"GHQ Micro Armor?" Topic

I have been thinking of getting into Cold War-Modern Era miniatures wargaming and I was looking at GHQ 6mm Micro Armor miniatures to supply the units. I have been doing some research into GHQ products and although many people rate them well there is one constant complaint that comes up again and again – tank cannon barrel bending. It seems that the turret cannon barrels always come bent like a pretzel and it takes some effort to get them straight. Due to the thin nature of these barrels they also tend to get bent very easily if care is not taken in their storage & transport and during play. What has been your experience with this issue please? I guess due to the 6mm scale this problem is unavoidable but it would be discouraging if the barrels bend and/or break too easily. Thank you in advance for any feedback.

GHQ barrels will bend but not break as easily. They are modeled thicker than scale. I base my micro armor which helps minimize this problem. Straightening bent barrels is pretty straight forward with the proper tool.

@microgeorge

Thank you for your reply. What "proper tool" are you referring to please?

The GHQ barrels are pretty stout I find. I've seen some complaints that they are out of scale beefy (along with the rivets); but that helps them hold up. The major pretzel/bendy issue is with the CinC models. The latter is known for being more scale accurate and comes in packs of 3 that are often better suited to unit creation. I've read where people replace their barrels with brass rod.

Unless you do replace with brass you are going to have to deal with some bending of 6mm or 1/285 scale from most other cast materials. They'll straighten out with tweezers easy enough.

Yeah, this is a "tiny bits of soft metal" problem, not a GHQ problem.

I have *never* ordered a micro armor tank – new or used – that came with a straight barrel.

It's really not that big an issue, if you and people using your minis exercise a reasonable amount of care.

I store mine in a somewhat haphazard way and the barrels bend but have never broken. I just bend the barrel back "straight" by hand.

Obviously it depends on the vehicle but, as has been said, GHQ barrels often come bent but can easily be straightened and I find, if properly stored, stay that way.

The same is generally true of H&R – who do some modern vehicles, particulalrly British, that GHQ do not and their more recent stuff is very nice indeed. They are 1/300th as well so I don't mix manufacturers for a particular vehicle. I've never had any trouble with Scotia either.

C-in-C, as someone pointed out, tend to do their barrels more true to scale which makes them very bendy but they are usually nice casts.

PfC-CinC figs will come straight as they are packaged differently.

The PfC-CinC tanks I got were packed in a little plastic box and barrels bent every which way since they were not secured in place.

"Tweezers" was the word I couldn't recall. Thanks joeltks.

Has anyone tried using clear epoxy resin or equivalent to coat the barrels and strengthen them?

Robert

I've found flat jaw pliers to be the best barrel straighteners around.

link

You can usually find them in a set along with long and short nose needle nose pliers, diagonal cutters and end nippers at places like Harbor Freight for less than $20 USD if you don't want to wait for a micro mart order to arrive, even though they are pretty quick, at least in the US. YMMV for the rest of the world.

I hate the stuff! sold it even before I primed it! The term soft did not even come close, unuseable would be my opinion. I am no lover of based vehicles and so GHQ is un-usable. Superb as a model provided it never goes near normal folk and never gets played with.

I have thousands of GHQ and CinC. If I can provide something, let me know, I might have it on hand.

Another approach is to try 3D printed models. The plastic barrels are springy and won't bend too easily. They are a little more likely to snap off, though. You can try Shapeways, which has become very expensive, or, I just tried Butler Printed Models in the UK. A lot of work to remove the supporting material, but only 1.15 pounds per vehicle and I haven't lost a barrel yet.