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Radar Dish


welshchris77
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13 minutes ago, Hausi said:

Nice work! :duim: I've seen vacformed ones before but they were always lacking the sharp details, your casts are great, how much do they weigh? 

 

Thanks Urs, the one without the lip is 80 grams, I may be able to get them lighter though if I can incorporate a void into the back, an old CD could then be used for the lip

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Chris's original yellow lid is a different part, I have a similar orange box for vegetables or fruit, can post some comparison pics to the tupperware sunshine lid tomorrow. However, Chris's cast part looks right and obviously has the right size. In ANH they used the tupperware sunshine lids in two different colors, some were white and some were rather translucent. So the white resincast absolutely works for PO level. For SWAT, it depends what radardish was used on the original screen used pack. 

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7 hours ago, Hausi said:

Chris's original yellow lid is a different part, I have a similar orange box for vegetables or fruit, can post some comparison pics to the tupperware sunshine lid tomorrow. However, Chris's cast part looks right and obviously has the right size. In ANH they used the tupperware sunshine lids in two different colors, some were white and some were rather translucent. So the white resincast absolutely works for PO level. For SWAT, it depends what radardish was used on the original screen used pack. 

Great information Urs :duim:

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So here´s the size comparison I had promised, on the left you find the same lid Chris has used for casting (mine is orange though), in the middle is a white tupperware sunshine lid (already dirty as I had it on my very first pack) and on the right there is the translucent sunshine lid. You can see that the size is virtually identical although the shape looks just so slightly different.

5tt3ek62.jpg

m4ffrblp.jpg

49vyguri.jpg

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So here´s the size comparison I had promised, on the left you find the same lid Chris has used for casting (mine is orange though), in the middle is a white tupperware sunshine lid (already dirty as I had it on my very first pack) and on the right there is the translucent sunshine lid. You can see that the size is virtually identical although the shape looks just so slightly different.
5tt3ek62.jpg
m4ffrblp.jpg
49vyguri.jpg
Great comparison pictures!, my original actually came from my late grandmother's house, when we were clearing the house ready for sale I spotted it, I thought it might be the radar dish but wasn't 100% sure at the time so put off to one side, I have fond memories of using Tupperware at her house as a kid in the eighties, lollipop (popsicle) moulds were my favourite

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My wife got the orange one from her mother when she moved out and it's still in use. :)

One other thing that just came to my mind: I wouldn't use a cd on the back as those are very brittle and you will probably hit something with it when trooping. I cut mine from a 2mm black ABS sheet, I used a cd as template though. 

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My wife got the orange one from her mother when she moved out and it's still in use. 
One other thing that just came to my mind: I wouldn't use a cd on the back as those are very brittle and you will probably hit something with it when trooping. I cut mine from a 2mm black ABS sheet, I used a cd as template though. 
I love hearing the stories behind these items

Good point about the CD, I have some black plasticard somewhere, I could use this in the same way, thanks for the tip

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So I experimented using a shape to displace some of the resin to make this lighter, found the perfect shape in the form of one of my daughter's plastic doll plates.

Was a bit more labour involved doing it this way, did it in two batches, the first stops the plate from displacing too much resin and making the cast too thin, when this was almost set I did the second pour and pressed the plate.

Happy with the results, made a huge difference to the weight, the one with the lip is 146grams, without is 81grams and the 'MK2' cast is only 38grams.
The original vintage lid is 29grams so only 9grams in the difference, yay!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have updated the style of my radar dish by making a mould of the other side of the Tupperware lid, was a bit more work involved but worth it I think.
This new style also has the recess at the rear to reduce weight.

Also I am fabricating the black discs from 2mm plasticard, using a small router jig with the dremel to do this as my regular router is too big for the job.
Again these are tricky to make as the plastic has quite a low melting point so have to be cut slowly in multiple passes.
The plasticard can be quite costly buy the advantage is it is solid colour so won't chip, lightweight and will take a knock without shattering like other plastics.

Finished off with a 6mm × 20mm stainless steel hex bolt and domed nut.
The whole unit is just 80grams.

Doing a run of these in the sales area if anyone is interested.

http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?/topic/16436-new-style-radar-dish-full-kit/

 


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Looking at screen shots it is difficult to see exactly what fixing is holding it on, some use domed nuts, others use coach bolts.
I have used domed nuts so far but tried a M6 coach bolt and think that looks good too.
I am going to offer both options for the radar dish kits I am currently offering.

What are others thoughts on the fixing type?

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Yep, completely agree with RoCKo, did the same for my latest SWAT pack, as I think the dome nut looks too bulky for the #3 pack. I am not sure about the other packs right now, would have to have a look at references again, quite possibly they used different fixing solutions. 

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1 minute ago, Hausi said:

Yep, completely agree with RoCKo, did the same for my latest SWAT pack, as I think the dome nut looks too bulky for the #3 pack. I am not sure about the other packs right now, would have to have a look at references again, quite possibly they used different fixing solutions. 

I think you are right about the pack 3 fixing and also the possibility of different fixings for other packs

pack 3 definitely look more like the coach bolt to my eyes :)

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