"6mm Turrets Question......Painting and Mounting" Topic

Okay, just starting on 6mm, before in 15mm and even 1/600, mounting to craft sticks with a bit of white glue worked great. Now with 6mm turrets, that does not seem likely. How do you mount your 6mm turrets for painting?

One more thing, want to have the turrets removable on the vehicle long-term if necessary, but don't want them loose all the time. Magnets would work for other scales but not this. Does anyone use something like a sticky-tack adhesive that does not dry to put under the hull/turret? Any other methods?

Thanks, CW

For painting I'd use Uhu to glue them to the painting stick. For stopping them falling off the hulls I'd use a blob of whitetac.

I'm wondering why you say magnets wouldn't work for this scale?

Fiddly? Most certainly :-) But doable I'd have thought…

Here you go, lots of options, including magnets, plus a couple of "how to" links from the GHQ forums:

TMP link

Magnetized turrets:
link

Rotating turrets:
link

Here's what I do.

1) Drill a hole in the underside of the turret with a pin vise.

2) Cut a Map Pin so you can insert it up through the bottom of the hull and glue it in to the turret. The ball on the pin holds it in place (don't glue it yet).

3) Holding the barrels, prime the underside of the turret. Let dry.

4) Holding the barrel, prime the top of the turret.

5) Holding them by the treads or on a nail, prime the hull. Let dry.

6) Insert pin through hull, glue on turret. Let dry.

Now you if you like you can glue the tank to a popsicle stick and paint. I just glue mine to my base (I use steel bases to protect the gun barrels and for magnetic storage/transport) and mount the bases on a slat topped with sheet magnet.

I don't spray prime though.

I glue the turrets to the end of toothpicks with CA glue then pop them off at the end of paiting. There is a little clean-up of the dried glue but side cutting nippers or an x-acto usually handles it. As for putting the turrets on, I used to do magnets and it worked but it was getting expensive and was fiddly to do. Now I use toilet sealing wax, that ring of wax you get at hardware stores. Just take a bit of the wax, put it on the peg of the turret, and put the turret on. It keeps them secure without locking them in place. It doesn't take much wax and one ring will last for thousands of 6mm tanks. I do glue down my armored car turrets though, those are just too small for me to move without losing or mashing them.

I have to ask … is this "toilet wax" stuff mentioned not only by Striker, but also in one of those GHQ threads I posted … Sounds gross tbh :-)

I know, I "could" Google it, but where would the fun be in that?

Depending on the length of the pin and the size of the hole, you can carefully cut an "x" on the turret pin when it is mounted on the hull. I never lost a turret.

The wax is just a ring of wax (new in package) that when you put in a new toilet this goes on the outbound pipe and the toilet sits on top of it, creating a seal. Now should you choose to recycle a used ring, that's above my paygrade.

For painting I glue the turrets to nails with a tiny bit of CA. Stick the nails in foam or pre-drilled wood to let the paint dry. Turrets usually pop off the nails without much residue once ready to dismount after painting, but if you get sloppy and use too much glue, put them in the freezer for a couple of hours and the CA will become brittle and release easily.

I leave my turrets free to rotate, fall on the table, bounce off the floor and suffer every other calamity you can imagine. But the guys I game with are usually pretty careful so it doesn't happen very often.

Why not just stick the turrets onto the models at the start?

How often, in game play, do people turn turrets anyway?

I do WW2 armour (Western Desert 1941) in 15mm, but I glued all of my turrets on with superglue to stop this rather silly practice (IMHO). I glue them at lots of angles, including to the rear in some cases.

I'm a pretty good painter and modeller, I could do these things any which way but, sticking turrets on removes the chance of turrets falling off, getting dropped and trodden on or, if the carry case gets rattled, the difficulty of putting the right turret on the right hull if they ever get mixed up.

Fixed turrets work for me on every level.

I use toilet wax and it is the best way to do this. Dead easy and quick. Go to the local hardware store, buy a new toilet wax ring, and you have enough wax for many many thousands of turrets. Only sounds gross since it is meant for a toilet but it is just a type of wax, one that is perfect for the purpose of holding 6mms turrets onto vehicles

Those are some great looking models !