Help with Tubing Size for Antennas

[StevenGuthmiller]

Hi guys!

I've decided it's becoming too much work to make antennas for my builds out of styrene & was looking for some help from one of the mathematical geniuses out there with some tubing sizes.

I bought some .020 K&S "music" wire from Hobby Lobby a while back that looks to be about the right size for the upper half of the antenna mast.

Now I'm looking for some tubing for the lower half.

It would stand to reason that the inside diameter of the tubing would need to be .020 for the wire to slip into, but after doing some extensive searching on the web & having my eyes glaze over from all of the numbers, I just seem to keep slipping deeper into confusion!

K&S doesn't seem to have any tubing on their website small enough for the task, But Amazon has "hypodermic steel tubing" that looks to be closer to what I need.

I have some "stainless steel 316 hypodermic tubing" saved in my cart. It's 21 gauge, .032 outside diameter, .020 inside diameter, .006 wall.

I don't want to pull the trigger & buy it until I'm pretty certain that it's what I'm looking for.

Could anybody shed some light on whether this sounds about right?

Any help or comments are more than welcome!

Thanks!

Steve

[BigTallDad]

I make my antennae out of paper clips using this

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=102101

While at the Nationals in Orlando, I found some .4 / .6 / .8 / 1 mm brass tubing from Albion Alloys Ltd. and all of the tubing is slide-fit. Sorry, I don't have any contact info for that firm.

Edited June 5, 2015 by BigTallDad

[High octane]

I make my antennas from # 12 guitar string and a base from Grandt Line 1/48 1/4" O scale 1 1/2" nut w/4" cast iron washer.

[MrObsessive]

Steve, what you're looking to do is a telescoping antenna. I did something like you're looking for on this '59 Buick...........

Also on this T-Bird, but it's a little hard to see............

M.A.S. sold tubing in various sizes like you mentioned in a single pack. I still have some of that tubing, but I have no idea what particular size I used in these models as they were built years ago. I just went with what looked "right" and rolled with it. The Buick probably could have had a size smaller to go into the larger tubing, but I think I ran out of it at that point, and just put the guitar string in.

The base was a small piece of aluminum tubing turned on a dremel and the rubber "gasket" was a thin slice of plastic rod drilled though for the larger stainless tubing.

Hope this helps!

[StevenGuthmiller]

Steve, what you're looking to do is a telescoping antenna. I did something like you're looking for on this '59 Buick...........

Also on this T-Bird, but it's a little hard to see............

M.A.S. sold tubing in various sizes like you mentioned in a single pack. I still have some of that tubing, but I have no idea what particular size I used in these models as they were built years ago. I just went with what looked "right" and rolled with it. The Buick probably could have had a size smaller to go into the larger tubing, but I think I ran out of it at that point, and just put the guitar string in.

The base was a small piece of aluminum tubing turned on a dremel and the rubber "gasket" was a thin slice of plastic rod drilled though for the larger stainless tubing.

Hope this helps!

That's exactly what I'm thinking of.

Up until now, I've been making them out of styrene, & they look fine, but they require a lot of "delicate" work & it gives me a headache!

Because I don't have the tubing "in hand" to look at, I have to rely on measurements on the net.

I was just hoping someone had done this before who had the correct sizes for the tubing so that when I ordered, I wasn't surprised by getting sewer pipe when I received it!

Thanks for your help!

The one on the T-Bird is exactly what I'm shooting for!

Steve

[Mike Chernecki]

If you are looking for small tubing, I bought an assortment of hypodermic tubing from Ted's Modeling Marketplacehttp://www.tedsmodelingmarketplace.com/

Trumpeter also sells small telescopic tubing, here is a link at Elm City Hobbies

http://www.elmcityhobbies.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=73_395&zenid=16278c27c6d6a70aa6f26082ec9efa33

Hope this helps.

[Foxer]

I bought some .020 K&S "music" wire from Hobby Lobby a while back that looks to be about the right size for the upper half of the antenna mast.

Now I'm looking for some tubing for the lower half.

I have some "stainless steel 316 hypodermic tubing" saved in my cart. It's 21 gauge, .032 outside diameter, .020 inside diameter, .006 wall.

Thanks!

Steve

To answer the question you asked ...

You are correct, Steve. The .02 wire will slip inside the .02 ID tubing. That's all it really is ... matching the inside diameter of the tube to what you want to slip inside. Being the same dimension I may be a tight fit, depending on the manufacturing tolerances of the two suppliers involves. It's possible it will take some force to get it to slip in .. maybe some WD-40.

And this looks like the place Ray mentioned. ... Albion Alloys

Edited June 6, 2015 by Foxer

[StevenGuthmiller]

To answer the question you asked ...

You are correct, Steve. The .02 wire will slip inside the .02 ID tubing. That's all it really is ... matching the inside diameter of the tube to what you want to slip inside. Being the same dimension I may be a tight fit, depending on the manufacturing tolerances of the two suppliers involves. It's possible it will take some force to get it to slip in .. maybe some WD-40.

And this looks like the place Ray mentioned. ... Albion Alloys

Thanks Mike!

I'm not too worried about where to get the tubing as I can get that on Amazon.

Just wanted to make sure that I was getting these measurements correct.

I guess it's not a huge deal anyway, the tubing I was looking at was less than $10.00 for 3 feet of it.

I guess I can absorb that if it's not what I wanted.

Thanks!

Steve

[gtx6970]

I had heard of the hypodermic needle idea before ( they are made in various sizes,,, the higher number being the smallest size needle )

On the few I've done I just used guitar string as it is pretty stiff and doesnt bend of bumped . And a piece of wire wrapped around a drill bit to make a base

[Erik Smith]

To make one in actual scale, I think just a layer or two of BMF at different heights would suffice on a thin piece of music wire or insect pin.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Thanks guys.

Here's the way I've been making them.

Just thin pieces of styrene glued together & painted.

I think they look good, but they take a while to make.

Probably took about 1/2 hour to fashion it & then there's the time it takes to paint & Alclad them.

I thought maybe the "tubing & wire" method would be less labor intensive.

By the way, the second photo is my first attempt at casting resin mirrors.

Now I'll never have to rob them from other kits again!

Steve

[DrGlueblob]

I inherited a box of B-D insulin needles, #23ga. I believe. I use music wire that's .20 and a smidge of epoxy.

[Foxer]

I inherited a box of B-D insulin needles, #23ga. I believe. I use music wire that's .20 and a smidge of epoxy.

good lord ... I'm a diabetic and the first needles I first used in 1968 were 25ga ...I thought THEY were huge! ... sticking a 23ga in would be like using a water pipe! Nowadays we use 29ga .. so nice!

but, they gotta be great for antennas ..

Edited June 7, 2015 by Foxer

[DrGlueblob]

...Having said that, I think I have the insulin needles confused with some blood draw needles from my Phlebotomist days, my bad..