Straight stacks

[Gary Austin]

Hello everyone does anyone have any ideas on how to make straight stacks? 

[vincen47]

I hear ya. Everyone loves a good set of straight pipes, but we have to resort to the aftermarket or making them ourselves. There’s a couple guys that make and sell them using aluminum tubing, but the problem is getting the bend to not kink and still have a sharp enough bend that it looks realistic. You can use a tubing bender, but the only ones I’ve seen with a smooth bend don’t have a sharp enough bend, especially on the larger diameter pipes. So…I used a hybrid with 1/4” aluminum tubing from K&S and 1/4” plastic elbows from Plastruct.

The elbows were painted with Molotow and the straps are strips of BMF. Then, weathered, but you could polish the aluminum instead, of course.

The price is right. 1/4” makes a scale 6” stack in 1/24 and a 6 1/4” stack in 1/25.

They also make adapters that take the scale 6” pipe down to a smaller diameter to match up with the stock kit exhaust outlet y-pipe.

If you want fatter pipes, Plastruct makes a 3/8” elbow as well, putting them at 9” and 9.38” respectively. That’s the look, alright. 

You could use plastic tubing for the straight part as well, but the thickness of the pipe wall at the visible top end would be too much to be realistic (in most cases), but I suppose it could be thinned down by drilling it out and sanding.

I also had a 1/24 scale 8” set made in turned aluminum for my current build, from Mark Cherry at MCA aluminum. He’s the only aftermarket guy I know that makes them correctly, in my opinion.

I’m sure there’s other ideas out there, too. I’m curious myself how others have made them.

Edited February 24, 2022 by vincen47

[Gary Austin]

Thank you for responding back to my question I appreciate it. It sounds like the way you do it is the best and easiest way. I was wondering if you could answer this question.  I see that Casey offers frame extensions but I am a little thrown off by the fact that it says for Peterbilt Snap kit. Just wondering where the  snap comes from. I am trying to stretch the 359 Peterbilt frame by Revell. Thank you for your time and stay safe.

[plastic trucker]

Revell also makes a snap kit of the 359 Pete and the W900 Kw.

[DRIPTROIT 71]

I do the same thing as Vince except I make my elbows. I use solid Evergreen stryrene and heat it over a small t-light candle to make bends. Make sure that you get it hot enough before trying to bend or it will kink. I sometimes use it for the entire stack and drill out the end especially if it will have a turnout at the top. It was recommended on another forum to use stainless drinking straws like you can get at Micheal’s for stacks, but I haven’t personally tried that yet.

[Gary Austin]

Thank you both for responding to the questions that I posted very useful information.  Do you think in your opinion that the frame extension would work on the glue peterbilt?

[vincen47]

3 hours ago, Gary Austin said:

Thank you both for responding to the questions that I posted very useful information.  Do you think in your opinion that the frame extension would work on the glue peterbilt?

Possibly. I can’t say for certain unless I had the Revell of Germany 359 kit to compare it to. I bet another member on here has both kits built and could take measurements of the completed frames. I believe the frame rails themselves are a little different, with the snap kit not having a full C-channel. But, it may be possible to adapt it.

The more popular “snap” 359 was originally from Monogram, and it has the small sleeper (though most people glue the parts together) and the “glue” 359 was originally from Revell of Germany, or RoG as many call it, and it has the larger sleeper, along with many more parts, opening doors, greater detail, etc. The one I built in the photo above is the snap kit. It’s a good kit, and has a lot of potential. I haven’t built or purchased the RoG 359, but plan to eventually.