Idea for cockpit oxygen hoses inside-->

I was a Tonka tech yes, 18 years in the RAF, now working for BAE /RSAF in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. So if you have questions on; Wessex (H-34?), Puma, Tornado, Hawk, Strikemaster or Pilatus PC-9's, I'm your man.
Yes the guitar wires are very stiff and one or two will last you forever. I don't play ,but we had some guys out here running a group & I used to scrounge the broken strings! See, this can be a cheap hobby, just depends how you keep your eyes open!

Guitar strings are great, I agree. I just don't play often enuff to wear 'em out or break 'em!


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Don't worry albertsponson, I'm with you. I worked A-4's, F-4's & F-18's. Similar type hoses. I was just unsure how flexable the strings were. I do know a guitar player, so I'll try the strings. Are you a Tornado tech?

looks like I'm talking at cross purposes with you guy's. You're on about coiled hoses, as used on semi rigs for brakelines between the tractor & trailer?
I've not seen that sort of hose used on aircraft, but the easiest way to do them is just to use fuse wire, wrap it around a cocktail stick or paintbrush handle then carefully slide it off. Other wire works well too, depends how flexible you want it to be, try telephone wire too.
I was talking about oxygen hoses as used between the ejection seat & the pilot's mask. On British seats at least they are always of a convoluted type, that is, the internal hose has a wire wound around it to stop it collapsing, this is then covered with a fabric in ( most often) green, though I have seen black.
As I said, guitar wire, when painted up, looks very close to convoluted hose
and retains whatever shape you make it.

at this moment I use maskol from humbrol only I have enough of it but in the past I also used latex wich you can find in any good craftsore

rob

okay, I'll expand on the technique, i work on military aircraft so I know it looks good. steel guitar wire comes in various sizes, ask around, someone you know may play one and the strings break at times, they throw them away!, the fools!
failing that, have a look in your local music shop, it's not expensive. Say you only want a hose thats 3/8 inch long. Take a six inch piece, bend the end to a curved shape around a paintbrush handle (& they usually taper so you can get exactly what you want) when you're happy, cut it off with snips.
To attach it to the crewman you may have to drill a hole in his mask and use a superglue, same at the other end, so make it slightly longer than needed.
Paint it black/brown or green, depending on type, and there you are, a convoluted oxygen hose.
The wires are also great for detailing engine bays, wheel bays, cockpits, model cars and military vehicles, the list is almost endless.
Have fun!

"you can certainly use latex as long as it is type the craftworkers uses for pastercasting" - robvandodewaard
What do you use?

Jridge,

Nope, unfortunately it's not readily available to most folks. My Dad worked in the aerospace industry, and this stuff was used in some of the systems they made to cool electronics and for other stuff as well.

It started off as very small diameter tubing (which is great for gun barrels and blast tubes and such), they used it both in that form and finned. There's a micro-welder or soldering machine that wraps this steel ribbon around the tube and welds or solders it on at the same time. Really cool stuff, but I'm afraid I don't know much about how it all works. But that's not relevent, I guess!

Anyhoo, I mentioned it because somewhere I have tons of this stuff and if anyone was interested I could send a bit off to them.


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I tried this idea many years ago and it didn't work. Ordinary household lightbulb filiments are too fragile. They crumble to dust while you try to work with them. I did obtain a few filiments from heavy industrial lighting where I used to work. These were much stronger. It would be very expensive to get bulbs like that now as twenty years ago they cost about $250 each. I got mine free as the bulbs were broken during shipping.

OK - more quesitons:

albertsponson: What letter or scale string do you use for 1/48 scale? Also , I'm interested in how well the string bends and retains it's shape.

blackwolf: Is the finned cryostat tubing available to us common folks? I searched google w/o success.

Apprecxiate the help....

Jim

I'm fortunate that I have access to tons of finned cryostat tubing which comes in a few different sizes, good for 48th & Braille Scale.


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you can certainly use latex as long as it is type the craftworkers uses for pastercasting

robvandodewaard, by "Liquid rubber", do you mean latex? I like the idea, as it would give the rubberized hoses, well, rubber!

albertsponson, what kinds of bends can you get with short lengths of guitar string? Most O2 hoses have enough slack to form almost a 90 degree bend, don't they? Any aircrew out there? uscusn?

just use guitar wire's, they even come in different scales!

sorry I forgot to mention that make it flexible the core needs of course to be removed

rob

try using fine copper wire wrapped around wire of the right diameter then coat it with liquid rubber let it dry and paint it in the wanted color and then you have a flexible oxygen hose

How durable is the filament?