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So I see a lot of people say people need to drill out the gun barrels, but why? To make it look more realistic or for some other reason?

right, to make it look like a barrel, rather than a coffee can sticking out of a box with a trigger.

The point of doing things in miniature is to have a stand-in for the real thing that allows your mind to create the illusion of reality (otherwise, why not play 40k with poker chips?) That illusion is hampered by things like non-drilled barrels and mould lines.

What other reason do you need?

Ordo Dakka wrote:What other reason do you need?

I drill mine out so that the tiny working shells i've made can be fired by the fully functioning micro-engineered inner worky bitz.
Lasguns are the easiest to do (being short focused lasers), but the plasma weapons do have a tendancy to get hot and melt the firing model...

Are you some sort of pacifist when you don't want drill gunbarrels?

Drilling out gun barrels is a quick and easy job and adds a lot to a model, especially with things like storm bolters and meltaguns. You can get away with bolters and bolt pistols but for the aforementioned guns not drilling out the barrels really detracts from the look of the model.

Grab ten of your guys, and a hand held drill bit, 10 m,inuets (tops) and 5 models later stand them in alternating line... which ones are 'better'?

I've never drilled out a lasgun in my life. I've done a couple of bolters but not many.

I've done every Heavy Bolter, Autocannon and big weapon I've ever held, and it looks way, way better.

For the smaller stuff a little dot of white paint does the trick IMO.

Barrels always look better drilled out, what other reason is needed? It's a bit more realistic and must nicer to look at than a gun that is either painted silver at the end or just has a black blob where the hole should be.

Yeah, but the right size drill bits are near darn impossible to find!!

@ ^ you're looking in the wrong place! GW sell a pin vice and drill bits just right for bolters etc. Model-zone (b'hma at least) have a very good range of modelling tools including a drill bit set of various sizes, although they don't fit in a pin vice (they're for dremmels etc). Plastic being the soft stuff it is though I've not struggled using my fingers to turn the bits, even in FW resin models.

covenant84 wrote:@ ^ you're looking in the wrong place! GW sell a pin vice and drill bits just right for bolters etc. Model-zone (b'hma at least) have a very good range of modelling tools including a drill bit set of various sizes, although they don't fit in a pin vice (they're for dremmels etc). Plastic being the soft stuff it is though I've not struggled using my fingers to turn the bits, even in FW resin models.

my local bunnings sell them too, a darn lot cheaper than GW, too!

I once drilled out the barrel & vent holes of the clan escher heavy stubber (the slimmest heavy stubber out there).

It took a while & quite a bit of patience.

Sad thing is that it now sags as the weight of the barrel now exceeds its strength!

If you find a regular small drill bit not designed to fit in a pin vice you can put a blob of something on the end you would hold and use it as a hand drill, greenstuff would probably do for plastic/resin as you just need something to grip onto.

When I use my Pin Vice I can hear my knuckles grinding...

Tek wrote:When I use my Pin Vice I can hear my knuckles grinding...

http://www.micromark.com/MICRO-HAND-DRILL,7045.html

This makes the task easier and relatively inexpensive.

that or just use a hobby knife and twist it around in a circle. Yes, the end result is a more con-shaped drill job, but really, you don't notice it's shape if you paint it black.

So it looks cooler?

For bolters, I always drill through the side holes and the front hole, just because it makes it look more like a gun than a piece of plastic

I remember I always used to drill at a terrible angle and it would come out the side of barrel XD I have never drilled lasguns though, they didnt really seem like the things that you would drill out (that and its too fiddly)

It seems to me like it would be unrealistic to drill out a lasgun, since a laser would have a lens or something similiar at the end of the barrel and not an opening that would be prone to collect dirt and thus block the laser from firing out.

Orki wrote:...but the plasma weapons do have a tendancy to get hot and melt the firing model...

This is why metal is superior to plastic.