Scratchbuilding suspension coils

Any idea on how to scratchbuild coil springs? I have a 1:24 Tamiya Land Cruiser VX 80 Limited kits (OOP) and I lost one of the rear coil springs. I have the other one as basis. Anybody have any idea on how I start figuring out how to deal with that problem?

go to HOW TO DEPOSITRY thead at the top of the page and they show u how to make Coil Overs.

To make the whole assembly, you can use some round styrene tubes of the size appropriate, and use the Tutorial Shorty is talking about to make the actual springs. I recently scratch-built all the coil-springs on my 65 Chevelle, and if pictures will aid you, just ask.

find some click action pens and use the springs then take the leftover "trees" or "sprues" from which the molded pieces came with and customize away!

Thanks guys. My current dilemma however, is how to make a real *working* spring. Tamiya made wonderful real spring coils that serve their actual purpose of making a bouncy suspension... I need to find a way to replicate the rear coil I lost.

As an update however, last night I was tinkering with my 3.5" diskettes and found some ruined ones. I took it apart and found that the "spring" for the sliding metal cover for the diskette might serve as a good metal to work on, though it'd be a bit difficult to form.

We'll see :icon16:

Originally posted by jdmaccordian
find some click action pens and use the springs then take the leftover "trees" or "sprues" from which the molded pieces came with and customize away!

Hey... great idea! Maybe I could just widen those springs a bit to fit... we'll see which way is easier :D

the hardware store sells springs about 2mm long and 1 mm wide. Im sure if you win them up tighter, they wont be as wide.

you might as well try the clickey pen trick... i use that spring

I just dismantled a few clickey pens here in the office :icesangel but I find the spring too small. I need to find some way of expanding this :bloated:

There are small springs for RC cars that i have used in the past, they come in varying sizes

How to make Custom Coilovers (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=96402) - by k_dog