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Is there a trick to it or something?

I tried it out tonight on some barrels (stormbolter, bolt pistol, combi-plasma, combi-melta).

Only the bolt pistol came out okay. The rest were kind of askew... the stormbolter is hella messed up.

I'm using a pin vise btw.

Haha, oh I have the same problem. I'd suggest trying to stab a hole, or make an indention where you want to drill.

Thanks. Maybe I'll try stabbing with one of my sculpting tools... that should help guide the bit.

I never thought much of drilling out the barrel holes... now that I've tried it, I totally want to do it to all my marines... or any other model that has a gun.

Yep, just scratch the middle of the barrel where you want to drill with the point of a scalpel and you should be able to follow it in as a guide.

good luck :-)

I use the smallest bit I have to start, then go up in bit sizes until I get to the one I want.
Which is 0.3mm, going up to .75mm larger in 0.15mm increments (tends to make the muzzle too thin at over 0.75mm).

You can't make a hole smaller if it is too large.

I usually push the tip of the drill into the barrel to make a mark as close to the center as I can. From there, I start really slowly with only a few turns and then check that I'm still centered. Once the hole starts to take shape, then I'll start drilling regularly.

sailense wrote:I usually push the tip of the drill into the barrel to make a mark as close to the center as I can. From there, I start really slowly with only a few turns and then check that I'm still centered. Once the hole starts to take shape, then I'll start drilling regularly.

Cool beans... I'll try that... I think I was being impatient and just drilled away. I should treat it like a Baldur's Gate fight with pausing every once in a while to check progress.

I have a few people testing a little gizmo/tool called "Barrel Buddy".

Basically, it's a little gadget that lines up the bit with the center of the barrel.

I think we're happy with the progress being made, the big question is going to be whether there's enough demand to make it worthwhile.

You don't need a special tool for centring your bit. Just find the centre of the barrel with your knife and twist it around a bit.

The marking the center technique is crucial in drilling. When you drill barrels or magnetising precision is needed.

Obviously we are talkin about using a vice here right? I have a vice and a drill on an arm that will go down in a dead pan straight line, I mark the drill head with ink do a dry run to make sure it's going dead center, then drill a few mm into the barrel, this is done on all of my lasguns.

I use a small electric hand drill. The drill part itself is as big as the one offered by GW. All you have to do is make a small indent first, and then hold the gun. It goes much faster than by hand, and I think the results are just as fine, especially for bigger holes such as exhaust pipes on bikes.

I found recently that drilling out the flash hider first made drilling the barrell easier.

The easiest way I've found is to use a fine tip pen (ie: Micron) to draw a line on the barrel bisecting it vertically and then horizontally this will give you the center you need.

Next take the tip of a fresh or still sharp exacto knife and put it on the center of the cross you made earlier. Twist until you have a good indent made. Then line up your pin vice tip with the indent and drill in.

I use this method and can usually get a centered hole. the one problem I tend to have is if the bit in the vice is worn or off center. When that happens there is nothing saving that hole from being off center.

UsdiThunder wrote:The easiest way I've found is to use a fine tip pen (ie: Micron) to draw a line on the barrel bisecting it vertically and then horizontally this will give you the center you need.

Next take the tip of a fresh or still sharp exacto knife and put it on the center of the cross you made earlier. Twist until you have a good indent made. Then line up your pin vice tip with the indent and drill in.

I use this method and can usually get a centered hole. the one problem I tend to have is if the bit in the vice is worn or off center. When that happens there is nothing saving that hole from being off center.

Wow.
I was just coming in to give almost the exact advice. I just do mine slightly different.

I make my lines with an exacto first. It doen't take much pressure. I just like having that slight indentation. It helps the tools stay in line better.
Then, I use the tip of the exacto in the exact manner your describing.

For plastic barrels, I move straight to the pin vice from there. If I'm drilling metal, however, I will also "round out" the exacto hole a little better by inserting the pointed tip of a hobby file into it and twisting. This solidifies the hole and helps the drill bit stay in place a bit better.

Eric

Well dang! Thank you folks for all the suggestions/help. I wasn't thinking of doing any modeling work this evening but I may just change my plans so I can try out drilling holes in boltguns.

I know that boltgun holes are generally drilled...

how about the following:

Plasmagun
Meltagun
Flamer
Lasgun

I drill them all, even metal ones. Just be careful, cause Plasmaguns have smaller barrels.

I drill all of those but lasguns, as I never thought that laser weapons would have a hole in them, as they don't fire a solid a round, its more of well, a laser.

Wouldn't plasma or melta do the same?

Retrias wrote:Wouldn't plasma or melta do the same?

Not really, they still have barrels as they're firing projectiles (or in the melta's case, a huge beam of heat)

If you want to drill, just drill them all.
Technically, Las weaponry fires a beam of light, but all fluff indications seem to support that there's a barrel involved somehow.

Eric

MagickalMemories wrote:
Technically, Las weaponry fires a beam of light, but all fluff indications seem to support that there's a barrel involved somehow.

Eric

Focusing Laser Beams - Double Lens Formula, d the distance between the primary lenses is relational to the max focusing distance of the beam.

Plasma and melta weapons shoot some sort of gas and thus probably should be drilled. Laser based weapons don't need it.

Thanks for the thoughts/info folks! Now I just need some bits for bigger holes (ex: heavy bolter).

Also, hobby knives are fine. They leave a cone-shaped hole rather than a cylindrical one, but that's hard to notice.

More importantly, when you start going in off-center, you can use the knife to carve out the side of the too-thick side and finish it up with a nice even thickness on the rim.

you can paint them on thats what i do

I use my pin vice and make a small indentation by turning it a little so it makes an..indent, if it needs adjusting I angle it in the direction it needs to go and turn the pin vice some more till it looks center, here are a couple of boyz I finished

Thanks for the tip! Great looking guns on those orks!

You are always welcome! it's a hard trick to pull off cause space marine bolters cause the bore is alot smaller