Recreating bullet holes and ricochets on armor

Ah !

 You have hit on something there "G". I have seen pictures of planes with holes big enough to almost crawl through .The biggest I've seen on a tank was at a Museum and it was the size of a basketball ( Approximate ) in the Schurzen .  T.B.

In most cases, a motor tool/Dremel tool is your best bet for making the damage. Fenders and stowage bins are made from various gauges of sheet metal and can be pierced by small arms fire and artillery shrapnel. Armor plate will just get dinged up. Weapons that pierce armor, HEAT (Hollow Charge), Sabot, AP Cap, etc. have varying characteristics about the type of damage they inflict when piercing the armor. Oh yes, as in a photo above, machine guns do not make impacts in a neat little line 99.9% of the time. Often the taget is moving, the gun platform moving, and the gun itself from the firing, so they impact in a random splash pattern on the target. At longer ranges, the bullets can be tumbling, or from worn out barrels.

Here is a target tank with the various types of rounds used: Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot, Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot, High Explosive Anti Tank (note the surrounding blast effect scaring compared to the others), High Explosive Plastic

Sorry dont now what happened.

The last photo is what it looks like after removing the awl with a touch of silver paint.

One of my "go to" techniques for damage from rounds is the use of an awl. I keep a candle near my bench for heating sprue but also for slightly heating the end of an awl. Take the heated awl tip and press it where you want the round to be and hold it a split second. when you pull it out you'll get a small ridge around the opening that simulates real hits. To make it even more real, slightly dry brush inside the hole with a shiny steel, very lightly at forst until you get it just right. Its very easy and you can experiment on scrap, also try laying the awl on an agle with the same process. It gives a glancing blow look. I'll see if I have a photo or two.

Heres a couple of pics of battle damage using an awl, hobby knife and weathering products. Pretty simple really. 

Honestly I didn't even think about where the bullet holes would and wouldn't be!  Great advice and help guys...I really appreciate it!

An old, old, trick I did back in the 70s was heat a nail under flame and poke into the fuselage or whatnot.

Tojo72

Just be careful,your not going to have bullet holes on tanks unless your talking shurzen or exhaust shields,ricochets,and dings yes but no bullet holes.

 

This is true.  I've only put bullet holes in armor storage bins, bustles, etc.  A grinding burr in a motor tool will produce some nice battle dings in armor.

I suggest you always work from photos. I've seen for instance where a 20mm round put a hole in an aircraft a basketball would fit through. What we think we know and what is, often don't much overlap.

Just be careful,your not going to have bullet holes on tanks unless your talking shurzen or exhaust shields,ricochets,and dings yes but no bullet holes.

I'll tell you how I do it.  I first thin the plastic down to scale thickness, from the inside, with a motor-tool.  When I can just about see through the plastic when held up to a light, I use a sharpened needle to poke a hole through where I want the bullet to "hit".  Then, if applicable, I push the needle through the "out" side and with a little experimenting, you should be able to duplicate the spread out look of the "exit" wound.   Experiment on some scrap plastic and soon you'll have it down pat!  Good luck!

Gary