I knew I saved that eggcrate for something! Will definitely look into the wire stator approach. At this point I would just be happy to get one panel going for AM/SW/SCANNER radio.
You will need to figure out how to stretch wires.
Some people build stretching jigs. IMO for a first panel nothing too sophisticated is required.
Pulling by hands is not going to work well to straighten them.
A pair of treaded rods can be used to wrap the wires around. Two stators are inserted inside between before doing this. After that threaded rods are pulled apart with high force(lets say some hooks , etc).
The next step is finding suitable glue to bond wires to egg crate, by appliying on top of them. A syringe works well.
It may not be as simple as it seems. Super glue works but unfortunately wire insulation is attacked and compromised, so something else can be experimented with.
One good approach is to make glue yourself by dissolving the same egg crate material in methylene chloride. It will melt into the plastic but does not attack PVC insulation.
I suggest you search for more information, there are a lot of posts about wire stators here.
Hope this helps.
Lukas.