Anyone found a decent way to get realistic bullet holes (in styrene)?
1st thing to remember the nice round holes and a string of them in a nice line across the fuselage is only in the movies. There a different ways to do it. Thin the plastic from the back side paper thin the form the good side take the tip a hobby knife and poke a jagged hole nad give it a little twist. Bend some of the plastic both inward and outward. Another is to drill a hole then make it an irregular shape with a hobby knife and glue little bits of foil in the edges of the hole. The hole can also be made with a scribing tool of something similar that has been heated. Slice or sand off the little raised ring that forms around the hole and do the same thing with the foil. Larger damaged areas will need to have some ribbing or wire/hydraulic line showing inside the damaged area.
Entry point or exit point? Bullets leave little holes going in and big holes going out. Entry points tend to dent, exit tear and rip away material.
Two ways to do this, thin the styrene as much as you can, drill an appropriate sized hole, the create the blossom, dent and tearing effect with the paper thin plastic. Styrene is notrious about becoming fragile and breaking. The other option is to replace the area with foil or very thin metal sheeting.
I have an ongoing article about the latter in my blog…which reminds me I have the wing I am demonstating with ready for paint for the final segment.
The best bullet holes I’ve seen have been with the foil method.
I agree.