Adventures in painting

[ursangnome]

Another painted up Nerf gun mod for Threads of Damocles.



This one's a Nerf Firefly. Its name to fame is the fact that it fires glow-in-the-dark darts. When it came time that my character in the game was making a magic weapon, the special effect made this a natural choice. Of course, it added to the challenge, as I had to make sure not only that the weapon would fire, but that the switch, indicator light, and flash bulb would work properly after I was done. Thankfully, with careful masking, I was successful.

This is the first gun I've done with a clear gloss overcoat. In theory, it should help make the paint job more durable, which is a fine idea since I run around in the woods with it, and the Canon is showing signs of wear. We'll just have to see if it helps.

So first, a pic of the stock Firefly, as it comes out of the package (image credit to Nerf)




And now, painted up as the Thundergun:




My next project, already begun, is a Nerf Vulcan machine gun.

Comments

[laurion]

Nice job. I won a Nerf Vulcan at Intercon I, and the paint was already flaking and peeling in parts, so the clear coat is a good touch. I don't know if you rough the plastic a bit with sandpaper first, but that would help the paint grab as well. I think that was the reason why it was coming off the Vulcan I won.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

I don't generally rough with sandpaper, but then, I've not had any flaking or peeling from the paint jobs I have done. The one spot I see on the Cannon where paint has left is a place where it commonly rubs on the holster, so I'd expect wear to be the culprit.

I don't know what methods were used on your Vulcan, but the biggest thing I see with flaking paint jobs is that the paint was applied too thick, usually in a single coat (by hand or spray). The Thundergun above, for example, has something like five very thin layers. Two of a matte black as primer, two of each metallic, and then the clear coat.