How to make a low cost flexible aerial

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phyrephish
King Tiger Commander
King Tiger Commander
Posts: 135
Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2017 10:24 am

How to make a low cost flexible aerial

Post by phyrephish » Thu Mar 30, 2017 10:27 pm

Hi All

Here is a little tip/trick that some may find useful especially if you have a WWII German tank. With the popularity of 360° turret mods, static aerials become a bit of a pain. Aftermarket flexible aerials are available - I tried to buy one. However, once factoring in the cost of shipping and the number of tanks I own the $$ amount was considerable. There had to be a cheap and easy way to make an aerial bend. This is the solution I came up with.

Parts Required:
All the parts should be cheap and available....

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Get hold of:
Hobby Knife & some sandpaper
1.5 mm drill bit
3/64" styrene rod
1.5mm brass spring
Aerial mount

The problem item may be the brass spring. I got the packet shown many years ago from TigerModel. Surely someone knows where to get such spring. If you do please please post here.

Make the Aerial:

For your WWII German panzer you are going to want a 2m aerial - so do the math:
2000mm / 16 = 125mm
So cut a piece of styrene rod 125mm long. Now the aerial is tapered so using your knife and sandpaper taper your rod. It is not that hard and easy to arrive at a decent result.

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The Mount:

Drill a 1.5mm hole through the middle of your mount and carefully cut a 8-10mm length of brass spring.

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Assembly:

Insert your styrene rod half way into the spring

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Insert rod and spring into the mount

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JOB DONE

If you wanted it would not be hard to further detail the assembly with a clamp but I have not bothered.

Once installed your worries of your cannon hitting the aerial or even clumsy persons breaking off your aerial are no more....

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Enjoy
KG
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turrethead51
Kettenrad Driver
Kettenrad Driver
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Nov 26, 2017 10:37 am

Re: How to make a low cost flexible aerial

Post by turrethead51 » Mon Dec 04, 2017 6:50 am

if you have any old car radio cd or cassette player in shed dismantle you will find lots of small return springs

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