I have just finished building the Woodland Scenics Deisel Refueling Facility for my Grand Truck layout. I was having difficulty in getting the black tubing supplied in the kit to look and hang naturally, instead of just being a big loop. I have a wide variety of wire that I keep on hand and I found a thin guage that slid right into the tubing. I guled one end onto the pump handle and slowly shaped the tubing. After a few trial and errors, it finally looked good.
I hope this is something that came help anyone with similar projects.
Greg
Greg,
How 'bout posting a picture of it?
I have the Walthers diesel fueling facility. The kit came with 16 or 18ga insulated stranded wire for the hosing. The stranded wire made it easy to bend and position in place.
Tom
That sounds like it would work better than what I used back in the 80’s. That was heavy black thread weighted with glue.
A trick I use when building model cars to make the radiator hoses look real is to slip a length of heat shrink tubing over the plastic part. It is made of rubber and nothing looks as good as the real thing. it may be something to try here.
Dan
Another alternative is to use solder for the hoses. It’s malliable and you can shape it to look very good as a hose. Paint it black or oily brown and leave the end unpainted to simulate a nozzle.
I like large solid copper wire that has black insulation. Sometimes I use a plumbing pipe or something as a mandrel to get just that smooth bend.
I have a supply of women’s elastic hair bands. (Shhhh…) These come in all colors, have a circular cross-section, and are very pliable without trying to snap back to their original shape.
My wife caught me the other day using a make up brush during weathering. Fortunately it wasnt from her stack of Lady stuff or I would be punished for certain.
Once in a while I get some strange looks while looking at make-up brushes at Wal-Mart. Many people have no idea that they make excellent MR tools. I didn’t even think about the hair bands idea. I’ll have to check that out.
Please tell us that you weren’t using it to apply makeup, too… [:D]
I never thought of that! Great idea! Thanks.
“Punished”, hmmmm? Would that mean, like, a spanking? [:-,]