The Ship Model Forum

Hello there.. im working on my 1/350 Academy Oliver Hazard Perry kit and i want to build it seen as Turkish Navy..
but theres my problem, i dont have any idea how to build these satcom radomes.. asking for some advice any comments are welcome
Best Regards.

Start with either plastic rod or tube. Trim off so you have the basic square shape. Don't worry about having it round at first then sand until you have the desired shape. If you have a dremel or even a drill, drill the piece with a small bit so it won't move and use the drill as a lathe - will make it much easier to sand round.

As Perth mentioned, you may use a lathe machine to file it to shape, or just use a small dremel, insert the rod into it and then turn it against a file for proper shape.
Other options are to look for small balls, depending on which diameter you need. Might use one of these plastic balls from ink cartridges (for ink pens) or something similar. For smaller scales a Maxtra filter has lots of tiny balls of different sizes. If you put a suitable ball in a drop of filler and then shape it to get the lower part I'm sure they can look convincing and similar.
The problem with general filing on a dremel is that it will be difficult to achieve two identical pieces. If you use something pre-made/mass produces (for a different purpose), you'll get a better result.

To take Neptune's idea one step farther, I have achieved good results gluing the correct size bead (a wide variety of sizes are available at your local craft store) on a smaller diameter styrene tube which I use for the base. I have been able to replicate every Satcomm dome on my builds to date.