

[Modelmartin]

Get some insulated single strand wire and strip away the insulation. You now have some real good looking bright silver wire that is perfection for brake and fuel lines. The bonus is you have all the insulation left over which can be used for hoses or spark plug boots. It's cheap too. Hold it! Wasn't that a different thread!

[jbwelda]

>For brackets I use photo-etched spark plug looms. Look for single or

>double looms with a mounting tab

ive been trying to locate some of these ever since i used up the old very cool ones that someone made on rubber sheet backing. any ideas where to get similar these days? i dont think detail master makes these do they?

[Steve H.]

I'm doing brakelines on my 32 right now... I've settled on a couple ways to glue them.

First off, though, I dunk my shiny craft wire in Bleche White whitewall cleaner (other mildly corrosive cleaners would work) for a couple days. This tarnishes the wire a little and leaves some "tooth" on the wire for adhesives to grab.

I've been using crystal clear white glue on lines between couplings, where I can be assured theres some tension to keep the wire in place. Crystal clear dries clear, so any glue blobs are less apparent. I've also been using Future as a glue, just a drop will wick into the coupling and secure the wire.

I make this stuff up as I go, so this is probably only one of many techniques that will work. I'll try to post some pics soon, since I'm almost done with my brakelines.