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Lead Wire Pipes/Cables?


TeaWeasel

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Seen a number of projects which have used lead wire to represent various wires/cables and pipes, such as the example below:

 

post-4217-1287522040.jpg

 

I'm looking at trying something like this for my TSR-2 project but wouldn't know where to begin. How does one get started with something like this, and how do they make it so consistent when the cables are in clumps?

 

Cheers all,

Joe

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First thing to do is find good lead wire. I've seen some on sale of various sizes, since I'm not in the UK I'll leave it to the locals to suggest dealers.

Lead is a great material for this as it is much easier to bend compared to other materials (like copper from electric wires).

My personal approach is to bend the cable in place but before gluing it. If possible I previously drill a hole where the pipe will enter the fuselage or wing. When it's time to glue the pipe in place, I glue it from the inside. Sometime of course it is necessary to glue the pipe on the surface of the wheel well or whatever structure you're detailing, in this case I like using a CA glue with a long setting time, so to have time to adjust the position if needed,

Bundles for me are always a pain... the best technique I've found is to prepare them on low-tack adhesive tape, so to be able to arrange pipes together without them going all over the plane. Then I add some CA glue to keep them together in a number of points before removing the tape.

For the "clamps" that keep the pipe in a bundle together, I use very thin plasticard or sometime even strips of aluminum tape (that is very thin yet strong). I always add them in place at the very end and every time my vocabulary gains a few more swear-words......

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On 3/1/2022 at 5:23 PM, TeaWeasel said:

I'm looking at trying something like this for my TSR-2 project but wouldn't know where to begin. How does one get started with something like this, and how do they make it so consistent when the cables are in clumps?

 

 

I use Solder for my "wiring". Easy to shape and it holds the position without bending back. Lead foil is excellent for making small clamps, etc.. The Solder comes in a variety of gauges and I use the smaller of the sizes available.

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Fly Tying wire is lead wire and available in various widths, and much much cheaper than buying it as "modelling wire" in bags of a metre for a three of four quid.  The last time I bought fly-tying wire, it was a quid or two for a 5m+ reel.  Google that up and you'll be sorted PDQ with supplies, just needing to add some skills to make it look good.  Using super glue (CA) and applying the glue with the tip of a sharp blade or loop of wire should help, but not having shaky hands is a bonus :)

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