Metal coil springs

[Ben]

Has anyone found a good source for replacing the plastic molded coil spring with metal springs?

[rel14]

Ink pin spring, or rap wire around a round pipe, or check the RC parts,,

[Monty]

You can make them yourself out of bead wiring from an arts & crafts store. They'll have them in several gauges, so find a size that looks the closest in scale to the 1:1 coil and wrap it around a coarse-threaded screw. The ends can be flattened to fit the upper and lower "cups" with a Dremel and a sanding bit. Paint them an appropriate color and you're set.

If you're using these up front, see if the 1:1 car's shocks went inside them. Shocks are easy to make, whether you use plastic or metal tubing, and once painted correctly they look great inside the coil.

On the rear you'll want to make sure the rest of the suspension can actually support the weight of the model, as these offer little in the way of strength compared to the kit's solid plastic "springs".

Edited November 24, 2012 by Monty

[DavidChampagne]

Some hardware stores will have a selection of very small springs.

I live in a small town, went into what used to be a "Western Auto" store and found a wide assortment of small springs.

I brought with me the shocks for a '85 1/8 vette and found what I needed to make coil overs. I even found one to use for a return spring on my injector linkage. I am building it with a Potvin blower setup like on the "Mooneyes" FED.

[Ben]

Thanks for all the great tips guys!

[Aeroteto]

I'm thinking the small coils inside some cheap pens may works fine.

Just cut them to size with a small cut off disk in a Dremel.