The $50 gatling gun / mini gun

Max Replica

Well-Known Member
Here's a simple mod I did to a store bought toy gun:

I'm surprised I haven't seen more mods of this particular gun online. It's a lot of fun and pretty easy to do.

Toys R Us sells a Nerf-type dart gun called the Air Zone Punisher. (It's not an actual Nerf gun, but a knockoff).

It's a pretty good gun as-is, but it needs a paint job and extended barrels to look more realistic.

Here are some before pictures:
View attachment 62237View attachment 62238
And the the finished product:
View attachment 62247View attachment 62241View attachment 62246View attachment 62242View attachment 62243View attachment 62245View attachment 62244
I extended the barrels with PVC, and unscrewed one of the retaining discs and moved it forward to hold the barrels together (there are two retaining discs that are made up of two parts screwed together, so I split the second one in half, making three discs total. It's very clear what to do when you have the actual toy in front of you).
The PVC barrels are long and just slide all the way inside the existing barrels until they touch the back. I held them in temporarily with black tape, but I may go back and use something that looks a bit better later.
Still from a foot or two away, the tape isn't that noticeable.
(And since these photos were taken I've gone in and added a bit of silver dry brushing to the bullet belt. It looked a little too black next to the weathered gun.)

Here it is in a photoshoot by my friend Adam Chilson:
View attachment 62239View attachment 62240
The best part about this mod is that the gun still works like new. It's really fun to pull the trigger and watch the barrels spin into action. The dart-firing action is an optical illusion as they fire from a center barrel, not the spinning ones, but when it's shooting you really can't tell.

There have been some excellent miniguns scratch built by members of this forum in the past, and this one isn't as realistic looking as those, but for $50 or so ($40 plus tax for the gun and a few bucks for materials) it's a pretty good option for people that don't have the time or skill to build one themselves.

One more bonus photo:
Here's how the gun looks mounted on the hood of Adam's Mad Max-style battle truck. (Large file size photo) :)
View attachment 62248
 
Last edited:
There's a gun in that last pic? Lol - just kidding. This came out great. The TRU by me is closing and I could pick this up 30% off... Hmmm...
 
Nice mod! I was thinking about extending the barrels for quite some time now, and your methods is easy and looks good. I will adopt this mod into my project. Thanks!!
 
Thanks for the compliments.
The extended barrels would look even better if they were grooved to match the existing barrels, but it's really not that noticeable under most lighting conditions (but most of the pics here were taken in bright sunlight).
 
HOLY CRAP! I happened upon those photos on modelmayhem.com a few days ago and I remember thinking how cool a prop that gun was and how expensive it would be to rent prop minigun from a prop shop.

Then I happen across this. man the internet is a small world.
 
By any chance could you go in to exactly what paints you used? I'm new to this and I would love to make one of these.
 
Quite a long time ago... we're talking late '80s, early '90s time frame... a manufacturer of cap guns (possibly Tootsie Toy) made an electronic toy gatling mini gun with orange lights in the tips of the barrels to simulate muzzle flashes, ROTATING barrels, "realistic" firing sound FX, and most important of all... IT FIRED ROLLS OF PAPER CAPS! So you could REALLY get that gunfire sound going! :cool:thumbsup

At the time it had a relatively realistic paint job, too, but that would be a major no-no these days. :unsure

EDIT: I just found, on a Google search, an Air Soft gatling mini-gun that looks just like it came out of a movie starring Ah-nuld! Only problem: $3,500.00!!!! :eek
 
Last edited:
Quite a long time ago... we're talking late '80s, early '90s time frame... a manufacturer of cap guns (possibly Tootsie Toy) made an electronic toy gatling mini gun with orange lights in the tips of the barrels to simulate muzzle flashes, ROTATING barrels, "realistic" firing sound FX, and most important of all... IT FIRED ROLLS OF PAPER CAPS! So you could REALLY get that gunfire sound going! :cool:thumbsup

At the time it had a relatively realistic paint job, too, but that would be a major no-no these days. :unsure

I'd love to see a pic of this if anyone finds one. Sounds awesome.
 
By any chance could you go in to exactly what paints you used? I'm new to this and I would love to make one of these.

I'd be happy to. I used duplicolor brand black primer. It's an auto spraypaint that I got at the auto parts store (O'Reilly)

I've also heard of people using an "adhesion promoter" (also from the auto parts store) as an undercoat to get the primer to stick better. Haven't tried that yet since the paint sticks pretty well for me, but I might do it next time.

After a few coats of black, I rub the whole thing down with a rag. This gives just a very slight shine to the flat black and makes it look more like powdercoated steel.

Finally, I use Rub N' Buff brand paint (available in small tubes at art supply stores) to hit all the edges and give it a worn metal look. I've used both their silver and pewter colors and either one looks good.
 
I just put the rub n' buff on the corner of a rag. Just a tiny bit. Or you can use your fingtertip.
Just hit any edges of the gun that look like they might get their coating scraped off under normal use. You'll probably get the hang of it pretty quick. Subtle is better at first, you can always add more later.
If you really screw it up, just spray some more flat black and try again.

I should also mention that I took all the stickers off first. They were kind of a pain to scrape off, but soaking them in some alcohol first really made it easier.

Oh, and if you really want the whole thing to look nice you should fill in the screw holes with some epoxy before you begin painting. If you find my post somewhere in the long nerf gun thread I talk about what product I use for that.
 
Here's what it looks like after a night's work.. Like I said I have been looking for a way to extend the barrels for awhile so I did it as soon as I have time.


vulcan.jpg



It has actually been modded to lazer tag. And I just mod the Vulcan tripod so it will fit.

I will be painting it black, but I can't find Rub n' Buff where I lived. Do you know if there's an alternative paint for weathering?

PS. The picture was edited but only to remove background and added a fake shadow.
 
Looks cool so far. I'm not sure exactly what you mean about modded for lazer tag, but it sounds interesting.
You don't really need the rub and buff. You can pretty much use any kind of silver paint. You can brush it on with a small brush, use a rag, or I've even seen people use silver spray paint (sprayed onto a surface like a paper plate, then dabbed with a rag and then rubbed onto the gun).
Frankly, it's kind of hard to get wrong. You just want some subtle silver paint on all the raised lines, corners, edges etc. so that it looks like there is silver under the black paint, and it's being revealed as the black paint is scraped away (whereas, in reality, you're doing it in reverse).
 
Great. I'll give it a go.

It has lazer tag blaster internal installed, since it will be played with, I'm not going to put too much effort into painting since it will be scrapped off after heavy use.
 
This thread is more than 12 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top