RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

I have been away, but hope to have an update soon. Whilst I was away, the postman delivered a package containing a pair of Aber machine guns. As the rc upgrade kit contains an led with fibre optic for one machine gun, I am wondering about the feasibility of drilling out one barrel. Helpful thoughts and suggestions would be welcome.

I asked this question when I wanted to fit Abers M2 .50 Brownings on the WSN /TORRO M16 Half-track, The consensus being Don't waste your time

Richard, for something like that, it would be best done on a lathe.
To drill it out on a drill stand you'd need the gun barrel to be perfectly vertical, and have to use a very good quality accurately sharpened drill bit.
If the two cutting edges on the drill bit aren't equal, even by a tiny unnoticeable amount, the drill bit can wander sideways, especially in a soft material like brass.

Edit; to add, on a lathe, as the work piece is revolving and not the drill bit, an inaccurately sharpened drill bit will just make the hole a little bigger, but will stay straight.
But when the work piece is stationary and the drill bit spins, inaccurate sharpening causes the drill bit to veer off, especially thin bits.

Thanks both. I have a friend who makes working model steam engines and has a range of engineering machinery. I shall ask. He can only say no.

silversurfer1947 wrote:Thanks both. I have a friend who makes working model steam engines and has a range of engineering machinery. I shall ask. He can only say no.

Fingers crossed. It's also the delicate nature of those barrels, not easy to hold safely. Shame they never made them with holes down the barrels already in them.

In what I can only ascribe to a moment of temporary insanity, I decided it would be good to have opening hatches. I managed to track down some miniature brass hinges, only 4mm square when opened, almost a perfect match for the hinges on the driver's hatch. To secure them I will be using 0.8mm rivets from https://www.prime-miniatures.co.uk/cont ... -rivets-50 with the assistance of a drop of superglue. The holes in the hinges are slightly too small so they were reamed out with a pin vice and 0.8mm drill. I used a 0.7mm drill for the holes in the hatch. This gave me a tight push fit for the rivets. 2 rivets down, 6 more to go.

Something I had forgotten about dropped through my letterbox this morning - a pack of Voyager photo etch. There is some duplication with the kit but not much. A quick inspection shows that it will keep me occupied for some while. In view of my inate ability to drop small pieces of brass etching into the black hole that inhabits the floor of my work room mean I shall have to devise a better way of working.

jarndice wrote:I asked this question when I wanted to fit Abers M2 .50 Brownings on the WSN /TORRO M16 Half-track, The consensus being Don't waste your time

My father drilled a hole on lathe with no problem Now three more and could try on my M16 Hole size is 1.2mm, fits fiber glass tube.

I purchased a large rectangular white plastic tray from Ikea for my grandson to make his Lego models on, only has a shallow rim, and wasn't expensive, it was some time ago, and was only two or three quid. Would be excellent for assembling small parts

Son of a gun-ner wrote:I purchased a large rectangular white plastic tray from Ikea for my grandson to make his Lego models on, only has a shallow rim, and wasn't expensive, it was some time ago, and was only two or three quid. Would be excellent for assembling small parts

Sounds like a good idea.