Leak on shower radiator pipes (odd installation)

[doesitmatter]

Hey all, long time lurker and you guys have helped me lots but I'm a bit miffed here as it's past my confident knowledge.

I bought my first house and the towel radiator has a really odd system.
Instead of just coming straight into the radiator, the central heating pipe goes past the connector, then comes up at a right angle, does another right angle into a straight radiator valve, a radiator tail, then female to male radiator towel rail elbow.

It leaked since I moved in and when the radiators were drained for a solar thermal installation, I (over) confidently took the bits apart, cleaned them, bought a new radiator tail (same as the one in the image) and put it all back in place.

I thought the radiator tail would screw in fully, it doesnt (as you can see), which is where it drips a small amount but I hoped the PTFE tape would do the job. It hasnt.
A thin layer or water is also present on the excessive PTFE taping (ha) but I'm not so worried about that.

Any advice?
Should I do a better job with my PTFE (it's clearly not great as I expected it to screw in properly but is better), change the radiator tail (do they do shorter screw length ones or a better one?), or rethink the whole installation because whoever did it was on something which might be a bit of fun?

 

[foxhole]

Original pipe work was probably for a different size rad and modified to fit that one. I prefer gas tape , thicker, only needs 1 1/2 wraps.Never leaked on me.

 

[terryplumb]

Take it apart ,run PTFE tape clockwise (around 15 turns) then apply a smear of LSX .put it back together. You don't need PTFE tape on the left hand union.
To be frank ,it looks a right dog ,I would re plumb it !

 

[doesitmatter]

@foxhole, never thought about gas tape. Thanks for the info.

@terryplumb, thanks! I did 6 clockwise turns as I kept reading people saying that going above that was too much. Never heard of LSX. V new to DIY plumbing. Cheers for the info about the union, too.
Will check the bank balance for the replumb, ha, as the electric shower is a real dogs dinner of leaks, so that's a priority with a professional and I dont (yet) trust myself with DIY replumbs!

Tbh, I think the person who sold it 'did it up' to make it look like it didnt have problems, when in reality it does. Still, not awful for a 110 year old home.