Whats the best way to model bullet holes, 50 cal and 20mm. Have tried soldering iron then drilling small hole, looks descent. Anything better. Don
Depends on the caliber… Rifle-caliber guns (.30 cal 7.7, 7.92, etc) will leave little holes that you can do with a hot needle (Jusst remember to cut off the little “collar” that will occur when you use it on the plastic)… .50 call will leave larger hole, but that’s only with ball ammo… The usual mix was ball, tracer, & HEI or API (High Explosive Incendiary/Armor Piercing Incediary)… So large, ragged holes will be the result of HEI/API hits and if they hit structural part, those too will have a large chunk missing…
20 & 30mm cannons fired Tracer, HEI/API and HE… BIG holes…
The best way too model large bullet holes and flak hits is to take your Dremel and a steel cutter bit and thin the plastic on the inside of the part to the point that you can see light through it… Then take your X-Acto and punch through it from the outside, leaving jagged edges and twisted plastic that go in… For exit holes, do the same thing, but punch through from inside as well so the jagged plastic is pointing out…
Take a look at Shep Paine’s TBD diorama here:
http://sheperdpaine.atspace.com/devastator.htm
Down at the bottom it shows the method I described…
I used it here on my B-17:
Don’t forget to add a little silver around them because the round will knock a little paint off…
This may or may not help. Back side of an aluminum plate with numerous 45, 44 and other round put through it.
This might be of help Battle Damage and Part II.
Here’s a shot of a hole left by a 30 cal. bullet as it exited my bunker:
This is what the bunker looked like normally:
tmight help.