Nerf Longshot gun repaint

Not really a prop, but a prop like object. I know a lot of people repaint Nerf guns but this is the first time I've done one; this one is for my brother who wanted a better looking gun. It's been more of an experiment working with various acrylic paints and spray paint. The bottom front part of the gun is going to be modified so that will be done next! Still a lot of detail work to do, and some clear coating.

Oh man!!! Now, if you were to mount a scope on the top and a grenade launcher on the bottom, not only would it probably be unrecognizable but it would totally pass as a movie prop!

Thanks! I'm trying to convince my brother to get a scope for it; I think it'll look much better with one. Grenade launcher would be awesome too haha. I was using the same painting techniques as I've used on canvas, so it was interesting to see how it looks on a 3D object.

Did you take the gun apart before painting it or did you just leave everything together?

The bulk of it was painted while it was assembled. Every was just masked; but the back piece comes off and that was painted separately.

Some updated progress photos. It's for a Mass Effect costume.

Excellent aging job. Really top notch.

Great job. I have one of these and repainted it also, just all black though. Mine is still functional too, modded with a high tension spring to shoot the darts farther. You're is looking amazing.

Thanks Darkturbo04; I'm going to be keeping it functional too. That's awesome that you modded the spring, I may have to look into that!

Just noticed this thread was posed on the RPF facebook; Haha, thanks whoever did that. I'll be posting more pictures of progress soon. I did a bit more on it. There's actually more mod work to do on the lower front portion of the gun that won't be finished for another 2 weeks or so when I have more time! (That's why the paint looks odd in that area.)

This is a great idea. Looks way better than the shiny colored plastic. Maybe even good enough to mount on the wall of the man-cave.

Thanks mlsmithjr; the paint does givea lot more depth to the finish.

Here are a couple photos of the progress so far in some better lighting. I'll update the gun when it's all finished up in a couple weeks when I get back to it!

REALLY nice job there !... makes me want to go buy one !

Wow, looks amazing. As a newbie who's going to have to do some gun painting/weathering of her own soon, I would love to hear some details about your paints and process.

Thanks; I've gotten a few inquiries as to the painting process. I'll paste a response I made here:

The gun was first primed and them spray painted with several coats of different colors. I used duplicolor automotive paints. First with silver, and then black (with some hints of metallic in it), and an off white color. Every coat was completely dry before I sprayed over it. I did this because i would sand and chip into the surface to reveal layers beneath. The gun was not disassembled (except for the part underneath the front as it will be modded), just masked.

One way is to load a brush with some water, with some paint and maybe some matte medium, and then cover some of the surface with it. Then you can take a paper towel and sort of "dab" the surface while it's still wet; this can create an illusion of grime that has settled over time. Some medium to light grit sandpaper over this can help to diversify the surface more.

What I did on this gun was work in layers. That's usually how I like to do it, as you can sand through the layers of paint to reveal the layers underneath. So if you see some of the blackish marks on the white parts of the gun, that's just black paint underneath the white that was sanded or chipped away. This can add a lot of subtle depth. The brownish grime you see is simply acrylic paint mixed with matte medium and water, that was brushed on, and then when it's starting to dry and still flexible, you can actually use a tool, sandpaper or even your fingernail to kind of scrape some of it off. This can also create a really convincing effect. I then took an exacto and lightly dragged it over the paint in some spots, and that can also help to reveal the layers underneath. If you have a razor blade, or one of those box cutters, you can snap off a piece of that and use it to carefully and lightly scrape away some of the surface, as the blade can sit flat and shave away layers that way. But be careful as to not scrape down to the raw material (in this case cheap plastic), unless that's what you want.

It may take some trial and error to get it right, but the basic thing is to think about it in layers. If you think about it, real natural weathering is basically that! Just years of layers of grime and damage to a surface. This is just an imitation of that.

Awesome. Thanks so much for the detailed reply.

Really nice job, particularly the weathering. Working with white Nerf repaints is never a joy imo, so if you can heavily weather it that always helps lol.

My son has seen your paint up and now i'm in for some work. Thanks for posting this and your painting process.

kenkaj; that's great! It should be a fun project to work on.


My brother was in town for the weekend and we pretty much finished up the gun. He helped to cut the modified piece for the front of the gun. A standard mod for this model. The only thing left to do is some very minor weathering and clear coat.