Firstly this question does have an obvious answer. But I wanted to check to see if there is an alternate. The question is, how do you compensate for the weight of an aluminum barrel as my experience has shown that after installation it tends to droop (not the barrel itself, but the barrel ends up pointing at the ground due to its weight over the plastic you've replaced). Obvioulsy I could superglue the barrel into a fixed position, but I was wondering if anyone else has a different approach?

Because I like to take the easy route, I usually wedge or glue a piece of thin plasticard inside the gun shield which leaves the gun still able to elevate/depress, but makes it less likely to do it by itself.

Where you can do this (like with saukopf type mantlets) try thickening up the trunnions with a bit of superglue.

I epoxy mine in place. Since you want to still move the barrel up & down - you could try attaching a counter weight on the inside of the turret although you would have to use something with some heft to it.

If its in a closed top turret with no view of the interior possible I add a counter weight to the breech.

I always glue mine in place - the fewer moving parts the less change of breakage in the future.

I glue mine too. I figure its not a toy and if I glue it there is less chance it getting wrecked.

I glue too ! i feel that a nice scale model needs no moving parts at all ,it really doesnt

Me too. I figure the fewer things that can move, the fewer things that can break. I glue it all down, turret, wheels, gun, hatches, everything.

Now, if you feel the need to leave it free to elevate, then a counterweight is the way to go. If there is an interior representation of the breech, just hang a little lead off that. If not, make a rod out of sprue, attach it securely to the inside of the rotor and then add the weights to the back of the rod to balance things.

Paul

Same here, you'll probably agree with me that the likes of AFV had better spend money and effort on research and detail than moving barrels... I never understood the need for the recoil action of the M18. I'd rather they put some decent tracks in the box.....

Cheers
Henk

I I agree Henk, I've just finished the "Achilles", and that darned spring made it very difficult to close the breech parts together properly. The tracks were good mouldings and I like the material -they were just 1/2" too short!