Colt 1851 Navy Conversion-please help!

[spidermanna]

I made an oversized Colt Model 1851 Navy conversion for a Good, Bad, and Ugly cosplay. I am stuck on the final coat. Should I use a satin finish, gloss finish, semi-gloss finish? Planning on doing the handle in satin but I want to capture the metallic finish it currently has without screwing it up. How do I do it? I’m not as good at this as I think I am. I think the snakes will be glossy and added afterwards. Please help!

(FYI, the little one is the real one— for reference)…

 

[PHArchivist]

Final coat for all components of the gun?

My "secret sauce" for blued gun metal is to hit the barrel (and all other blued parts) with a satin or flat black, and wet sand to 3,000 grit. At times, I have come back with a clear semi-gloss, but that is not always necessary.

This does not add an red or blue tones, (as we see on 125 - 150 year old firearms), but offers a pretty darn good finish.

I've toyed with the ideal of using clear blue and clear red sprays to emulate the additional rainbow of color tones, but have yet to experiment with this added element.

 

[PHArchivist]

This does not add an red or blue tones, (as we see on 125 - 150 year old firearms), but offers a pretty darn good finish.

I've toyed with the ideal of using clear blue and clear red sprays to emulate the additional rainbow of color tones, but have yet to experiment with this added element.

Like these:

 

[The 48th Ronin]

This does not add an red or blue tones, (as we see on 125 - 150 year old firearms), but offers a pretty darn good finish.

I've toyed with the ideal of using clear blue and clear red sprays to emulate the additional rainbow of color tones, but have yet to experiment with this added element.

Like these:

That's color case hardening, which is a totally different process from bluing. That would be a fun challenge to try to reproduce with candy clears. I'm not sure I'd even know where to start with something like that though...

 

[spidermanna]

Ok, so I think I forgot to mention that the gun I am trying to finish is made completely of PVC and polyurethane resin. Does that make a difference in terms of the recommended techniques for getting that amazing blued look w/shiny barrel & brass?

 

[The 48th Ronin]

Ok, so I think I forgot to mention that the gun I am trying to finish is made completely of PVC and polyurethane resin. Does that make a difference in terms of the recommended techniques for getting that amazing blued look w/shiny barrel & brass?

Yeah, I figured that your replica wasn't actually steel. The problem is that you're never going to get a painted finish to look exactly liked real blued steel. I think it's possible to get close, though.

Check out this post by JOATRASH FX:

Blade Runner: Leon's Concept COP (A new interpretation.)

I still haven't tried anything like this myself, but it IS intriguing.