Barrels

[Louie N]

How do people deal with barrels?

I once had a large number of modern GHQ mirco armor. Despite the exquisite details, the warpage of the barrels always made the models look sad.

I'm thinking of getting into 6mm WWII, but the memory of the barrel is putting me off.

How to more expericne collecters of GHQ prevent, or correct, barrel warpage.

Thanks for any info

[suisse6]

I've seen a number of folks that snip the original barrels and use a small hand drill to drill them out then use pins instead. I think there's some info on one of the scratch building forums.

[intobattle]

Louie,

I think you've got 3 different options when it comes to barrels:

1. straighten them with tweezers and just try very hard not to bend the barrels when you handle your miniatures. You have to be careful here and it might require the occassional barrel straightening. This is the approach I take.

2. not worry about bent barrels and ignore how it looks. Some people take this approach but in my opinion it defeats the purpose of buying GHQ - for the extreme detail.

3. Replace the barrels with brass or steel pins/rod as suisse6 mentioned. If you have the time and are good at conversions this is the best option. Ritter does an oustanding job at replacing his barrels and the forum that suisse6 mentioned is a good place to look for ideas and pictures.

Good luck!

Tanner

[dnichols]

If it has been a while since you played, the older all lead models' barrels bent really easy.

The newer pewter figures don't bend quite so bad and in fact if you are careful with them hold their shape rather nicely.

[SJDonovan]

Bent barrels aren't just a problem with the tanks. It is also a problem with the 10mm figures. My British Napoleonics seem to have a really bad attack of muskets that want to shoot round corners.

Is there some kind of pay-off between the amount of detail you can achieve and the malleability of the alloy used? I've got 10mm figures by other manufacturers that aren't as well detailed as GHQ but which don't suffer from bendy barrel syndrome.

[HKurban]

I also go with option 1 from Intobattle's post

[Timothy OConnor]

I mount all my vehicles on bases. Reduces chance of being handled directly. And today's metal is harder so they don't bend as much.

That being said I've just about given up fixing roof-mounted 50 cals. They simply don't survive wargame handling. I'll add them during initial construction but don't bother keeping up with the "casualties".

Tim

[chrisswim]

I know one person who has stated because of barrels bending or breaking, that he snips them off: his stated reason to me is that the barrel is hardly recognizable at distance on a tank/apc. So the bending looks bad.... He also can then put them in his pocket and play whenever his wishes, since he has some in his pocket.....

If that is the case, use colored counters and have them in your pocket.... I do not have issue with barrels breaking...not bending much. If bent when pulling out of the drawer in the carrying case, I straighten the barrel with fingers at that time prior to gaming. The newer vehicles have barrels that are more rigid. I used to base vehicles on stands, but took them off, so the figure is 'rubbing up' to another and bouncing around in the drawer as I drive & brake. I also do not let non-gamers carry boxes, usually do not let other games carry my fig unless it is a box with a handle. I do not want to blame a friend for tiltting the box or dropping the box.

I also do put AA machine guns on some figures and antennea on some. I carry some figs in tank traps, and will put some figures on their side to protect the barrel. Some of the tank traps there is not foam or only on the side of the figrure.

The figure and the aesthics is the reason most of us game with minatures and not (or not only) board games or use counters, we like the visual effect.

[Mk 1]

I know one person who has stated because of barrels bending or breaking, that he snips them off ...
If that is the case, use colored counters and have them in your pocket....

The figure and the aesthics is the reason most of us game with minatures and not (or not only) board games or use counters, we like the visual effect.

Well said.

The figure and the aesthetics are also important to me. I like wargaming with counters well enough too. And I like games like chess. But there is something more in a chess game with a beautiful ornate chess set. The rules may be the same, but the game is more delightful to me.

So with my micro armor -- I can (and do) game with folks who don't even paint some of their tanks or infantry. And in truth my own terrain has been modest at best for many years. But there is so much extra delight in the game if it looks good. Good looking models, terrain that just strikes you as realistic... it is all stimulating to my imagination, and for me that's the fun of gaming with miniatures.

I don't base my miniatures (except when necessary to hold them together, like infantry squads, jeeps or trucks with trailors, or horses with wagons).

Barrels get bent from time to time. So also infantry figures get squashed down, or pop off of their bases, or trailors come off of their tows.

