Generic Air brakes & plumbing

[rwaldram]

as an indirect reply to a question i was asked earlier, check out this link for diagrams for air brakes and control valves

Here's a layout for Meritor WABCO valves

The details for what each number is can be found via the following link
www.meritorwabco.com/brakecontrolvalvesfortrucks.asp

Also, here's a layout of a typical Bendix Brake setup for both trucks and trailers

[plastictrucker]

what size wire would one use?Been wanting to try it sometime.

[plastictrucker]

I guess I should of read the other post about breaks before I asked.

[rwaldram]

plastictrucker said:

what size wire would one use?Been wanting to try it sometime.

After extensive searching through unpacked boxes i finally found my parts box. I had a reasonable amount of the thin black hollow vinyl tube that revell (and occasionally AMT) include with their truck kits so i've just used that.

[dieseldoc]

Hmmmmm........ That finger print on that second pic looks awefully familiar. Glad to see some one has gotten some use out of it besides me. I posted that one a long time ago at MTDG. as for as the largest out side diameter wire to use. No larger than .030 and this will be for the main air lines (supply) the rest are smaller. The smallest wire for an air line would be about .005 and this would be for a spliter valve or heating and A/C controls.

[rwaldram]

dieseldoc said:

Hmmmmm........ That finger print on that second pic looks awefully familiar. Glad to see some one has gotten some use out of it besides me. I posted that one a long time ago at MTDG.

so now we have your finger print... who wants to go to the bank

[Spider]

Don't get me wrong, the detailing with all the lines and stuff is cool but is really worth it unless you are going to display in a way that it is seen? I've done fuel, cooling, and electrical detailing in cars and for the most part, it is never seen. I like doing it as a challange when building but not sure it justifies the time and exspense. I haven't done much of anything with truck kits yet, due to the fact that I'm basically ignorrant in the truck area. I don't know squat about big rigs in the tech department. Also, there doesn't seem to be near as much available in truck detailing as with car stuff.
I'm not putting down detailing at all, some of what I've seen here looks fantastic.
I only wonder partly because when I built my Alaskan Hauler kit, I went through a lot of time to make the engine look nice and in the end found that I can not even tip the front end to see the engine. That sucks but to correct this would be a major dismantaling and fabrication process that I'm not willing to do with the truck and chance messing up what turned out nicely otherwise. Maybe sometime I will do some brake line detailing but I need to get a good look at some 1:1 trucks to see exactly where lines attach and such.

[dieseldoc]

spider007 said:

Don't get me wrong, the detailing with all the lines and stuff is cool but is really worth it unless you are going to display in a way that it is seen? I've done fuel, cooling, and electrical detailing in cars and for the most part, it is never seen.
I'm not putting down detailing at all, some of what I've seen here looks fantastic.

I agree with you to a point. The best trucks for super detailing would be the Cab Overs (COE) as these can be displayed with the cabs tilted and one can see everything. There are very few conventional truck kits out there where once there built the hoods don't open. One being the Revell Alaskan Hauler and the other that comes to mind is the Revell Can Do wrecker and with this one it is because the front fender mud flaps interfear with the chrome trim on the air cleaners, a simple fix if you know about it ahead of time.

[78KW]

dieseldoc said:

spider007 said:

Don't get me wrong, the detailing with all the lines and stuff is cool but is really worth it unless you are going to display in a way that it is seen? I've done fuel, cooling, and electrical detailing in cars and for the most part, it is never seen.
I'm not putting down detailing at all, some of what I've seen here looks fantastic.

I agree with you to a point. The best trucks for super detailing would be the Cab Overs (COE) as these can be displayed with the cabs tilted and one can see everything. There are very few conventional truck kits out there where once there built the hoods don't open. One being the Revell Alaskan Hauler and the other that comes to mind is the Revell Can Do wrecker and with this one it is because the front fender mud flaps interfear with the chrome trim on the air cleaners, a simple fix if you know about it ahead of time.

