I went out and bought some 3/64" K&S brass tubing today at the LHS and cut it to length and used some Zap-a-gap to glue this 22 gauge hypo tubing that my buddy Gip sent me into the brass tubing to make a stepped cannon barrel.
It came out pretty good I guess, but it will look even better after I touch them up and paint them in gunmetal later.
They look much better than the cheesy looking ones that Monogram put on it from the factory. [:D] [;)]
Mike
Oh yeah, they look good [tup] Probably need to use some automotive primer prior to the gunmetal or it’s not gonna stick to that brass and stainless!
Looking sweet Mike!!! Why didn’t you use evergreen tubes?? Were they too thick?? I was just curious as it seems everyone uses the hypo tubes, and I wasn’t quite sure why.
Yes, that is exactly why I didn’t use them. The smallest diameter they sell is 3/32" which is too big. I tried drilling down the center of the small Evergreen solid round material but it was impossible to get it straight enough, so I looked at the K&S web site and found that they had the brass tubing small enough for my use.
There is no plastic tube small enough to simulate to scale the diameter of the barrels of the 20mm cannons on the Skyraider, and especially the .50 cal barrels on WWII fighters when you build those.
Just think about it for a minute, a .50" bore in 1/48 scale would only be .0104" in diameter on a model. That is small! [;)]
The hypodermic tubing is the only way to get anything that small and perfectly round.
Mike
I am definitely going to prime it first Scott. [;)]
Thanks for the kind words by you and Heath both. I appreciate it.
Mike
Hey Mike!
If you are interested in the napalm canisters from the Dragonfly kit, drop me an email with your snail mail and I’ll dig a couple out for you.
And the cannons look good. Gonna have to find a doctor friend, I guess.
Randie [C):-)]
Nice job on the cannons. Hope to see pics of the finished build real soon. Keep up the good work.
Great Job Mike! Hey, what did you use to cut the tubing? I’m curious because I have to scratchbuild some smoke grenade launchers for my Bradley. (I Lost One) If you used a Dremel which bits did you use? Thanks -Spencer
Thanks guys.
Randy,
I will shoot you my email address if I decide to use those napalm tanks.
I appreciate the offer my friend.
Rick,
I will post photos as it goes along.
Spencer,
I used my Dremel tool with the emery cut-off wheel.
The cut-off wheel works great and is needed to sand the ends flat on the stainless hypodermic tubing. The brass I used is soft enough that I was able to sand the ends flat with one of the Dremel sanding disks. I put the sanding disk on top of the emery cut-off wheel and used it that way so that the emery wheel acts as a solid backing for the sanding disk. Just make sure you ALWAYS wear safety glasses when you use your Dremel. If that emery wheel explodes, and they do on occasion, you can lose an eye and that would not be good. [xx(]
Be safe and I hope this helps.
Mike
Those cannons look great Mike. I need to get something like that working on my spit as I’ve broken the smaller barrel off both of the cannons. Those really look excellent!
Thanks Josh.
It really wasn’t very hard to do. [:I]
Mike
Thanks a bunch Mike. I guess I’ll just buy the 20 pack (or whatever amount’s in there I can’t remember) at Wal-Mart. There is one with a picture of a guy cutting some model RR track. I guess those would be the ones. I can’t find a pic of that package, but here’s a link. Could you let me know the number of the particular ones you use? I’d greatly appreciate it. http://www.dremel.com/html/home_fr.html
Also, can you shape plastic with those? It says you can’t, but it seems like you could. I’m not sure though and I definitely don’t want to hurt myself, nor anyone else. If not, which bits would you suggest? I always wear safety goggles no matter what task I’m performing when I’m using power tools.(had to get a splinter removed once in the ER because I was wearing safety glasses instead of goggles. went right over the top!)Thanks Mike. -Spencer
They are difficult to shape plastic with although I have done it. They are very aggressive and the plastic gets hot so quickly that it just melts out of the way.
Mike is exactly right, don’t take a chance. Those abrasive wheels will explode at the drop of a hat. I have blown up so many of them over the years I could fill a bucket with them. They are very brittle and the slightest side load on them and they will let go.
The easiest and quickest way to cut brass tubing is with an X-Acto knife. Lay the tube on something hard like a piece of glass, put your X-Acto knife on top and push down a little, then just roll the tubing. The knife will score right through it and leave a nice, smooth cut. It will have a chamfered edge on the cut so if you want it square, just file it down a little.
Thanks for the info Scott. I’ll probably try both ways and see which one I prefer. [:)]
The ones I used are similar to the #540 cut-off wheels.
My “Dremel tool” is from Sears and has the Craftsman name on it so the numbering for the parts is different.
The package I have of cut-off wheels is Sears No. 25024 and there are 36 to a pack.
The sanding disks are Sears No. 53084 and they are Med. grit and also in a pack of 36.
Mike
Thanks Mike, I just got back from Wally’s, bough a package of 36 for $4.97. This kind…
http://www.dremel.com/productdisplay/bit_template.asp?SKU=409&Color=CC0000
Probably the same. (36-pack) These are the ones with the RR modeler on the Dremel package. So we’ll see. They don’t really tell you the grit # on the package other than Reinforced or Heavy Duty, etc. I guess these are probably finer going by the other package pics. lol You’d think they could be a little more specific wouldn’t you? The only sanding discs they had was a package deal, $11.97 for a sanding pack. Luckily, I still have a few sanding discs and some other bits that came with the original Dremel purchase so I should be able to get it done. Thanks -Spencer
Spencer,
Those are the same thing as I have I think.
The model that I mentioned earlier is 1-1/4" in diameter and mine are 15/16" which is the same as the ones you just bought.
They don’t have a grit rating because they are emery cut-off wheels.
Mike
Oh, right. I didn’t think about that. Thanks Mike.
Riffraff,
If you want to use a Dremel for plastic, get a Dremel Mini-mite. If you use it at a low setting it won’t melt platic. I don’t know if you can shape with it, but I do know that you can cut with it. You can probably shape with it as well though.
DJ
I have this one,> 
and a regular one with no speed control. I have a bunch of scrap styrene sheets from a recent job. So I’ll definitely be experimenting in the near future. (soon as I finish painting the Brad seats)
-Cheers