Can anyone give me an idea on where to find some flexible plastic tubing for use as fuel hoses, etc.? I’m building a 1/48 scale Albion refueler truck for a diorama, and the kit comes with the hoses shown only in the stored position (on the refueling boom/arms). I want to show one of the hoses deployed and refueling a Spitfire, but I need some flexible tubing. Airfix on some of its other kits has small lengths of tubing (for a hand refueling cart of starter cart), but they’re too short for this project, and no lengths of tubing are included with the Albion kit. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
would some of those flexi straws you get for kids party’s , at the cheap shop’s do
No, it needs to be much smaller than that. It’s a 1/48 scale model, so the tubing to represent the fuel hose would probably not be more than 1/16" wide (assuming a 3" diameter actual hose). So something very narrow, more like the spark plug wires on a model car kit, but I’m thinking those are probably too thin…
Have you considered using the shrink tubing used in electronics? It can be found in very small diameters (I have a roll rated for 32 AWG) and shrunk even further. Since flexibility is a concern, thread solder or thin wire into the tubing, shrink it down with a cigarette lighter, and then bend and coil as necessary.
Ribbed ducting, such as in the AC system of the AH-1 Cobra or in NASCAR window vents, can also be created the same way, using a stretched spring as the core. Just be sure to anneal the spring first to allow you to shape it later.
I use beading wire, it can be bent to the shape you want and stays that way.
I have seen tubing at walmart in their fishing section. Apparently it’s used fo lures ?
I would look into some small gauge electrical wire. use to use it for 1/87 scale fire hoses. I’m sure you could find the right diamiter for 1/48 hoses.
All, thanks for the great suggestions! I’ve already found online sources for shrink tubing and beading wire; still need to check out the fishing gear department for tubing. Found one very nice source of shrink tubing in black, 1/16" diameter, 6" lengths of tubing (unshrunk at 1/48 scale, that would make a nice 3" diameter, 24 ft. long hose) - a pack of 100 pieces for $9.59. Bish, question re the beading wire: I noticed that the beading wire comes in a nice variety of diameters and it’s seven-strand braided stainless steel wire, which would come in handy for making cables for model dioramas, BUT it’s coated with nylon. So, can the nylon coating be stripped/burned/melted off, for said use as scale cable? Thanks again for your input!
I have never tried it, most of the stuff i have is so smal its hard to see the wire. I do have an 18gauge one which is just a single piece of wire. But you can buy plain steel wire, i do have one of 34gauge. I only stared getting black wire to save on painting the bare metal for aircraft brake lines.
I have a selection of wire most of which are two brands from the US. One is labeled Craft Wire another Artistic wire.
Fly fishing line would work well for that scale. The floating kind
A-ha! Fly fishing line, how come I never thought of that? Thanks for the tip; are scale modellers the most resourceful people as far as finding ways to repurpose things originally meant for other purposes, or what?
No kidding. I was thinking of things as I read the answers and stopped when I saw it solved. From a long ago memory that stuff has to be the exact diameter you are looking for plus probably easily paintable.
Another item to check out at fishing shops is lead free wire - they come in a variety of diameters. I think the only choice is a metal colour, but I’ve seen copper based ones (Ultra Wire) in a variety of colours, including black. The advantage of wire is that it is easy to pose, while threads and plastic based ones can be fairly rigid.
regards,
Jack
I’ve seen plastic tubing of many different sizes sold by the foot off of bulk spools at Home Depot, and other hardware stores. Cheap!
I use insulated electronics wiring, which comes in a number of gauges. It is commonly called hookup wire. Many fuel hoses were black, and black is a very common color in hookup wire, but it comes in others too. If you have any junk electronics, don’t throw it away without salvaging the stuff inside. Take out any transformers, too. Strip them down and they contain fine bare or varnished very fine wire, hard to get these days. Telephone and computer cables also contain insulated wires, good for hoses and stuff like that.
LEGO !
Yes LEGO !
They have many forms and sizes of tubing you can use .Go to www.Lego.com and click on parts, this will enable you to find this tubing .They use it in Duplos and Technic as well as the regular LEGO SETS .
Now you can get it smooth or rippled . I hope this helps . The other thing is electrical wiring the right outside diameter .Then Cut the length you need .Now here’s the kicker ! Do you need a hollow look on the end ? Then pull on the plastic insulation till you have an open appearing end . Nip off the wire on the other end and go for it !
I second Don. I wondered why you wanted tubing, specifically, unless you needed to show the end of a hose, without any coupling, nozzle, etc. I would use insulated electrical wire. You can shape it as necessary, and it can be painted easily enough.
And as Don says, I salvage that material from old electronic equipment, radios, stereos, etc.
Got curious but could not find what you were talking about. Interesting anyway to poke around because I had no idea that had electric motor stuff.
Hi Glenn H .;
I must tell you .None of these LEGO sets are electronic .Just regular sets But they have some interesting tubing . You just have to look for it .Or call LEGO in Connecticut .
Don, That’s what I have done- saved all the wiring from Junk. I even saved some Fiber-optic cables for future use. I had easy access to it thru my job. I had the idea of stripping-out the wire on some really small-guage stuff and using the insulation to show an open pipe/hose.