Finally after having way too much time away from my Mustang I could finally get back into it. So I left off working on the ignition harness. The wires on the real Merlin were silver braided cables which is odd to scale down. At first I tried using elastic, strangely enough, from an old pair of underwear. Just a side note: Sometimes as a scratchbuilder you have to explore some pretty strange options to find materials. The elastic didn't have the right pattern and once it was painted it become too stiff and the paint cracked off. So scratch that idea. I found a roll of metallic thread buried away in my work bench, but it had a slight problem. Once I cut it, the three strands that made up the thread separated. To fix this, I coated the thread in CA to bond the strands and could then cut some pieces that would stay together. Now, the pattern on this thread isn't quite the same as the real Merlin, but it is quite similar. And the natural color of the thread means it doesn't have to be painted.
I'll install the harness soon, but for now here are a few more pictures of the the oil and fuel lines going into place. Before you start a task like this, let me assure you that it is indeed a tremendous pain in the stabilizer, but well worth the effort. If you didn't read my last post, the lines are made from two sizes of Ook hanging wire available at any hardware store and for just a couple of bucks. The really big line in the picture below is made from a jumbo paper clip.
The little nubs representing the fitting on the ends of the lines, as seen below, were created with a blob of JB weld that, once hardened, was sanded flat on two sides. Silver Testors paint matches the natural aluminum color of the wire, which makes it great for hiding any mistakes or glue that may have leaked out of the joints.
What gauge Ook wire was used for the lines?
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