Drilling Gun Barrels

 


Today I am going to be looking at how to go about drilling gun barrels for your miniatures. It is a simple process but can be a bit fiddly. I wouldn't say that you have to do it if you don't want to, from some people it is a requirement but you should never push anyone to do something outside of their comfort zone. 

Materials and Tools

For this tutorial you will need a few tools as well as the peace that you are looking to drill out. 

- Push Pin

- Pin vice, with small drill bit

- Hobby Knife

First Stage - Prep

After separating and cleaning your part, you should be ready to start getting ready for drilling out the barrel. I like to do all my drilling while the peace is still separate to avoid causing any damage to parts that might not be glued quite properly. 

In order to prep the model before drilling I like to take a push pin like the one above and gently push a small indentation into the centre of the barrel. The idea here is to leave a small indent that will help guide the drill. 

Second Stage - Drilling

The next task is to start drilling. When you have a firm grip of the peace you can gently start drilling into where you've made your mark. Take your time with this because you want to make sure that the drill goes in straight, a twisted drill can cause a headache if it comes through the model sideways. 

you can also drill out the little side vents, these are super common on space marine bolters and very easy to drill out as they have a nice groove that you can follow with your drill bit. 


Final step - Clean up 

The last step is to clean up the hole that you have made. For this you will need a hobby knife. Carefully take your knife an cut gently away at the inside of the barrel. The goal is to widen out the hole to the size that you want. It can also be a good way to help tidy up if you drill slightly wonky. 



Finished

And that is all there is to it. I hope this guide is useful for you and helps you if you are unsure about the steps when it comes to drilling gun barrels. 



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