AjaxIronside
Member
Hi Y'all!
So I'll be the first to admit, this model was a little over my head. I did a LOT of research, and did a lot of practice beforehand, but there are things that I feel I would've done a little differently if I had practiced just a little more.
That said, I'm happy with it!
I used some spare wood from building a basement staircase as my platform to spray all the parts. Used a metallic Testors enamel, and then strangely a matte chalkboard paint for the black parts. I liked the look it gave - I was looking specifically for something that wasn't glossy and I wasn't super interested in getting my colors film accurate as much as I was interested in having a piece that looked really cohesive.
Some of the pieces primed and painted, with the grips. Triggers and a few other pieces weren't painted fully until later. I wish I had sanded down some pieces a little more, but was afraid of losing some detail in the gun.
The worst part of assembly for sure was getting the back trigger to pull well. I ended up doing things way different than the model was intended to be done, but I'm fine with the way it works. The trigger pulls, so that's good enough for me at this point!
After painting, I did a lot of weathering. I tried a lot of things, but ended up with using some silver paint and my index finger to try to make wear and tear look sort of realistic. I would put the gun down and see what hit first, and silver that. On the already silver parts I used some black - Testors black enamel model paint that was thinned some. As a treat, I also bought these light-up bullets. The sights have not been added yet.
At the suggestion of a friend, I ended up buying some Fuller's Earth and dirtying up the bun a bit. I really wanted it to look like something that had been used for a long time by a blade runner, and I think this ended up being the final piece I needed. Also the sights are on now.
Overall, I'm pretty proud! In person, I think that it really does "look like a thing" - at a glance it feels real to me, and for now that's good enough.
I absolutely know there is room for improvement - this kit was so prohibitively expensive that I do wish I had done a little more practice and research, but in the end I learned a LOT and I had a lot of fun. It's gonna be a very long time before I can afford to give it another shot, but for now I'm pleased with the end result. I might keep tweaking!
So I'll be the first to admit, this model was a little over my head. I did a LOT of research, and did a lot of practice beforehand, but there are things that I feel I would've done a little differently if I had practiced just a little more.
That said, I'm happy with it!
I used some spare wood from building a basement staircase as my platform to spray all the parts. Used a metallic Testors enamel, and then strangely a matte chalkboard paint for the black parts. I liked the look it gave - I was looking specifically for something that wasn't glossy and I wasn't super interested in getting my colors film accurate as much as I was interested in having a piece that looked really cohesive.
Some of the pieces primed and painted, with the grips. Triggers and a few other pieces weren't painted fully until later. I wish I had sanded down some pieces a little more, but was afraid of losing some detail in the gun.
The worst part of assembly for sure was getting the back trigger to pull well. I ended up doing things way different than the model was intended to be done, but I'm fine with the way it works. The trigger pulls, so that's good enough for me at this point!
After painting, I did a lot of weathering. I tried a lot of things, but ended up with using some silver paint and my index finger to try to make wear and tear look sort of realistic. I would put the gun down and see what hit first, and silver that. On the already silver parts I used some black - Testors black enamel model paint that was thinned some. As a treat, I also bought these light-up bullets. The sights have not been added yet.
At the suggestion of a friend, I ended up buying some Fuller's Earth and dirtying up the bun a bit. I really wanted it to look like something that had been used for a long time by a blade runner, and I think this ended up being the final piece I needed. Also the sights are on now.
Overall, I'm pretty proud! In person, I think that it really does "look like a thing" - at a glance it feels real to me, and for now that's good enough.
I absolutely know there is room for improvement - this kit was so prohibitively expensive that I do wish I had done a little more practice and research, but in the end I learned a LOT and I had a lot of fun. It's gonna be a very long time before I can afford to give it another shot, but for now I'm pleased with the end result. I might keep tweaking!
