Antennas for armor

knight667

Member since
January 2004
From: Philomath, OR, USA

Posted by knight667 on Thursday, August 26, 2004 11:15 AM

The 1/32 brass wire is a little wide for antenna at 1/35 scale, it turns out. However, the guitar string, once the outside "spring" is stripped off, is perfect! Very flexible, and with the wrapping coiled at the bottom, very realistic looking.

4mm beads are too large for the ball on top of the antenna, it turns out. Probably 2mm would be better, but they're hard to find.

Anyway, thought you all might appreciate the update.

John "The only easy day was yesterday." - US Navy SEALs "Improvise. Adapt. Overcome." - US Marine Corp. "I live each day/Like it's my last/...I never look back" - from "I'm A Rocker" by Judas Priest

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knight667

Member since
January 2004
From: Philomath, OR, USA

Posted by knight667 on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 4:46 PM

Just picked up some 1.372mm (0.054in) phosphor bronze wound guitar string, as well as some 1/32 brass rod. Figured I'd give each one a shot and see how it goes.

John "The only easy day was yesterday." - US Navy SEALs "Improvise. Adapt. Overcome." - US Marine Corp. "I live each day/Like it's my last/...I never look back" - from "I'm A Rocker" by Judas Priest

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styrene

Member since
May 2003
From: The flat lands of the Southeast

Posted by styrene on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 11:59 AM

I strongly second (or third or fourth....) the music wire idea. Music wire has the ability to bend and curve. I've broken off too many antennae made from brass or other wire, simply because they don't have any "give".

If you ever want to bend an antenna over and tie it down, music wire does the trick there, too. And it also gives a nice bowed, under tension appearance.

Gip Winecofff

1882: "God is dead"--F. Nietzsche

1900: "Nietzsche is dead"--God

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Daveash

Member since
October 2003
From: St Helens, England

Posted by Daveash on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 6:23 PM

I use the wire from gardening ties(approx 0.25mm), strip off the plastic covering and then use one strand of copper from a stripped telephone or alarm multicore cable to wrap around the base of the antenna as the spring assembly. A dot of superglue keeps it in place. For the bead on the top, dip the end in white glue and hang it upside down overnight.

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 4:50 PM

call me old fashioned but I just heat up a piece of sprue and stretch it out , works good for me.

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, August 9, 2004 12:45 AM

We recently burned up a couple electric motors at work, now i have a few(!) feet of copper wire to use. Works great.

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clfesmire

Member since
June 2004
From: coastal Maine

Posted by clfesmire on Sunday, August 8, 2004 10:02 PM

It does depend on scale, of course. On 1-72 and 1-87 models I find the individual hairs from a paint brush work pretty good.

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BlackWolf3945

Member since
December 2002
From: Pominville, NY

Posted by BlackWolf3945 on Thursday, August 5, 2004 2:49 AM

I kinda like using cat's whiskers sometimes. They aren't a constant diameter and are usually a bit curved, but they straighten out easily and look A-O-K...

And no I don't yank 'em out... Wink [;)]

Fade to Black...

Steve O. Reno Check Out My Photo Sets on Flickr

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Vinnietbird

Member since
July 2004

Posted by Vinnietbird on Saturday, July 31, 2004 11:27 AM

The best "scale" wire I've seen was (is) at Hobby Lobby.Go look in the floral dept.,and get some floral wire.You can get it in many thicknesses,and for about a dollar,you get about 50 or more 1 foot length wires.It comes in natural metal (silver),and drab green).I think you'll be pleased.

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J-Hulk

Member since
February 2003
From: Tochigi, Japan

Posted by J-Hulk on Thursday, July 22, 2004 10:37 AM

As has been mentioned, guitar string, piano wire, or brass/steel/whatever rod.
These days I've been using brass rod.

~Brian

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dubix88

Member since
March 2003
From: Maine,USA

Posted by dubix88 on Thursday, July 22, 2004 10:05 AM

HEY,
I dont know about armor, but i know for autos, i use just about whatever wire i can find, usually just speaker wire. Twisting it works great if you can twist it enough to make it look like one peice, but guitar strings are great. Good luck and happy hunting.

Randy

THATS MY VOTE "If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base." -Dave Barry In the words of the great Larry the Cable Guy, "GIT-R-DONE!!!"

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, July 22, 2004 12:24 AM

I use .015" piano wire from the LHS. That works out to just over 1/2 inch diameter in 1/35th scale.

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Foster7155

Member since
July 2003
From: Pensacola, FL

Posted by Foster7155 on Wednesday, July 21, 2004 6:51 PM

I normally use stiff brass wire that I picked up at the LHS for my 1/35 builds. It comes in packs of six, one-foot lengths for about $3.50. I normally use the .010" diameter (even though it's a tad overscale) because the smaller diameters are a bit harder to work with.

Enjoy your modeling...

Robert Foster

Pensacola Modeleers

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ewc2003

Member since
June 2004
From: Minnetonka, MN

Posted by ewc2003 on Wednesday, July 21, 2004 6:45 PM

Depends on the scale, but I use twisted 22 gauge wire for mine. I take about half the strands for a 1/72 scale model. Hold one end in a pair of hemostats and the other in a pair of long nose pliers. Spin the hemostats and voila! Antennae. You can cut them for whatever length you need. Here's a pair on a 1/72 scale M3A2ODS I did for a weekend group build...

Matt ------------------------------------------------- "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, July 21, 2004 6:21 PM

You could try old guitar strings of various thicknesses.

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knight667

Member since
January 2004
From: Philomath, OR, USA

Antennas for armor

Posted by knight667 on Wednesday, July 21, 2004 5:55 PM

I've used stretched sprue in the past, but it can be tricky business. Anyone else have any other suggestions?

John "The only easy day was yesterday." - US Navy SEALs "Improvise. Adapt. Overcome." - US Marine Corp. "I live each day/Like it's my last/...I never look back" - from "I'm A Rocker" by Judas Priest

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