I have made filters in the several hundred megacycle range by winding the coil from formula then resonating it with a known capacitor and compressing or streaching the coil for a fine tune. The size of the wire is not important in a receiver, but I like to make it stiff enuf that it is self supporting. I surface mount the coil by bending the start and finish of the coil at 90 degrees so it doesn't roll over. The equation is from the "Engineer's Handbook" : L=n^2(r^2/(9*r+10*l)) where L=inductance in microhenries, n=number of turns, r=radius of coil to the center of the wire, l=the length of the winding. This is very accurate if you remember that the length of the leads is part of the inductance not included in the formula.