Well, I've got something that I'm happy with, finally, so I think I'm calling my Luv blaster done... for now! Since the last pictures I took
Don B and
el toro 's observations on board, and gave the trigger guard and trigger a light dusting of Vallejo Metal Color magnesium to give them a slight metallic look before applying clear coat to them and the handle (and the coloured detail around the muzzles). The darker internals were painted satin black. Then the metallic parts - the barrels and mid and back sections - were given three applications of graphite powder, rubbed in by hand and buffed to a polish between each application. This darkened these areas slightly as well as giving a better 'metal' finish. Interestingly, as you can just about see in the photos below I hope, this also produced the effect noted earlier of the barrels and the back section seeming to have be a slightly different colour in certain lights - they are actually exactly the same colour. The graphite rub was allowed to lightly extend over the raised areas of the internals too, just to give a bit more definition. Finally, I added a minimal bit of wear on the metal edges with silver Rub 'N' Buff before a final protective light clear coat.
Is it perfect? Very far from. The texture is a bit iffy in places due to the multiple painting, stripping and re-painting, and the exact colours are still very much 'by eye'. Is it better than my original paintjob? Very definitely, thanks to the posts above this one! I think it's pretty close now, without being able to see the actual prop up close and personal. Certainly it's good enough for me I think, and it looks good as part of my growing 2049 collection!
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