I recently bought a photoetched detail set fom Eduard for a 1/48 scale B-25J. I’m having lots of trouble rolling the machine gun barrels. All I end up doing is flattening the little buggers. Can anybody help??
Try laying them flat on a surface with a little ‘give’ to it ( a mouse pad is good ).Then roll a stiff wire of the correct diameter for the gun barrel back and forth over it under fairly heavy fingertip pressure, The photoetch should curl into a ‘C’ shape. Then hold one end of the brass tight against the rolling wire and you should be able to roll it.( I have to get my wife to do the last part, my fingers are too fat.
there is a process called “annealing” that helps a lot with the brass. Unfortunately I have never done it. It involves heating the brass with a flame to make it more pliable. Perhaps someone in the ship or armor forums can help more with this as they seem to use more photoetch.
SOunds bad, but any time I have to round out brass, I just reach for the brass tubing. It saves a load of time and anguish. But, hey, that’s just me, lazy bum that I am…