I originally painted the brass rails on my Starkiller Hero with the ACE metallic gold, as per Starkiller and Halliwax. It looks great, but I’m still not convinced it’s the finish that the original prop has.
And, fact of the matter is that I’ve had to strip and repaint the rails several times, because the paint chips rather easily. At least the ACE paint does, and that’s also with minimal handling. I used a coat of adhesion promoter, this time around, so we’ll see how it holds up.
I really don’t think the actual prop has painted rails or rails covered in copper tape. I think that after 38 years of handling and exhibition, there would be visibly chipped paint or tape-tears/nicks/wrinkles.
So, I’d say the rails are either tarnished brass or copper. If I can find the right size copper angle-rails, I might replace my Starkiller’s rails. Or maybe I’ll just wait until the MOM static hero comes along, so it can be my definitive static hero, since my MOM FX hero will be an FX.