For bent barrels I use flat-headed tweezers. With these I can straighten barrels by squeezing them (between two flat surfaces) rather than by re-bending them. I find the squeezing is a less stressful approach on the metal, producing a straighter barrel with less likelyhood of causing the metal to break at the bend.

Here are a couple pictures to illustrate the magnitude of barrel-straightening I can achieve with the simple technique of squeezing with flat-headed tweezers.


About a year ago I bought some used micro armor. Met a fellow at a local gaming club who, for whatever reasons, wanted to sell off his collection. It was a "micro armor by the pound" kind of deal. I bought a large quantity of mixed material -- GHQ and other vendors' product all jumbled together.

My first "upgrading" was on BT-7s. I went through and pulled out all the BT-7 hulls and turrets, for refurbishing and repairs. Here you see some of the turrets. This was absolutely characterisistic of the condition of the gun barrels.


Here you see a battalion of BT-7s half-way through my refurbishing. All the barrels have been straightened, the vehicles have been re-base-coated, and in the pic they await detailing. I did not loose a single barrel in this process.

I often do a repair cycle, the day before a game, on troops I plan to use. Or I do a repair cycle on troops that I observed having troubles, the day after a game. In truth, while I don't find the repair efforts to be the best form of entertainment, any excuse to take out my micro armor and fawn over them a bit is OK in my book.

But still they do occasionally break. And when they do, they need to be replaced.

My favorite replacement material for barrels is nylon line. The advantage of a nylon line barrel is that it snaps back to shape after bending. So once you have replaced the barrel with nylon line, it won't need further repairs over time.

I used to use fishing line. But it always comes on a role, and you just can't get rid of that little bit of a bow shape to the line, no matter how large the role vs. how short the barrel.

So now I have found another source -- the nylon tag holders that come on new clothes. Seriously. We all know these things -- they have t-jointed anchors that are punched through the cloth on one side and run through a hole in the tag on the other. When you bring home some new clothes you snip these things off (they are the devil to try to break) and you throw them away. But next time, look at them. Very straight mono-filament nylon cord. Many even have a telescoping thicker-to-thinner portion that you can use for the really big multi-part barrels. And the t-joint at one end, with a little work, can serve as a pivot-mounted HMG. Over time you will find that they come in a variety of thicknesses (weights) on differing items of clothing.

I don't know where to go to deliberately buy this stuff. So it isn't something you can just determine you need, and go and get. You have to plan in advance. But after a couple months of deliberate collecting after every shopping spree, you will have enough saved up to handle any repairs that you may need. At least you will if you have a wife and four children, like me. If you don't have quite so many consumers in your home, you may need a bit more time to collect your treasure.

[Luca]

My advice is to build huge army composed solely of PzIV with short 75mm gun

[Thomaso827]

There was a craft product advertised on TV for replacing buttons, called the Buttoneer or something like that. I see them at Michaell's Crafts in the sewing area. Probaly find them in other stores with sewing departments or craft sections. Look for the refill pack. Same thing and comes in several colors, intended to match thread colors.

Tom Oxley

[LJERONIMO]

HI EVERYONE, FROM SPAIN. I RESOLVED THE BARREL,S PROBLEM WITH HIPODERMICAL NEDDLES. I USE 0,3 mm NEDDLES FOR SMALL GUNS LIKE ITALIAN, MG,s AND SMALL VEHICES GUNS, 0,4 FOR 37 mm GUNS, 0,5 FOR 50 TO 70 mm AND 0,6 FOR THE 75MM AND THE FAMOUS 88mm. I TOO, MADE THE CONE SHAPE MUZZLE OF SOME BARRELS LIKE GERMAN AAA 20 MM BARRELS DRILLING A SMALL 0,5 PIECE OF NEDDLE INSIDE A 0,3 STELL PIECE. I WILL POST SOME PHOTOS THE MOMENT I,M ABLE

[LJERONIMO]

HERE ARE THE PICTURES


By ljeronimo at 2009-09-25

By ljeronimo at 2009-09-25

By ljeronimo at 2009-09-25

By ljeronimo at 2009-09-25

By ljeronimo at 2009-09-25

[supertsar]

Wow those hypo needles look great! But can you buy them over the counter in the USA?

The original pewter barrels are really easy to straighten.
I have used guitar strings (extra-lites) and they work great too. Muzzle breaks can be a big problem though....

[Xveers]

Hit up a phar-macy and ask about disposable hypos for insulin. They come in boxes of a substantial number and in a wide selection of diameters, but I don't know about cost.