Well that is what it seemed like. I completed a GCLaser kit in HO: “TV antenna” (1267). As with most laser kits it is not so much a matter of craftsmanship (the manufacturer has done that part for you) as it is a steady hand and a macro lens eyeball. Increasingly I lack both. Having completed the kit I was mostly pleased with my results. One part flew away from the tweezers and I can tell you, that it is impossible to cut a corresponding piece from the wood source using a super sharp knife blade that is as small and precise as the laser cut.
You can see the “ideal” finished result on their website:
Some observations. First, this is a large antenna. In HO it scales about 12 feet high, and the antenna proper is about 6+ feet long. My own feeling it is closer to the typical residential TV antenna in S scale.
Since it comes 4 to a pack my thought is to modify the next one to more closely resemble what I recall from the 1960s: a rooftop TV antenna was maybe 5 or 6 feet high, and antenna was perhaps 4 to 5 feet long. But modifying a laser kit kind of defeats the purpose.
Fortunately a couple of years ago at Trainfest I bought three bags of their “laser leftovers” – I think it was from GC Laser – so I have all the little tiny laser cut bits to fill in the needed parts to create my own antenna scaled to my own recollections. I’ll mostly use the kit to supply the top part:
I know someone who attempted to make HO scale antennae from floral wire…
As for me trying that in N scale…[banghead][soapbox]
generally I remember my dad, who was a TV tech in the 60’s or so used to see boodles of different ones so you can even customize them. Have fun… I’d like to see them sometime![swg]
I almost bought one of those kits a couple weeks ago, then I saw they were wood and decided I’d rather try and solder some brass wire together instead. My soldering skills are better than my wood working skills.[:D]
Now I have to try some floral wire trickery. It is either that or go extremely thin braid wire taken apart and fiddled with. heeheehee[alien][banghead][:-^]
When February rolls around, and they switch to all-digital TV transmission, your citizens will be glad you got them that big antenna. The scale may be about right. The longest cross-members of the antenna itself (this design is called a “Yagi,” by the way) should be 5-6 feet long.
This particular antenna has a UHF component in the front of it. These were pretty uncommon until the 1960s. UHF didn’t even start until the early '50s, and it was a marginalized band for a long while after that.
Now, with the advent of cable, rooftop antennas are becoming a relic of bygone eras. So, if you’re fussy about your rooftops, don’t strike up the UHF band without checking your artistic license from the FCC.
UHF pretty much stayed marginal until Cable. But. Pockets, think pockets of popularity? It is a stretch I know but where we lived I saw a few of them around. Then again, Woodstock had some interesting sitchimications around…[alien][swg]
There is still a antenna from the 80’s rusting quietly on the side of my home. Ive a notion to cut it down and send it to the scrap metal. I use a indoor antenna on the digital TV now out of Little Rock. They did have to change antennas when we lost Redfield Tower last year.
IHC had a antenna that I built for a diner once. I might get a few more if there are houses on the railroad at some point in the future.
Yesterday’s antenna is today’s cell phone tower.
Oh, the medication Im taking has improved my ability to manuver very small objects, now just need magnfication to make it work.
Before I forget, I recall a Hobby Tool called three fingers. Basically a heavy base with three clips where you can situate a part anywhere in space related to another part to glue and hold while it dries.