Some aspects of model building are a son of a bitch. Take for instance this dry sump oil system on my 1/8 scale Briggs & Cunningham 1962 Jaguar E-Type Le Mans Racing Coupe model car. I didn’t even know what a dry sump oil system was until I was trying to figure out what this huge aluminum tank was in the real race car. After a lot of research online, part of which was trying to find photos where I could actually see where all these hose go and what they do, I figured it out enough to model it somewhat accurately. In photos of the actual race car, I cannot find a scavenger pump, so I’m leaving it out. I also can’t see where the return hoses come from or go, so I’m leaving them out.
That’s just part of the S.O.B. Finding a reasonable facsimile of those hoses coming from the top head cover–to scale, and something that could be easily bent into a particular shape–was especially challenging. Rubber hose material wouldn’t keep its shape. I tried pieces of house wiring, but it was so hard to bend into shape. I had two pieces that I wrestled with for an hour or so. I gave up in frustration and went shopping for something else. I could’t find any soft wire that was the right gauge to mimic the hoses. I finally found some rubber-wrapped flexible wire cable ties at Home Depot. Even then, it was challenging to get the shapes and lengths just right.
The wire clamps, elbows, and rubber hose were difficult, but not terribly so. I know the brass wire is not terribly accurate, but I do like the look of it.
What you see here is where I’m at prior to adding some black-washing to the nooks and crannies for aging and post-race realism.
The next S.O.B. will be the heavy-duty breaking system on the driver’s side. I’ve been able to find pretty decent reference photos, but scratch-building it out of styrene will be tough. Then there is the matter of running the break lines. Wish me luck.
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