antenna help

[smprgumbi]

I seem to have ammassed quite a few LAV-C2 and command amtracks over the past few months but i cant seem to find a good durable material to use for antennas. anyone have any good ideas?

[jb]

I seem to have ammassed quite a few LAV-C2 and command amtracks over the past few months but i cant seem to find a good durable material to use for antennas. anyone have any good ideas?

2lb fishing line. Before using run it through a hot hair straightener, this will get the curl out of it.

[6milPhil]

Single bristles from a tooth brush.

[Luca]

don't use the eye lashes, I tried them, to irregular and tiny. I prefer the fishing line.

[Pitfall]

Cat/dog whiskers. DON'T CUT THEM OFF THE ANIMAL! I find them all over my house. They work really well for 1/72 scale models, you should be able to cut them down for microscale.

If you don't have a black dog or cat, you might be out of luck because they don't take paint well.

[chrisswim]

My recommendation is tooth brush bristles, inked black.

I have used black thread and then painted the thread black so it would be stiff. Worked okay. Then went to the tooth brush bristles, about 9mm long. I use a safety pin to get a whole started to sit the bristle into. I ink 50 or 100 bristles black at one time in a cinc plastic box. Then I am ready to apply to vehicle.

Hope this info will help. recommend it highly.

[ferret701]

I've tried a variety of materials. I've used brass wire in various gauges -- doesn't work great for gaming models, though, bends too easily. I tried plastic model sprue, heated and stretched -- looked good, but too hard to get consistently the same width. I've used fishing line, which worked reasonably well, but I abandoned the practice for no good reason.

I've settled on using bristles from cheap paintbrushes. $2 a brush a Home Depot, and I've yet to finish the first one. Does better inked than painted, though, which is an issue if you don't have black ink (although a black Sharpie works just fine).

Pat Callahan
www.microarmormayhem.com

[Ritter]

I second the paintbrushes...buy black, various thicknesses, no painting and super cheap.

Troy

[voltigeur]

Has anyone tried putting flags on the atennas?

I'm playing around in MicroSoft paint making a flag tha is the right size then blowing it up to where I can manipulate each pixel to make Pirate, American, Stars and Bars, Cav flags to give my units some personality. Haven't tried it on the vehicles yet. But this was common in the real world.

[Le Scronge]

Here’s the easiest, fastest, best (no drilling!) method to put antennas on your micro-armor:



I use hemming thread. It’s available at fabric, craft, or hobby stores. It’s a fine transparent monofilament thread that comes in light and dark shades.

The essential tool that you’ll need is an ordinary small sewing needle held in a pin vise.

Since hemming thread comes on a spool, it’ll be curved when it’s first unwound. To remove this bend, cut off about a meter-long piece, and stretch it firmly.

Next, poke a shallow hole in the antenna base/pot on your miniature. GHQ does a fantastic job of molding these details on their models. With care and perhaps a little magnification, it’s fairly easy to push a perfectly centered hole into the smallest of bases. A note of caution is necessary here. Pushing these holes apparently fatigues the needles. Expect them to break after 20 – 50 holes. Hold the miniature so you don’t get jabbed when this happens.

Then, put a drop of super glue onto a nonporous surface. I use a small square of window glass. However, I’ve recently discovered that a short strip of Magic Mending tape stuck to any convenient surface works fine also. Pick up a minute drop of the glue by dipping the end of a straight section of thread into the super glue. Push the glued end of the thread into the hole.

Because of the chemistry of the thread and the glue, the bond will happen almost immediately. You’ll find that the join is strong enough to pick up the model by its new antenna within a second or two.

Finally, trim the antenna to the correct length.

[javelin98]

I hadn't encountered the hemming thread idea before; I'll have to try that.

My modus operandi is to use hairbrush bristles, but I've also seen toothbrush bristles used to great effect. My pin-vice drill has some downright tiny drill bits with it, so drilling out a hole is no problem at all.

[PanzerDan]

I use PIcture hanging wire. It's fairly durable, and comes in different colors and thickness.

[6mmwargaming]

Hi

I use black paint brush bristles (the cheaper the better) as it saves me having to paint them or the paint coming off.

To mount the aerial I use a needle and tap it lightly with a small hammer (or pliers) to create a small hole and then glue the aerial on with super glue. You have to be careful with this method if you have just glued your turrets on, as the tapping can loosen them again.

Cheers
Kieran