Hey Doc, that quick fix you mentioned, does it involve relocating the little step molded on the rear of the front fender? I think it's molded at the very bottom edge, and it should be up a little bit. Then again, the step is an option, and could be removed. Or is there another fix?

[rwaldram]

flatbedkw said:

dieseldoc said:

I agree with you to a point. The best trucks for super detailing would be the Cab Overs (COE) as these can be displayed with the cabs tilted and one can see everything. There are very few conventional truck kits out there where once there built the hoods don't open. One being the Revell Alaskan Hauler and the other that comes to mind is the Revell Can Do wrecker and with this one it is because the front fender mud flaps interfear with the chrome trim on the air cleaners, a simple fix if you know about it ahead of time.

Hey Doc, that quick fix you mentioned, does it involve relocating the little step molded on the rear of the front fender? I think it's molded at the very bottom edge, and it should be up a little bit. Then again, the step is an option, and could be removed. Or is there another fix?

One trick i used on a few models with similar problem was the plastic hinges designed for RC Aircraft, they're fairly small and due to being plastic can be shaped, glued, painted etc without much hassle. The other alternative, is buy the vinyl mud flaps from WFE or DMTW, that way your mud flaps will naturally flex and prevent this problem anyway.

[okdoky]

Hi there folks

I have not been a fan of plubing too much, firstly cause I only learned to drive them and not to fix them so my detail knowledge of what goes to where and what it does is patchy at best.

Given the fact that the DROPS without Flat rack loaded is just a very open chassis I have got a big learning curve ahead of me.

How do you guys replicate the junction boxes, valves and t pieces etc without resorting to tonnes of white metal purchases. Especially the susie connectors. I will have to get the trailer susies figured out soon. I have used black thread on the King trailer plumbing so far but I aint happy with the finish on these . I also don't know if they will accept the paint too well either.

Any one got close ups what they use?

Nige

[rwaldram]

okdoky said:

How do you guys replicate the junction boxes, valves and t pieces etc without resorting to tonnes of white metal purchases. Especially the susie connectors. I will have to get the trailer susies figured out soon. I have used black thread on the King trailer plumbing so far but I aint happy with the finish on these . I also don't know if they will accept the paint too well either.

Nige

Nige, get onto the KFS website, they have a generic 'air valve coupling set' listed in the metalsection that includes around 15-20 parts for various uses throughout the brake system. They also offer a chassis wiring pack in their special supplies section.

With the issue of the paint taking, try to get your hands your hands onto some metal primer (Tamiya used to do one in an aerosol can) that works well. Use the same sort of glue for these as you would resin.

[tabletoptrucker]

I have for years used Electronic Solder for airlines. the very thin stuff which I just measured that I have is .03 diameter.
It conforms and bends better then anything I have tried to use before.

I will roll out a couple of feet of it under a ruler to get it straight, then work in sections so that I can route bundles together and hold them together with a touch of AC on the backside that will be against the frame. If im going with a Black frame, I will just set the plumbing into its final place and paint it with the frame. if Im doing a different color frame, then I get everything into "Close Fit" then carefully remove each section to be painted.

Depending where the line terminates, If I can see it from outside the model I use the white metal or brass AN Fittings to represent a plumbing nut, If its unseen by the human eye I just drill a hole into the part.

I predrill every hole with a .031 (#68) drill in a pinvise. depending on the part being drilled, it either goes in as deep as it will go or just enough to make a cup in the material so that the solder at least goes in a little bit into the part.

If im going to remove it for the paint stage, I make sure every hole is clean and the solder slides in cleanly, put everything in place, make sure it looks right, make any glue points to hold it all together, let that set up, then with a tweasers, just pull the solder out of the part so that its not inside the hole, but just resting on its edge.

After I have painted the lines, I take a QTip swab, roll it between my fingers to compact it, dip it in what ever cleaner is appropriate to the paint and clean the ends that will go inside the parts. After the frame or parts are painted, I then go back with the .031 drill and clean the holes of any paint.

I have been very satisfied with how the solder looks when installed and in my opinion, its tensile strenght allows it to be worked, yet hold where you have shaped it to go without much effort.

Hope this helps.

Robert