Scratch building a radar dish

[Sean11]

I figured this would probably be the best place for this question. I am attempting to scratch build a radar dish to fit inside a 1/350 aircraft nose cone so the plane can be placed in the hangar bay as if it were under repair. I am a little stumped as to how to go about this as I have tried a fine mesh grader as seen elsewhere, I forget where - sorry, and seem to end up with metal shavings all over the place instead of a usable shape. Any ideas on how to go about this?

[Timmy C]

Maybe a thin slice of a styrene rod to get that circular shape? Or a PE porthole cover of the right diameter.

[drasticplastic]

A possibility: I don't know what diameter you want, but if you can find a small enough diameter circular gunsight (1/48 or even 1/72) and dish it with the end of a paintbrush handle, it might work. Also dish antennas for 1/350, or 1/700 scale ships.

[shipclambake]

You may be able to use air dry clay.

[Admhawk]

Look for something you can cut off left over pe scraps. Or something from the craft box like glitter, or confetti. If you have a punch set, punch some 5thou plastic or paper or Tin foil. Anything really thin.

[Sean1]

Thanks everyone for the ideas! I actually was able to figure out that the radar in a S-3 Viking is uncased in what appears to be a football shaped globe the rotates and spins. I originally thought it was a football shaped disc based on the cutout diagram I found. Here is the link to the video that shows the nose up and radar spinning at about the 10:30 mark:

https://youtu.be/3W3Dq24-29U

I decided to go with a 2mm gold plated seed bead and build out the bracket system based on the cutout diagram. I'll post photos of the finished item when I get it done as it has turned out to be quite the project!

[Sean1]

So I finally finished the radar for the Viking. This thing was a PITA and I think I ended up building it three times but I am kinda happy with how it turned out. It isn't as beautiful as some of the builds I've seen in these threads but it's one of the first things I've ever tried to scratch build. I really do appreciate the replies as I am sure the info will be of use when I build the Hornets.