Rod for weapon barrels

[NiceGuyAdi]

I'm modding some Lasguns into sniper rifles for my Scouts, and part of that involves removing the existing barrel to replace it with something more substantial. The obvious go-to for this would be Evergreen styrene strips, but at £5/pack (and I'd need two packs for different diameters), that's just silly expensive to me.

 

I'm wondering if anyone's got any other suggestions? I found ASA strips (http://modelshop.co.uk/Shop/Item/ASA-rod/ITM1914) for half the cost, would that work?

[Stercus]

It's fairly pricey, but you'll find once you've bought it that it becomes really useful for hundreds of other little jobs.

[Major_Gilbear]

A decent alternative to plastic rod is to use brass rod or tube. This is more rigid than plastic, and is still easy enough to snip at diameters of up to 1mm.

 

For your barrels, I'd say that you probably want brass tube, possibly even for both diameters you want. This is easier to cut at bigger diameters than solid rod, and has the bonus of saving you the bother of drilling out the barrels.

 

The easiest way to cut the tube is to roll along the point you want to cut at with the blade of your knife, and then pick it up and gently snap it where the score lines are.

 

It should go without saying (I hope!) that you should do this on a firm level surface, with some clear space, a cutting mat, and fresh blade, and that you need to be very careful and not press too hard. Unfortunately, rolling the tube with a knife on a cutting mat to score it is exactly the sort of thing that can slip if you are not careful or you try and rush, but I am pleased to confirm that by being sensible I've so far (in 25+ years of modelling) managed to avoid any mishaps.

 

Once you've cut the tube, the material is soft enough to file, so you can run your file over the end to get it nice and square.

 

Getting tube of the right diameter to slip over a smaller diameter tube or rod can be tricky, but if the inner diameter is not given, you can often work it out by using the outer diameter and deducting the wall thickness twice.

 

In the UK, I normally buy by brass supplies from Antenociti's Workshop or Always Hobbies. Ebay and Amazon are worth a look too, as you never know when/if there's some fro a good price to be had. The real issue you'll find is that once the cut lengths are over 12"/300mm, the postage and packaging gets expensive which in turn drives the price up quickly.

 

One more thing; I used to find when I was younger that a good few places had aluminium tube at a cheaper price than brass tube, and I found this to be just as good for modelling. :)

[RedGabe]

Go for it NiceGuyAdi. Games workhop stuff is silly expensive to, so nothing new!

I've got a nice assortment of various stuff from evergreen, great stuff and very useful. Worth the price I guess.

[Major_Gilbear]

I've got a nice assortment of various stuff from evergreen, great stuff and very useful. Worth the price I guess.

That actually gives me another idea!

You could roll out some putty into cylinders and then trim to length when cured.

In order to get a consistent diameter, put the putty between two rails of the desired thickness so that you cannot roll the putty thinner than that. Use a flat surface like an old CD case (...does anybody still have those anymore?) and just roll the putty back and forth between the guides until the correct cylinder is achieved. Leave to cure, and done!

For small quantities/low volume, this might actually be the most economic route. The parts could then just be pinned through back into the plastic bolter, which is dead easy as even GS putty drills and glues very readily once cured.

[NiceGuyAdi]

Just came back here and saw everyone's posts, thanks very much all. In the end I've gone with brass tube for the main part of the barrel, and I've found cotton buds (Q-Tips) should make a nice slip-over fit for a muzzle break. Thanks for the tip on cutting them, Gilbear. I'll put that to good use.

 

Along with the brass rod, I've ordered some Blue Stuff as well, as I'm going to give casting these a go once I've got a master made up. Coming from Green Stuff World in Spain means I've still got another week to go before they arrive, though, booo

[Major_Gilbear]

I've found cotton buds (Q-Tips) should make a nice slip-over fit for a muzzle break.

Cotton buds, of course!

I used those in my youth for the same thing, and totally forgot about them. Cheap, easy to cut, and readily-available.

That reminds me of another unorthodox source of materials: cheapo hairbrushes. The plastic ones usually have easily-removable tines which are normally slightly tapered. You can only get lengths about 30mm long from them, but I used them all the time back when I scratch-built Razorbacks, Predators, and the like for my Epic scale Marines - they made great gun barrels, and didn't break too easily.