Great pics Liam.
I found a brake pipe making tool to be a good investment many years ago, roll of Kunifer pipe and various fittings and you're good to go, it didn't work out much cheaper than a trade price for pipes but more than paid for itself with convenience and time saved.
Luckily i haven't needed to get so involved in more recent years, my old Merc (now 21) did need a new pipe across the top of the rear subframe (nasty job) a couple of years ago but it was with my MB indy for the MOT/service and he did the business, and the odd flexi thats needed changing over the years has come undone without issues.
When that Merc is sold will be the last European car i have, i've never needed to put any new brake pipes on any Japanese built car i've owned, though i do go in for extensive rustproofing when i buy them and i service the brakes annually so, in theory at least, they shouldn't need changing.
It's took me many years to finally admit what i learned as a kerbside cowboy some 30/40 years ago, that proper Japanese cars don't let you down in the same way as so many European makes or have such short useful lives ( they don't make cars like 106/205/309/405 any more cos they lasted too long and could be fixed as you are proving), though Japanese cars need careful buying used because some people seem to think they need no maintenance or upkeep and many get abused/neglected rotten, the irony being that *well chosen* (there are some to avoid, but you don't go far wrong with Toyota and Subaru) Japanese cars are not only extremely reliable but also a pleasure to work on...mostly that is, we'll skip over spark plug changes on Subaru's at this point..:-)
Funnily enough i took a pic of my lorry dashboard a couple of months ago (sorry no picture account to link to) when it was at 666666, i did murmur a quiet Hail Mary (yes i'm one) as i took the pic, it's now just over 700k and might just click over 800k before it gets replaced, probably at the end of March when it's five years old.
Kind Regards
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