They've been doing that for half a century or more in armor modeling. I guess it is easier to teach you to stretch the sprue than it is to attempt to make a slender antenna part. Some old school kits like the former Monogram M48A2 (now reissued by Revell) still have an antenna part provided. It would probably scale out to around the diameter of a baseball bat head in the real world.

I think one of the few armor modeling companies that routinely provide an actual antenna is Revell of Germany. They usually provide a length of stiff wire taped to their instruction sheet.

Hello!

I'd say the reason todo it is you can make a better antena than they could sell you (cheaply). Plus, if you do your own the way they described, it doesn't need cleanup (the mould seam just melts while stretching!). So I think it's a win-win situation here! Good luck with your project and have a nice day

Paweł

They should include metal ones with their PE fret,In some of their kits Dragon does provide decent plastic ones,bu only in some of them

A bottom E-guitar string make a good antenna. Bottom E being the smallest string on a guitar. Super glue it in place, and it appears to be "in scale".

By stretching sprue, you can also achieve the tapered look - though I don't know if that is the type required for the T-55.

regards,

Jack

@caste: stretching sprue is akin to cleaning off nubs from parts or filling in injection sink marks or sanding off molding seams.  You don't have to do any of that if you don't want to.  

But I find it hardly a burden for a company to suggest a way for a modeler how to do a basic task.  You don't pay for them to pre-cut and clean and sand every piece for you do you?

Don't be one of those guys...   I'd rather be stretching sprue than lying under some decrepit "classic" car, trying to fix some leaking gasket, any day!

You've obviously never built a vacuform kit, or any of the short-run injected kits out there.

Ok...thanks guys. I am not trying to be "one of those guys" , I was just wandering how hard it is for a company to make it. I'll certainly try to make it myself.

Cheers...

Why should I make the antenna??

       And because.....

                      Anytime you can learn & add a technique

             to your skill-sets, you can usually expand

              the use of that ability to other areas of

                model building.

                                           SO,

                    The real question here should be,

                 "Why shouldn't  I make that antenna?"

                             It's a Win-Win thing.

                                       Go for it!.

I've made antennas tons of times and believe it or not, they do look realistic than the ones in the kit (if they supplied them). I've seen some antennas in kits that look too thick to look real so I make my own. It's really a matter of choice to the model builder.

castelnuovo

Ok...thanks guys. I am not trying to be "one of those guys" , I was just wandering how hard it is for a company to make it. I'll certainly try to make it myself.

Cheers...

It was probably the first scratchbuilding skill many armor modelers learn. Stretched sprue has a lot of other uses; it can be used to make biplane rigging or the antenna between the cockpit and tail fin. I've made replacement machine gun barrels with it as well as used it to make weld beads.

To make weld beads, I'll score a line with an X-Acto knife and place a thinly stretched sprue. Then I use some liquid cement (often Tamiya extra fine) to glue it down. When the glue makes the sprue soft and malleable, I'll use the tip of the knife to texture the sprue to look like a weld bead.

I practiced on an interior hull of a junk kit before I tried on a real kit.

Funny, I've still not mastered sprue stretching. The few I've done were so likely to break on handling it just take a twist tie, peel off the plastic, and straighten the wire and use that now.

Only problem is I'm afraid someone or me will end up sticking it in their eye if they try to examine the model too close.

I bought a couple lengths of stiff wire, .005" dia., at the LHS for pennies.  Makes a great looking vertical antenna on a tank, and is super easy to use.  Just drill a tiny hole, and put some CA on the end of the wire, and you're done.

@Gamera: The next time you go to stretch some sprue, apply the heat to an area about 0.5 to 1" in width.  Remove from flame, then pull apart slowly for thicker pieces.  Pull apart a tad faster for thin pieces.  

Thanks Roy, I think I just need more practice- I mean might as well, I'm just going to throw the sprue out anyway.

Not all sprues are created equal; some stretch easily and some snap. I have a small, long model box that I put straight lengths of sprue into that I've cut off of various built kits. I chose ones that are rounded, without mold slip steps and that don't have branches or sprue gates.

I've used guitar strings for years. They have different thicknesses for different applications. They have an external winding that makes good stretchie radio/telephone cord and small scale barbed wire. It also provides the spring mount for the antenna with judicious removal. I also use the wire core for grabs, steps & handles. Very sturdy. Paul

Dragon spruefruit works best.

i use really thin wire. i have a dedicated pin vice for drilling holes in antenna molunts and machine gun cooling jackets. picked a bunch up at LHS.

The day I finally learned how to "stretch my own sprue" as a former Forum contributor liked to say, was one of those little triumphs that feels fantastic. I must have pulled several yards of it for future uses. A big lesson learned was that  plastic varies between manufacturers (gee - who woulda thunk?) so some brands are better than others. Now when I snip and clip, I put all the likely looking sprue in a small bag and label it so that I can easily find the plastic that yields those lovely long pulls.

Mike

Wayne,

Where do you get your antenna mounts for Viet Nam era? Where did you purchase your pin vices? I'm not familiar with LHS.

Thanks,

Earl

These are examples of a "pin vise" (used to hold sub miniature drill bits)

www.micromark.com/swivel-head-pin-vise,6730.html

"LHS" means local hobby shop

Thanks Roy,

This hobby is still new to me and I was not familiar with LHS. But now I am.

Thanks a lot,

Earl

I agree with The OP,for the price that we pay for kits,include a wire antena in the kit

I wouldn't pay two pennies for something I could make in 10 seconds. Why would I want a model company to include a wire antenna which I can make better, simpler and cheaper?

castelnuovo

 I was just wandering how hard it is for a company to make it. I'll certainly try to make it myself.

Cheers...

I would guess that the molding method will not produce anything near the scale thickness needed for an accurate looking antenna. I like to use thin brass wire over stretched sprue.

Use guitar strings. They look more realistic and don't break.  I use .011" to .013" strings.  Since I got back to this hobby 2 years ago, I've never thrown out old guitar strings.

Hello!

I always recommend guitar strings, too, but a word of warning is in order here - you need special, stronger cutter to cut those strings. If you use a delicate, sharp cutter to cut the guitar string you'll damage the cutter (been there, done that!), as the material is very hard - a notch will form in the cutter's jaws. Hope it helps, have a nice day

Paweł

Another source of antennas is from the paint box (the household  paint box).  Paint brush bristles are an ideal antenna in shape, and once glued in place, have the right amount of bending ability (but are resistant to accidental permanent bends), and provides that  antenna "whipping" action. Paint it silver, fashion a slightly larger collar at the base out of tubing (I use a portion of a Bic ink pen's translucent tubing), and you're good to go.