"Help with barrel of armoured car" Topic

Hi, I am after some help with ideas for modelling teh barrel of 15mm Panhard 178 armoured cars.

I purchases four of the QRF ones and the barrels were to thin and bent to be used. I have (badly) drilled out a hole and inserted a piece of wire. I then slid a small piece of hollow tube over the barrel. I need to add a bit to replace the MG that came off when I was drilling (wobbly drill bit).

My question is, does anyone have any ideas of how to alter the end of the barrel to make it something like the real thing?

I'm not after perfection…as I bought cheaper models shows, just something a little better than a straight barrel.

First two pics are my model at the moment.

I'd try applying car body filler/plastic padding to build up the right sort of thickness, then gently using a flat needle file to get it to a cone shape.

What John said – but I am not sure you need to – nice looking like a/c as it is

Thanks. It is tricky..because I'm worried about adding too much and the cone looking too big…

Consider removing, drilling and replacing with an equal length of a plastic (nylon) fiber.

Matching the thickness is the difficult part. If you have a friend who likes to fish, check out their line to find a good fit. Or brush bristles, even a tooth brush can be a good source. I did this with 1/300 armour.

With some care, these can be heated and shaped as well.

Here's one example by a very talented modeller; brass (or pewter?) rod turned on a Dremel:

link

Expensive but if you were only doing one or two you could replace it with the barrel from a 25mm AT gun. Manufacturers make guns a lot more robust than armoured cars.

perhaps a small bit of the insulation from a 20 gauge electric wire slipped over the existing barrell and then use the flat side of a heated screwdriver to melt it into shape?
On some projects,I have used a blob of superglue, let harden and then carefully file to shape. After painting they looked acceptable.

Some great ideas. I did wonder if I could use a piece the tube I have and shape it but didn't know how I could turn it. Sticking it on first and filing it might be a plan. Also replacing the barrel does sound good, but wasting anti tank models seems a shame. Could do with replacement barrels sold separately.

I'd suggest using some procreate, which is a grey two part putty like green stuff but much better. It holds its shape and sharp edges and can be filed and sanded when dried. Put a little super glue on the end of the barrel and squidge a small piece on to it. As it dries shape it to as close to a cone as you can then leave to dry. When dry take a small model file (or some Tamiya sanding pads – worth their weight in gold) and file/sand into shape. With a steady hand and a small bit in a pin vice you could even drill out the end. It's easier than it sounds,
Good luck
BALM

(I've only bought two things from QRF and they were so %#&@ I threw them away as it was easier to make the whole thing myself rather than try and repair them.)

I'm very late to this, but if you need tapered gun barrels, the cheapest source is cheap hobby paintbrushes. These always taper towards the butt end, and sometimes they taper in both directions from the middle. You just match the barrel against the brush handle until you get a match with the width and taper you need, then chop that section out. You can usually still use the brush afterwards.

To make conical barrel ends, I understand you can push a pencil into heated plastic card. I've never tried this myself.