How do I preserve container position relationship?

So I've realized I can get better behavior by creating and destroying objects as needed rather than hiding them outside of the layout. But when I create an object everything attached to that object via a container appears on top of a single point. I would like to preserve the positional relationship. I have the objects in the container pinned to the parent (and this is performed at layout start) but this doesn't seem to help.

How do I make sure the my tank has the barrel in the proper position when I create a new one rather than the barrel appearing on top of the tank?

It looks like I'll have to create an image point for each object and an event to move and pin each object on the parent at creation.

You need to ajust the positions of your element when they are created. Best way to do that is to use the "on created" trigger.