Satellite Dishes

[rockislandmike]

Hey guys, does anyone have any good ideas on how to make a satellite dish ??? The ground ones for broadcast stations, that is (not the roof-mounted ones). I figure 1" - 1.5" diameter would be fine.

I do have casting and molding capabilities, so if I could fabricate one, I could use it to make a mold and make a number of 'em.

The best solution I've come to so far is to make one out of sculptamold . . . . .

 

[billk]

I'd keep my eyes peeled for something already formed into the shape you need. How about a "blister pack" from something (quick, check the trash!) - all you need is a 1 or 1-1/2" diameter section out of one that is roughly spherical (yeah, I know real ones are parabolical, but that would be diabolical to model).

 

[Fred_M]

Cut a hunk out of a plastic easter egg shell. And since it's almost easter it should be no problem finding them. FRED

 

[jim currie]

go to auto store and get a dish type freeze plug in the size you want come in sizes 3/4" up to 2 " or larger

 

[Ralph]

I made these small dishes for a radio tower out of clear suction cup mounts that you'd use to hang ornaments on a window. They come in several sizes....including an inch and a half.
Ralph

 

[Jodam]

While visiting a mate recently, under a tree in his yard, i found hundreds of mini Perabola. Caps of a flowering Eucalypt, similar to those on an Oaks Acorns, a tad smaller though, quite suitable for N-scale as we have 3 standard sizes in Oz, 2,6 & 8feet dia. With a bit of work they'll be quite realistic.
Cheers.

 

[Chessie1973]

Arts and craft shope sell small plastic paint trays that have 6 little dishes in them, all you would have to do it cut them out carefully and you would have plenty of larger satillite dishes, just trim more away to make the smaller dishes as needed.

 

[Joepomp]

Edge dish

Ok, So one day I finshed a can of Edge shaveing cream. I noticed the bottom had a nice inverted curve. So making sure as much of the gas as possiable was out I took a Razor saw to the can. This is what I got. I was thinking the top or bottom of a water tank, but a sat dish might be good too.

While I am thinking about it, does anyone have a picture of a water tank on top of a building?

 

[Jodam]

Somewhat smaller is the Asthma Inhaler canisters with an overall N-scale diameter of 11ft x 2ft depth just about perfect

 

[Ray Marinaccio]

If you know someone with a vacuform machine , set a freeze plug from an engineblock on it and form the plastic over it.

 

[jon-monon]

Yet another idea: Form aluminum from a beer can with a ball pein hammer. Or just tin foil if you don't care about strength.

Now you'll have to run a poll so you can devide which method to use

 

[SAL Comet]

Or the bottom of a beer can is already the right shape. (I've seen the bottom of a bunch of them.)