Best way to model curved tube?

Imagine the following part:

A steel tube, 1.00 square x 72 inches long. A series of five holes
drilled all the way through on the front face, and another series of
three holes drilled through on the top face. Then, the tube is formed
to a radius of 100 inches (axis top to bottom... front & back faces
are curved).

I'd like to model this in a way that is easy to change as
size/radius/hole
count changes. Here's what's important:

Tube true length (the true arc length of the tubing after it's formed
to a
curve)
Radius
Number of holes (both on the radiused face and on the top (flat) face)

I'm fine with creating the tube and setting up variables for arc
length &
radius, but the holes give me a problem. I'm not sure of the best way
to
put those on--the ones on the radiused face.

An option that I like would be to model the tube straight (before
bending),
then bend the model on the radius. I'm not sure how to do that... I
tried
with sheetmetal tools, but it didn't work. If I did it that way, I
could
show a drawing view that's the unbent tube w/ all dimensions, then a
secondary view of the curved tube.

So, anybody here have advice on a good way to do this? Anybody want
to
model something quickly? I appreciate your help/advice. Thanks...

Brian

 

I think I got something for you.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?F2F3323C6
I used sheetmetal.

Corey Scheich

 

Sorry I had used the wrong K-Factor so i deleted the origional link
http://makeashorterlink.com/?X344223C6
there is the new one

Corey Scheich

 

If you're using SW2004 then you could try the new deform feature, which
should make madelling things like that pretty simple. It's a bit od to sue
at first, but maybe you can make something of it!

Not sure if I understand the shape you want properly!

Good luck