Tamiya 1/12 Motorcycle Tubing/Cabling--Prevent Kinks & Tubing Wall Collapses?

[Over The Ponder]

Hi All,

 

I've started building a couple of Tamiya 1/12 bikes as a change of pace.  

 

I've noticed that the black tubing Tamiya supplies to represent cabling/tubing has a tendency to develop collapsed tube walls and kinks when it's bent beyond a gentle curve.  I can sometimes use my tweezers to gently squeeze the tubing to fix these problems, but sometimes that won't work.

 

I'm pretty sure I've installed the tubing correctly; I also straightened the tubing before I used it by hanging it up for a few days with light weights on each end.

 

I'd appreciate knowing if any of you have found a simple satisfactory workaround to this problem.  For example, is there better quality tubing available that doesn't behave the way Tamiya's does?

 

Thanks for all your help.

 

Chris Child

 

 

[krow113]

Fit wires inside the tubing.

Generally I will bin the generic black tubing that somehow represents all of the cables , oil lines , brake lines etc which are not all the same.

[Ade H]

That needs unpacking a little because I have found that it's more difficult than just fitting wires. Which type of wire? How should the vinyl tube be fitted over it without sticking or snagging?

 

Regarding AM options, all of the products for modelling which I have purchased are far stiffer than vinyl, which replaces a small problem with a bigger one. Anglers' fly tying tubing is often recommended, but it looks very soft (which would make sense).

[Malc2]

I'm a big fan of replacing the Tamiya tube with either copper wire or solder, then painted as required.

Copper wire can be stripped from cabling and comes in an infinite choice of diameters.

Solder comes in fewer diameters, but is easier to bend in larger sizes. (coolant tubes).

They can both be bent easily and will hold the bend, rather than plastic or vinyl tubing which will try to strighten.

 

Unless you want clear tube which is a whole other problem!

 

Malc.

[Over The Ponder]

Hi All,

 

Thanks for the replies.  Much to think about.

 

I will try the wire-inside-tubing fix in the next few days--that may be the simplest solution for now.  That's essentially a scaled-down version of what is sometimes done in the 1/1 scale world.

 

I will also experiment with using regular wire.  I certainly have enough of it.  I'm concerned about my ability to consistently drill straight and true holes, but I guess I'll have to keep practicing.  It's always harder than it looks, isn't it?

 

Lastly, I will take a look at the fly tying tubing.  I used to tie my own flies, but I can't recall ever seeing/using thin tubing for that, but there are so many fly patterns out there that I'm not surprised that I may have missed something.  In my experience you can use just about any little bit of anything as part of a fly!

 

Thanks again for your suggestions.

 

Chris

 

 

 

[Mumbly]

I typically use the Tamiya tube for the HT leads, maybe the brake hose if it is a 70s road bike so this tends not to kink as the bends are gentle. 

 

For control cables I use wire wrapping wire which you can get from Amazon.  Braided hose, RB Motion are the business if you are prepared to wait.