1/6th Scale MG42 and Tripod - 2nd Christmas present !

[Whitehunter]

[jimpy]

Steve

Couple of questions for you, then a suggestion or two which MAY help you out. You say that, when you fit the ammo belt in place, the MG tips to one side, therefore:

Q1: How thick are the rounds in the belt and is it fully flexible or rigid?

Q2: Does it come with the normal ammo 200rds ammo can or is it only the 50rd drum mag's?

Q3: How long is the ammo belt? ie: Does it reach to ground level when in place?


Now the answer's/suggestions, and this all depends on what the answer/s to the above are.

If the belt reaches to "ground" level and is semi-rigid or rigid, you could try, if you have a fine enough drill bit, (micro-drill bit), drilling as far down the length of it, inserting a fine length of wire, (brass or paperclip), then drilling a corresponding hole in the base and inserting the free end of the wire into the base.
This should have the added effect of stabilising the MG and tripod on the base. Also, if you do it carefully, the MG shouldnot actually be taking any of the weight from the belt and it, (the ammo belt) should, effectively, be "self supporting" through the wire at one end and the breech feed at the other end.

The other way around it, assuming that you are leaving the tripod fixed to the base, or building more groundwork around it, is to carefully drill into the tripod legs and, again, insert metal pins from brass rod or paperclip wire and glue to the base. Again, this method should stabilise the tripod and stop the falling over risk.

If you dont have any to hand, brass or steel rodding can be bought from the majority of good model shops, (if you have one local to you, ModelZone, is a good one). (You should also be able to get a "minidrill and micro-bit set" from the same place)

Hope this is of some help mate.

Any prob's drop me a line and I'll see what I can do to help out.

Regards etc

Ian D

AKA: Jimpy

[Steve T]

Thanks for that Jimpy. I had totally forgotten about that problem and have just moved the MG to it's new home in a nice display case. I shall get the belt sorted ASAP. One of my new models has to 1/6th scale ammo cans with it so I am going to prop the belt up with that and see if it works

Cheers

Steve T

[no man army]

Very nice Steve!! are you going to weather or age it in any way? that tripod would look nice with some paint chips.

James