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In the works: paintable shark fin skin/mold (long post)

Nurendra

Autocross Champion
Location
Stamford, CT
I posted this on the 'tex yesterday:

Sorry for the long post folks

Okay folks, we all have this on our '06 Jettas, GTI's, and Passats.
And we wonder why they aren't painted like the Audi ones. For those of us considering painting it, the removal of the headliner is a deterrent. For those of us who wanted to replace it with a painted one, the $235 price tag is also a deterrent.
So on an 'ancient' thread on the Golf/Jetta V forums, someone and myself thought about a paintable cover. After I thought about it for a while, the only thing that was worrying me was the idea of signal degradation from the skin; but since I'm getting reception in parking and closed garages I dismissed the thought that 1-2 mm of plastic would render the antenna inoperative.
I then Googled injection molding and came up with http://www.42draftdesigns.com which was perfect.
After exchanging several emails with Evan@42DDand supplying him with part numbers etc., he finally got the antenna today.
Here's the last 2 emails I got from him:
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Hey Rendy!
I’ve been VERY busy. Still am, but I am also trying to work on R&D as much as possible. I actually ordered the antenna today. It was $235. Next week I will reproduce it and begin making the molds for the “skin”. It will take a few days to reproduce the part due to the length of time it takes for the various materials to cure (silicon rubber, resins, etc). Once I have a successful reproduction completed I will make 3-4 more for a multi cavity mold. I’ll need to get the correct thickness of plastics in which may take a week or two. So, for arguments sake we’re about 2-3 weeks out depending on how much time I am able to put into it.
Evan
42 Draft Designs
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Got the antenna!
Everything looks pretty straight forward and I’ll probably start work next week.
Evan
42 Draft Designs
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I have no idea as yet as how long it will actually take from beginning to end as Evan is not working on this exclusively but it is out there.
So for those obsessed with color coding (like me), this will give us the option to lose the standard black of the VW sat antenna without messing with the headliner.
Please let 42DD know of your interest on this if it is an item you want.
 

Brandon

Oval Newbie
Location
Perth, Australia
Hmmm...I'm sure our ones down here come with bee sting ariels and not shark fins. Shaun, Nico?
 

GTI2007

Moderator
I don't really like to have something like that or any other antenne on my roof so I propably gonna place an internal antenna into my dashboard instead of the one on the roof of my GTI and go for the cleaned look
 

Vlan_One

Ready to race!
Location
CT, South Africa
Brandon said:
Hmmm...I'm sure our ones down here come with bee sting ariels and not shark fins. Shaun, Nico?

Unlike the '05 spec, which had that nice clean look, the '06 spec now comes with Bee-sting for normal radio and as far as I know you will still get the shark fin when ordering SatNav.

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