Hi all, I was trying to think of alternative means of making radio antennas other than messing with that (potentially dangerous) stretched sprue buisness, and I was wondering if fishing line (the plastic kind, not that braided stuff) would be a good idea? It comes in varying thicknesses and you can cut it to any length you want, you just have to paint it so it's not clear or green or whatever color it happens to be. Has anyone else tried this before? Also, how long should I cut the line for a 1/35th modern US vehicle such as an Abrams or Humvee?

I guess it would work if it was a flimsy antennae, because the stuff is pretty flimsy, good thinking Chris

Stiff fishing line is fine! I prefer wire.

A proper length for US antennas is about 9 feet -- that's about 9 cm or 3.2 inches. US antennas increase by 3 feet per section, so you might also see 12-foot or 15-foot poles.

Their is a company called Minimecca, they make 1/72nd & 1/35th antennas. They come with a base, that can be removed if you'd like and cut to length. There is only place I get them from Discountmodels.com. They come 5 to pack, I like using them, save s a lot of time & headaches.

Just cut some small wire or fishing line to about 78.4mm to equal 9 feet.

You could try guitar strings. The wire type G, B, E should give some choice. There must be a budding Jimmy Page in your life somewhere :-)

Guitar strings are a good way to go. I got a set of them for about 3 bucks (because you really don't care what quality they are since you won't be playing them).

Also fine wire as mentioned, Accurate Armor sells carbonfibre rods which look promising, Formations has US WW2 antenna in resin bases with the wires mounted (very nice product).

That gives you some options.

I thought of fishing line since I have plenty of it handy (I like to go fishing as one of my other hobbies). The trick now is determining which diameter of line to use.

If you can score some, straight lengths of Nickel-Titanium wire are perfect as the can bend past 90 degrees and return to straight.

If you have a music shop or such near you, you can ask for the off-cuts of guitar string they may have after they have strung (stringed?? I know nothing about musical instruments, other than that the strings make good aerials... :-) ) guitars.

Cheers
Henk

9 feet is correct for vehicle mounted antennas. the height of 12-15 feet would be for stationary antennas but, the height of the stationary antennas is dependent on the wattage of the radios being used the more wattage, the lower the antenna, the less wattage, the higher the antenna. It also depends on how the radios are being used. I can remember setting my units radios up and that using a stationary antenna @ 15 feet in height and using the wire element in an inverted V. For vhehicle antennas, Details Assoc makes brass wire of different diameters. for Stationary antennas, Evergreen plastic rod cut in 48 in lengths will work for the poles. For the wire elements, brass wire will work-4 elements at the top angled downward. In my unit the sop was 4 pieces to each element-48 inches total. Fishing line will work for the guy wires for a total of 8 guy wires per stationary antenna-4 guy lines at the top and 4 guy lines at the middle of the antenna
Ch

My LHS does a lot of RC aircraft. They sell wire there that is perfect. Paino wire would also work. Greg

I use brass rod. It also comes in various thicknesses. Its super easy to measure then cut with nippers. Glue it in place with CA glue.

Chris,

Do you own a cat? I know...strange question. We have two cats and occasionally one or two whiskers will fall out. They make perfect radio antennas. No joke.
If you can't find any that have fallen off just get your tweezers, put on a thick heavy jacket, hold that sucker down and .... just kidding.

BillK.

You should leave that pussy alone!


Chris

Another trick that goes relatively well for me is to used those little plastic precints that come with the clothes tags. The have almost the perfect wide and length for an antenna.
Glue it with CA to the model, and voilà!

Cheers

also a good source is a plastic broom.nobody is going to miss a couple of potentialy great plastic antannas :-)

I find that guitar strings work pretty well for me - and I have a constant free source of them (which helps!).

i used fishing line for antennas on my m20, it worked great as i bent them all the way back and tied them down and the fishing line didnt try pulling back up but looked like it was under stain. other than that ive tried everything else from wire to sprue but the cat whiskers are a new one :-)

I second, third or fourth (wherever it is now) the notion of using guitar strings.

Me too. Works perfectly. Especially if you leave just a wee bit of the coil around the bottom.

anti-hero, I was going to mention cat whiskers also and I saw that you already had. I first heard of it years ago when I was reading an article in the old Military Modeler magazine.

I would give it a try but I am allergic to cats!

HARV

Hobby shops that deal in RC aircraft often stock various thicknesses of "piano wire" - inexpensive, very strong, very thin & hard to cut. I use it on all my models.

I have a huge spool of very fine wire that I use. Look at some of the pics of my models and see what it look likes. I'd be glad to send you some to try if you like. Just PM me.