Okay, so i’ve see a lot of postings where people are using needles, tubing, or syringes for aircraft guns. One thing i havent found is how you go about applying them to your plane. Do you jam them into the guns that are already there? Or cut off the existing guns and replace them?
I’m fascinated by the possibilities. As always, grateful for your help and advice![:X]
merideth
I would cut them off and replace them. I did a P-51 Mustang once and in the wing had 3 plastic guns I cut them off and put brass tubing insted.
thunderbolt do you have any photos of that? sorry, i’m a total visual learner!
merideth
I think Meredith needs to start watching Discovery Wings and the History Channel…[;)]
If you have an ACE Hardware store near you, look for the k&E display. (thats the rack with the brass, aluminum and steel) it will have a variety of stock that you can get that will make perfect barrells. Brass tubing from the size of mechanical pencil lead all the way up to 1" in dia. Square stock, channel, flat stock, I beam, etc. Really comes in handy. Also see about investing in a pinvice and some wire guage drill bits. This way in a pinch, you can stretch out some sprue and drill out your own barrells. (Besides you’ll want to do that for some of the kit barrells too,)
Its alot safer than shaking down junkies…[}:)]
Mike
I haven’t worked with syringe needles yet, but I would try to drill out the end of the barrel and insert the needle there. I think that 50 and 30 cal machine guns look a lot better when you can see the cooling holes in the barrel shroud. If there are no holes in the particular application or they are covered by the wing(i.e. P-51) then replace the whole deal. I’m not sure how hard this would be, since I haven’t done it yet, but I will be trying it. Anyway, there it my two bits…
mike, dude, i’m ADDICTED to the History Channel…i get mocked for it on a regular basis…i’m a lifelong history junkie, which means my habit doesnt come with the aforementioned needles 
was thinking of heating up the end of some of that tubing and and using it to melt it’s way into the pre-exisitng gun barells…whatta you think? would that work?
I know I would screw it up if I used heat, especially on such a small piece o’ plastic. I would try starting out with an undersized drill bit in a pin vice and drill a pilot hole, then work up to a size the needle or tubing would fit into snuggly. Give it a try on some scrap, but my guess is that the heat and pressure would bulge the plastic.
I have only replaced guns on P-47’s. I cut them even with the wings and then drill new holes for the tubing. I cut it longer so I can adjust for the proper length. Every time I turn on History Channel, my wife reminds me that the Germans still lost the war.
Take a look at the following websites for .50 cal. barrels. They have the cooling jackets and stainless barrels. Don’t bother with the resin guns. They aren;t worth it. The barrels are actually made by Eduard. But, they don’t seel them separately. Cut the barrels off the kit guns, use wire drills and superglue to attach the new berrels.
Here’s a review: http://www.kitreview.com/reviews/karayabarrelsreviewbg_1.htm
Kayra is a Polish company. AirConniectoin is their North American reseller. Karaya was substantially less expensive than AirConnection.
http://www.karaya.ceti.pl/ or http://www.airconnection.on.ca/
They are pretty cool!
Jim
wow jim…those are unbelievably cool!
Ok, forget everything i said, just use the karaya stuff!!! It will take a lot to do my
B-17, though!
Jim, thanks.
That is hot! Wonder if they have ammo, too…
Thanks.
not enough control with heat and plastic. The tolerance for melting and softening is too narrow. You may chance melting the gun and causing it to become mishapen or “bead up” as the metal touches the plastic.
If you’re really jonesing to make some guns, use the tube for the barrel and or the shroud, drill holes through it for cooling vents. The tubing wall is thin enough you could use a pinvice and some wire guage bits. Once painted up it will look slick. Or you could use some plastic rod and do the same. If you wanted to slide the tubing over the existing barrell, just shave the plastic down a bit and sleeve the existing guns.
Mike
I don’t know if you could tell from the pictures, but the barrel sleeves are already “blued” by the heating process used to roll them = no painting.
I have not found any good, affordable ammo chutes. Karaya doesn’t makes them. I got some brass ones in a Pro Modeler B-24D kit that are really nice. But, I don’t know who made them?
no sorry i dont have a pic and man the 50 Cal at that web is really cool way to go.
It sounds incredibly hard to drill holes in a straight line in that fine a tubing - using only a pin vice. I would think you would have to have a drill press or mill to do a good job, and even that sounds like a real pain.
I have a jig I made up specificaly for drilling dowels and tubing. It is simply a block of wood with a v groove routed down the center. The v groove cradles the tube or dowel so it doesn’t move. There is a line scored lengthwise, about 1/2" from the v groove running parallel to the groove. You take a set of dividers or a compass and put one end in the groove, the other centered on the dowel or tube. Use the scored line as a guide and just lightly mark the tube down the center lengthwise. The rest is easy. Just drill along the scored line.
This also works well for woodworking or plumbing projects.
Mike
I´ll try to do something easy and simple and cheap je je let´s see how it works… is gonna be hard but i will let you know, so if some one out there has more ideas please bring them on!! jeje 
My Best Regards
Hector Reymundo
okay…i think if i try to drill out my guns, i’ll wreck the whole kit…one more thing to wait on until i’m a little surer of my skills…it’s so hard not to get ahead of myself…there are just so many cool things you can do!
Meredith, I have been doing my aircraft guns with hypo needles for a long time, luckly were I live (Caracas) you don’t need a prescription to buy them. What I do is to select the gauge of needle according to the acft. scale, cut the plastic one off and redrill the hole with a pinvise drill, then cut the needle to proper size with a dremel cutting wheel, don’t forget to deburr it, after that heat the needle in order to get a bluish tint and proceed to glue it in position. Keep up the good work.
Delfin