On eBay there is all sort of tools, some of them you can find them under weird descriptions.
For my needs this one did the trick very well.
Do not be fooled by the size, it is amazingly powerful, and the compilation of those two factors made me to buy it.
It does perfect work about heat string tubes, even for large ones in diameter.
And also works well about preheating the PCB of many layers, so to unsolder at easy electrolytic capacitors, even with a common soldering iron.
It does not come cheaply, but it does work great, I got it in August 2010, up to date still great and thankfully it is not a toy.
In the third picture there is one personal addition, one metallic clip that serves as hanger.