Harley build, brass frame.

G'day all,
Here is my first bike build, a slow going project.
Working from an Imai Harley Springer and some sports bike parts to make a reasonable bike. The frame I made from brass and the wheel rims and tires are from a sports bike (Honda NR from memory) with scratch-built centers. Still a long way to go, all advice on what I should do appreciated.

This looks really interesting. Looking forward to seeing this one come together.

Welcome to the forum "DocWatson".... Like what you're doing with this Bobber so far, so I'll be keeping my on it's progress.
If you so wish please visit "General Chit Chat" and post a pic of yourself and your real name, just so all the rest of us can
"meet you" so to speak. Look forward to seeing more of your work.

"Jezza" (Jerry)

Hi Doc. Welcome. That's looking pretty cool. I've never used brass. Can you solder it with a standard little soldering iron? Or do you need something a bit hotter.

Stuart Wallace wrote:Hi Doc. Welcome. That's looking pretty cool. I've never used brass. Can you solder it with a standard little soldering iron? Or do you need something a bit hotter.

Hey there Stuart, don't mean to butt in, but I used to solder brass tube into tin when making fuel tanks for my flying model planes.
A standard hobby iron with a tiny bit of soldering flux is ok. I've even made exhausts from coat hanger wire... Soldered underneath
so its not visible.

Yes, Jezza is right. A standard size soldering iron is what I use. I avoid flux cored solder as it can be difficult and use thin solder with a fine amount of flux. Once finished I always wash and rinse what I have built and dry it off. Working with small brass tube and trying to get the solder right through the joint can be fiddly but there are some things to make it easier.
Draw up a plan of what you want to build, lay that under a sheet of glass (Shown).
Form the joint to fit as well as possible, just like 1:1, I use jewelers files.
Hold the tubing in place with tweezers or alligator clips. I try to start a 'base' part to work from by building it flat on the glass. You can tape or use blu-tack to hold the brass in place.
Pre-heating the joint helps the solder run through it easier so less is used. Don't worry if you get a bit too much in there it happens, just file it out rather than trying to re-solder.

PS, Excuse the half/half 32 body I got the two halves in a spares box so.........

I'm liking that dragster "Doc"!... but why do you use brass tubing over "Evergreen" or sprue?... is it for strength?.

Thanks mate!
I like using brass mainly for the strength once built, as well as what it is like to work with. I find with styrene tube it is difficult to shape, yes it bends easy but often does not hold its shape even when heated. Plus gluing can be difficult. I did work in Evergreen styrene tube for a long time but gave the brass a try just to see what it is like. As you can guess I love it!
I never use sprue as it is always over scale for 1/24-5
Scale is no barrier either, apart from the seat (From a NASCAR) this is all scratch built in 1/32 scale.

G'day there "Doc", How do you get such nice bends in the tubing without creasing etc.?