Vintage Futaba Antenna - Ribbon indicator 1.0

One thing that I have wanted to get but couldn't find was a ribbon antenna (clip) ....later to be found to be called a 'frequency penant or pennant'......to match the controller seen below in the picture.

I searched online for images & also ones to buy, but the pictures were never really clear for the top of the antenna and also I didn't find any that, for what I wanted, cheaply enough. I then found an instruction manual for an ACOMS ATB-227 (Mk2) transmitter. It had a nice drawn sectioned view of the clip. So I thought I'd give it a go at drawing & 3D printing one.

I first drew the clip part for the antenna. After a few test prints I was happy with the grip. Next up was to draw the rest of it up. I assumed that the ribbon itself would be no more than 1" in width, so this plus the dimensions I'd collected off my actual Futaba's aerial, I was able to produce something to a scale.

I then found a picture (I think) eventually of the ribbon clip used by Futaba. It's looks basically like a coat hanger design lol......after all the designing for the above version lol.

This following picture link takes you to a great site which has vintage 'adverts' from magazines etc. These are for the Futaba's, and shows the range and changes over the years. I found this years ago when I first started looking to try to identy the controller in the first picture. The controllers used were from 1974 to 1977. The newer modles were seen and used in the later films.

click pictutre for link to this site for info on vintage Futaba's etc

I have now found a similar clip, so will purchase this instead.

....I'll post the ACOMS's version up on my Thingiverse account, [free].