Minimising/stopping breakage or loss of small parts...

[RobL]

Hey all

 

Wasn't really sure where to post this...

 

 

At some point I'd like to build either a B-17 Flying Fortress, a B-24 Liberator, or an Avro Lancaster.  I built the Airfix offerings of the first two back in the very early 90s, and the thing I remember the most is the guns all breaking off.

 

So, that's been putting me off even buying said kit(s), let alone building one - no point in buying something that I'll end up breaking bits off!   I know I could buy brass/resin barrels but that'll end up being a tedious drilling exercise and in my experience of brass/resin parts they are no more durable.

 

So, what do you guys do, especially in small scale such as 1/72 (or even 1/48)?

 

 

 

Thanks in advance, any tips greatly appreciated.

 

 

[stever219]

How about choosing an unarmed subject?  Post-WW2 Lancasters were often seen without guns, particularly those originally destined for Tiger Force in the Far East, or Coastal Command.  You also get away from the standard Bomber Command colour scheme.  There are also the PR/survey Lancasters of 82 Squadron, including BBMF's PA474, in their bare aluminium or High Speed Silver colours.

[Tim R-T-C]

Are you talking about breaking parts off during building or later on?

 

All my aircraft are permanently affixed to bases and I usually fix them down before adding pitot tubes and aerial wires to limit the amount of handling required.

[ckw]

Having broken my fair share of parts in the past, I now study the instructions and look for ways to avoid adding fragile parts until the bulk of assembly, masking and painting are complete. For example, the instructions may say to add antenna to the fuselage in the section on building the fuselage, but there is often no reason this can't be deferred until the end of the build. Instructions are written to efficiently illustrate how the model goes together, but this is not always the optimum way to do it. In particular they generally seem to overlook problems you might encounter when masking for painting.

 

Sometimes an alternate build order is not possible - guns may have to be placed in turrets before the turret is included in the fuselage. In this case I'll often surgically remove the gun barrels and re-attach them at the end. How far I go with this will depend on how much the fragile bits will get in the way - sometimes they can cause a problem at the masking/painting stage, other times not so much. In short, I'll opt for 'controlled breakage' over accidental breakage (and possible loss of parts).

 

cheers

 

Colin

 

 

[bentwaters81tfw]

I built the Trumpy 1/48 Wellington, and gun barrels are a nightmare. Guaranteed breakages due to assembly sequence. I ended up removing and drilling out the barrel mounts during assembly and adding brass barrels afterwards.

[dnl42]

1 hour ago, Tim R-T-C said:

Are you talking about breaking parts off during building or later on?

Agree, that's the critical question!

 

As written above, alternate build sequences and "controlled breakagereconfiguration" are both important techniques. This goes for molded-on parts, such as arials along the top/bottom of a fuselage centerline. If left in place, they will be broken off, so I prefer to remove the part and replace during final assembly. I'll even avoid sturder parts, like struts and the like, as I have "special skills.". 

 

Once the model is in the cabinet, I keep my paws off the model unless absolutely necessary. Post-completion repairs can be a nightmare; sometimes the prudent thing is to clean up the break and live with it.

 

For removing parts from runners, the safest way in my experience is a razor saw, like a JLC Razor Saw or other. I've been able to remore the most fragile parts with this. A clipper, even a very sharp example like this is could bend the part, possibly to failure. With care, you can saw off the part without any trace of the gate remaining--that is, ready to fit.

 

Of course, you could yet find some parts broken during packing or banging aounrd in the box. Like this RDF antenna (upper-center). This is a limited-run kit, so poor molding could also be to blame. Note the heavy gates on this part are even more indicative of using a saw to remove the part after I've glued it back together.

[3DStewart]

Replace fragile things like gun barrels and pitot tubes with brass rod.  Make model storage/transport frames from polystyrene or form board to keep the completed models in.  Display models in a display case.  Carefully store models not on display.

 

Alternatively, make the breakable parts out of easily replaced material held in place by weak glue.  If a gun barrel gets broken, just pull it out or drill it out and put in a new one.

 

Drilling out eight gun barrels doesn't take much time and brass rod takes some effort to break!  What are you doing using your models as flying models?

[Mark Harmsworth]

On 02/01/2024 at 13:22, RobL said:

Wasn't really sure where to post this...

Here would be good:

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/forum/85-modelling-tips/

 

On 02/01/2024 at 13:22, RobL said:

I built the Airfix offerings of the first two back in the very early 90s, and the thing I remember the most is the guns all breaking off.

 

I assume you mean in the build as a result of handling. If so (and I understand your concern) then the only safe way is to attach the gun barrels at the end of the build. It is a case of cutting the barrels off, making a small hole with the tip of a knife or a micro drill and sticking the barrel into that hole at the end. To be honest, if you are doing that anyway, then have a look at replacement metal barrels  - the detail on these can be fantastic and a big improvement over the kit provided ones.

 

Or some kits are engineered to allow you to install the turrets at the end - a look at kit reviews and/or other builds may tell you about that.

 

al the best

Mark