"Do you glue your micro tank turrets?" Topic

I have not been gluing my 1/285 tank and APC turrets. But the damn things are fiddley, they don't always sit well, they tend to come off when you move the vehicle, and when you invariably drop one, it falls on the floor and you have to search with a flashlight to find it. Still, I've resisted gluing them just in case I find a 1:1 game where turret position is important. This weekend, however, I glued some of the tiny turrets on a few light tanks and ACs, and thought that life just got easier.

If you game in this scale, do you glue the turrets?

I glue them down. So much easier to manage.

I glue the small turrets-armoured cars etc.
I do like being able to point the barrel on the bigger ones though.

I glue some and pin others.

Pinning: buy a box of pins that have the little plastic "ball" heads. Drill a hole in the underside of the turret. Cut down the pin saving the head portion. Apply super-glue and stick the pin up through the hull into the turret.

If you've cut it right, the turret will still rotate but is held in place by the pin.

I just ignore rules calling for spun turrets – affects both sides equally if some shots hit flank or front.

Yes, I glue them. So much less fiddly!

micro magnets.

Super Glue …

As much as I love having turrets be able to turn, for me no microscale game should concern itself with that level of detail. So glue 'em down! 8)=

I glue some of the APC and smaller but leave the tanks so they can rotate. If the rules call for positioning the turret use a marker to indicate the position of the turret.

Didn't use to, do now – the fiddly thing

Agree with nazrat.

I use 10mm and don't gle – the reason being that if I drop the tank, the turret generally falls harmlessly away instead of getting a crushed gun barrel.

magnet…popped turret = dead tank

Glue.

No.

I don't glue them. I use toilette ring wax (clean!). Easy peasy, allows the turrets to rotate, and holds them in place till you remove them on purpose.

One of these babies provides enough wax for all the minis you could ever own (I mean many thousands from one of these).

Glue them down and don't use any rules that have turret facings. The rules would probably be too detailed in other respects too.

I glue my 20mm figure turrets.

When I was into 6mm, I would glue small turrets but not MBT turrets. Although at this scale it makes no sense to have movable turrets. But it is fun to make the mrrrrr sound and spin them around anyway.

But, but , but if you pin your turrets How do you do the whole kaboom thing and blow the turret off the tank and put a wad of cotton wool coming out of where it was?

I'm with Dynaman8789; I use toilet ring wax. However, for very small turrets (apc, T60, Pz35t, etc) I glue them.

Like Extra Crispy, I pinned my down but used a #17 brad way back in the day when I could see the things without reading glasses and a magnifying glass.
I do the kaboom thing with a small firecracker placed under the tank….(kidding)
Use a wad of painted fiber fill (from fabric store).

Glue. Life is too short to rematch turret to chassis every time to box gets knocked over in the car. But I do like ExtraCrispy's idea.

I used to not believe in either basing my 1/285th scale stuff or gluing down the turrets. I've come around to doing both. It helps prevent loss and damage in transport.

Nyet, comrade.

I do admit to being a little worried about those tiny BRDM and BMP turrets though.

I glue the little suckers down. I think it's too fiddly not to. I've also started basing my 1/285 vehicles as well. It helps to protect gun barrels.

I glue them down as I don't have the eyesight or patience to go looking for the little suckers when they leap to their doom!

I glue.

What the hell is toilet ring wax!!?

I don't think it has made it over this side of the Atlantic yet. Or if it has it is called something completely different! You would never be able to sell something called that in Britain as everyone would be laughing too much to get their money out of their pockets!

(Yes we do have a puerile sense of humour….)

+1 to freerangeegg

Yes! We used to remove the turret and add the cotton explosion/fire. Or stick the cotton under the turret. It was so cool looking (well, we used to think so anyway).

What the hell is toilet ring wax!!?

It is the wax used when installing a toilet. It goes around the ring at the joint where the toilet meets the floor, and prevents leakage.

I don't think it has made it over this side of the Atlantic yet.

Do your toilets flood the bathroom each time you flush? if not, it probably HAS mad it to your side of the Atlantic. Perhaps it is called something different. Are your plumbers are particularly evasive in the terminology they use to describe their craft?

In any case, I don't use it (except when replacing a toilet), so it hardly matters to me.

I also glue down only the smallest turrets. T-60s, APCs, etc. Anything larger and I prefer to have the opportunity to turn the turret.

But as most here have suggested, rules seldom call for turret facings at this scale. So it is more of an aesthetics issue for me (just looks better in the pictures). And with that said, it is rare that I turn the turrets. So …

Without toilet ring wax in my bag of tricks, I instead use tacky glue. This is available at your local crafts store (rather than your plumbing supplies store). A dab of tacky glue will keep the turret in place through box-drops or game board fumbles, but will allow the turret to be turned on those few occasions when I really want to pose the tanks with their turrets facing some particular direction.

