Aerials & Antennas

Something I have used lately rather than streched sprue for antennas is the monofilament from those fibre optic coloured lamps.

It is the same material as fishing line but straighter and stiffer but better still it is the same width all the way along.

Unlike having to heat and stretch sprue this stuff is so much easieIt plays nicely with paint and glue.

Even the small lamps have several metres of the stuff and they can be found in cheapie shops frrom time to time


Dave

i was thinking the same at xmas when the tree was up cos we have one with monofilaments in...........mind you i was also thinking of using it to light something with

for antenna i have used the cats whiskers before (which have dropped out of course )

What an interesting idea...

Cats Whiskers

I'm just taking my Lurcher for a walk

Simon

I really have bad thoughts about someone chasing the wifes cat around with a pair of scissors now . But all that aside, I would offer what I usually use for the past several years. That is brass rod. It is cheap, and does a good job for me. It is tough and rugged and doesn't ever do the shrink/shrivel/curlyque thing if it accidentally gets to close to a small heater vent fire or other unintended heat source.

But take note that quite a lot of the antennas, especially German WWII were specific lenghts. And were not the same thickness, but were thicker at the base and tapered to a point. If you are not all that concerned about such things then brass rod, stretched sprue, or even "someones" whiskers is alright. But there is also always the aftermarket guys to think about.

Gary

Years ago I got my hands on some guitar strings. They were metal, came in different thicknesses and the real thin ones were good for aerials. Thin as they were they were very stiff and surprisingly difficult to bend. This was quite a few years ago and I don't know if they still make em like that.

BTW anyone want to buy a broken guitar? No strings attached.

The monkey with the guitar
JT

Jokes like that John, you're never getting out of the naughty corner.

Simon

I take no responsibility for scratches & bites any modeller receives from the family cat when trying to get whiskers to use.

It is not a safe past time plucking cat's whiskers

.
..... brass is good,
if you stretch spreuce...... Remember to hold you breath...... melting styrene is a carcinogen.

Mike

3-4 years ago I found some packaged antenna wire..........Brand name is Minimeca and it was 1:35 scale....

Discount Models carries it (Minimeca #3501 antenna stainless wire with base)...........IIRC Minimeca also has some fine stainless wire without bases

discountmodels.com

HTH