Scale Antennas?

[tigeraid]

I'd prefer not to rip through a bunch of my kits trying to find one, so does anyone have an aftermarket source for a 1960s-1970s American car radio Antenna?

I can just use a small piece of wire for the antenna itself of course, but I'm not sure what to make the base out of, if I can't find an aftermarket one...

[klutz_100]

There are defnately aftermarket antenna bases available (Sakatsu, Renaissance are two companies that spring to mind) nut they are generally for modern motorsport cars so may not be suitable.

What does a 60s/70s American antenna base look like? I would'nt have thought that it would be too hard to scratch one - but I could be wrong.

Tang turns some great things out of sprue on his dremmel with a hobby knife for example. Check out his 612 build.

[rsxse240]

post a pic of what you need, and I'll see if I can guide you through it. Antenna bases are really simple, really. it's either round, or rectangular. in most cases they need to be built up on one side, and thinned on the other to create a flat base so the antenna is truly vertical.

here's what I suggest off the bat:

drill a small, vertical hole, just large enough to fit the wire you use for the antenna to fit snugly, where the antenna is supposed to go. with the wire removed, lay some BMF so about 1/4 inch of the area (radius from the hole) is covered. this will be a "protective layer". now make the "flat" part of the base out of some styrene. weather it be rectangular or round, drill a hole right through the center of it that is just big enough for the antenna wire to fit snugly through it. now depending on the top of the base, where the antenna "bolts" on you will have to sand, file, putty the top of the base to shape.

now that the top of the base is the shape you need it, with the antenna wire pressed through the top of the base with about 1/4 inch protruding through the bottom of the top, place a blob of epoxy on the bottom of the top of the base and press it down through BMF and into the hole in the body, which is protected by the BMF so the epoxy won't stick to it. try not to let the epoxy get on top of the antenna base.

now once the epoxy has cured, on the inside of the body, cut off as much of the wire as possible without bending it. now peel the BMF off of the body while gently pulling the wire so the BMF doesn't just tear off around the antenna base.

once the rough antenna assembly is off of the model, you can sculpt the epoxy to the right shape, carefully, so you don't destroy the work you did on the top of the base. once it's all done you will have a fully assembled ready to paint antenna assembly that will just plug into the hole in the fender, and look as accurate as you can make it!

oh yeah, add a drop of super glue to the tip, and hang the antenna upside down so the glue forms the tip, paint it silver, and you're done.

I hope my instructions are clear enough to understand, if not, let me know, I'll do a write up next time I do an older car that needs an antenna.

[tigeraid]

That's perfect rsxe, thanks. And Klutz, I myself am not doing the antenna, I'm walking a customer through doing it via email, and he doesn't have much in the way of patience or skill. I'm sure I could just use a couple of small pieces of styrene tube cut very thinly for the base, but I was hoping for an aftermarket one so he could just order it and glue it on. I see the one Sakatsu has for sale, it's a bit large, for 1/20 scale F1 cars...

[MPWR]

Originally Posted by tigeraid

I'm walking a customer through doing it via email, and he doesn't have much in the way of patience or skill.

That sounds like a challenge. So why exactly are you walking him through it if he lacks patience and skill...?

[tigeraid]

Originally Posted by MPWR

That sounds like a challenge. So why exactly are you walking him through it if he lacks patience and skill...?

I'm hoping not to, which is why I'd rather find an aftermarket one