Tank Barrel Seams

[Guest]

Hi

Can anyone suggest how one can eradicate the seams on tank barrels without going to the expense of buying aluminium after market barrels. My case in point was I built a 1/35 Tamiya Chieftain tank over the past few days and I was unbale to sand and rub out the seam for fear of damaging the molded hessian jacket that was on the barrels of these tanks.

Any tips would be greatfully received especially as I have a couple of other tanks to build albeit that these are WWII German machines.

I have uploaded the files to allow you to see what I mean

Many thanks

Andy

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[tr1ckey66]

Hi Andy

I think there is no alternative but to sand this type of barrel carefully. This is how I would go about it (I'm sure others will also suggest other methods).

Mate the halves as closely as possible (if this means cut off the locating pegs on the inside, sobeit).

Now fill the seams sparingly with a little model filler (humbrol or the like). Let this cure fully.

Sand the bare barrel parts using a piece of wet and dry cut to the width of the part you're sanding (a modeller's bow sander would be perfect for this but for the life of me i can't find any manufacturer that produces one). Make sure you sand the whole of the circumference as well as just the seam (this ensures there's no flat spots).

Once the bare parts are done you can then file down the canvas cover using needle files (doesn't matter if this is a little rough because the canvas isn't as uniform and the next step will disguise it completely.

Now use Mr surfacer 500 and disguise the join in the canvas before adding a slightly thinned coat to the whole of the canvas cover.

This should sort it out.

The only other way I can think of is to fabricate the barrel out of brass pipe sections. Add the canvas cover from putty and things such as straps from wire and lead foil where necessary.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Paul

[Centurion3RTR]

I know of this problem Andy so i cheated, i put camo on mine lol.

[Guest]

Thanks Paul, I was wondering how on earth I could get around it, but you have given me the basics so I will have a go on the next one I build. I really appreciate the help offered.

Cheers

Andy

[tr1ckey66]

No worries Andy, nice Chiefy by-the-way (both of you!)

Paul