Far less fiddly than mounting magnets or pin-heads on tanks that get painted companies (or even battalions) at a time. Takes no more effort than gluing, but gives as much turn-ability as I might reasonably need.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

As an addition to my earlier comment, I also use the glued turrets as a quick ID guide, so the tank doesn't have to be picked up to spot the ID number/letters (if it even has any). Usually only one or two are important (platoon leader or ace), so by having the turrets glued at different angles, the owning player can designate the "one with the barrel straight ahead" as the platoon leader, or whatever else he chooses. With GHQ's packs of five, there's usually one straight ahead, one each slightly to the left or right, and one each angled to the hull corners to the left and right.

I used to be against gluing the turrets in place, but I want to save my minis and gaming time so I now glue turrets in place. Even worse, I am basing up vehicles these days. It protects the barrels and the minis and I try to make the bases like little dioramas. Magnets or metal basing for secure storage.

I use non permanent kids glue. Holds the turret in place but lets me rotate it.

I'm with Dynaman, I used to use magnets but have switched to the wax ring.

I always glue them.

JohnG

Never glued them down.

If they are too fiddly you can roll up a small ball of bluetak and squeeze it under the hull so the turret pin is held in place. This way it could be moved if need be but not fall out.

I think I used copydex on a few of the tiny armoured car turrets on mine. That wouldn't damage the paint but would hold firm until needed to move.

I feel turning turrets matters even in 6mm unless one vehicle is standing for a whole platoon.

glue and base. Protects the barrels and prevents hub to hub deployment.

For ANY project that requires removal or movement, ie., doors, removable weapons, turrets, hatches, elevating guns…big or small, I use Liquid Tape by Microscale.

Simple to apply like white glue, even removable.

Fabric tacky glue can also be used.

I hope all will forgive the short detour …

I also use the glued turrets as a quick ID guide … Usually only one or two are important (platoon leader or ace), so by having the turrets glued at different angles, the owning player can designate the "one with the barrel straight ahead" as the platoon leader, or whatever else he chooses.

I too like to have understated means of identifying key vehicles, which are not obvious to opponents but are easily observed by the owning player.

A turret direction might suffice. But I prefer some more artistic level of customization for the few "key" vehicles. Sometimes it is a TC out of the hatch, sometimes it is a difference in the paint job.

Examples:

For my SU-152s the battery commanders are up and out of the hatches, urging their comrades forward!

For my French H39s the company and platoon commanders have their spare idler wheels removed, and a french roundel painted in it's place.

For my US M4 Shermans there are both tanks with COs out of the hatch (manning .50cal MGs), and tanks with stars on the turret sides. The CO out of the hatch helps me find the M4 105mm Sherman assault guns (actually a different model, but WOW you got to look closely to see that!), while the star on the turret side designates the command tanks.


For my US M3 Lees all of the tanks have stars (and bars) on their turrets, but the Platoon CO tanks also have stars painted on their hull sides. The Platoon Sargent's tanks don't have stars on the hulls, but carry an extra roll of kit on the back. The Company XO has the star AND the roll of kit, while the Company CO has the star, an ammo crate and a petrol barrel all bound up on the back.

OK. Detour over. We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread …

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Thanks for the info Mark 1. (All of it, actually.)

Your ring wax job is known as a toilet pan seal over here and is made of rubber, not wax!

Thanks for the ideas, Mark 1. For tanks with longer gun barrels, I was thinking about "kill stripes" to denote leaders. I find that there is a tension, not present in larger scales, between what might be more historically accurate, and what actually shows up on the table.

Glue and base. I'm too clumsy to handle them otherwise.

A friend of mine does not glue because he finds the barrels get bent when glued on.

When I first started way back when I didn't glue them down. My fingers were more nimble back then. Now they are glued down.

I have too many tanks missing turrets not to glue them on.

HOW COULD YOU! ;-).
How can you play with tanks with fixed turrets? You need to know if they are in line abreast all facing forward or echelon right or left or if facing Paul all round cause otherwise somebody will hit you from the rear and you won't see. You can't have them facing all directions at once. Key issue in tank tactics is formation. Even when we played at 6mm (not our preferred scale for innumerable reasons) we have to turn the turrets.

Glued and based. Especially modern MBTs with their oh long and skinny main guns.

i used too do so when I first started in the 1970s. however glued turrets were unforgiving and broke the barrels more often than unglued.

Sadly, yes. Though some are slightly pointed to one side for diversity.