Gun blueing - the painted way?

[PHArchivist]

I am repainting a Denix rifle...

I have a technique down for acheiving a near perfect smooth, "metal" black finish.

But to add the blue effect, I've not really tried this yet.

I was thinking about using a Tamiya clear blue in selected areas over my base black finish.

But I am curious if anyone else has a tried and true method for painting a "blued" effect.

 

[Mechamaniac]

You can try Matsuo's pencil method but from what I've heard it's not too durable.

I think you basically paint it flat black and then rub on ordinary pencil lead. The effect is awesome and really looks like blued metal.

 

[PHArchivist]

You can try Matsuo's pencil method but from what I've heard it's not too durable.

I think you basically paint it flat black and then rub on ordinary pencil lead. The effect is awesome and really looks like blued metal.

Hmmm... I suppose the durability issue is that if you clear coat it (to ADD durability) it looses its luster?

 

[Mechamaniac]

Hmmm... I suppose the durability issue is that if you clear coat it (to ADD durability) it looses its luster?

I grilled Matsuo on this method once and I think the falling down point is that clear coating it doesn't make it adhere to the surface any better. It is in essence fragile and can flake off. Maybe he'll chime in here, I could be wrong but I think that was the jist of the conversation.

 

[GrenadeKing]

I used that method on a hand grenade to replicate the look of cast iron. I painted it with regular primer and then rubbed on some pencil lead. I clear coated it for good measure. It doesn't seem all that fragile to me and there doesn't appear to be any dulling of the color or anything.

It might have something to do with the flat primer gripping the graphite particles a bit better but... I have no idea. :lol

 

[PHArchivist]

As a matter of fact, I used rub-on graphite powder on a Solo muzzle. I think I clear-coated it. Don't recall for sure though. Will have to check my notes.

 

[GrenadeKing]

I wonder if you could change the sheen of the graphite with colored clear coat. For a more tradition dark blue colored gun, that may work. I dont imagine it'd be much different than painting over a metallic only that the graphite is much more realistic in appearance.

 

[PHArchivist]

My concern with tinted clear coats (like a clear blue) is that I wonder if the tinting pigment adds "thickness" to the paint.

Testor's clears (flat and semi-gloss) lay down very thin on the surface. It is difficult to get much paint build up at all with the Testor's clears (not that you'd want paint build up).

And my technique for achievnig smooth "gun metal" is to apply a layer of Testor's semi-gloss, and then buff this with a soft cotton cloth.

So my concern is if I use a tinted clear blue, might the clear blue layer be too thick to adequately buff out?

Ah, I suppose that is what test pieces are for!

 

[Too Much Garlic]

If you do a test of this latest described method, I'd love to see pictures of the result. :thumbsup

 

[franz bolo]

The Testors Metalizer Gun Metal paint work real good. I've only used the Metalizer sealer made by Testors to seal them.

Also MIG has a great Gun Metal pigment! Very very nice!!

FB

 

[Too_Many_Cars]

When I was making MST3K robots 15 years ago Testors/Pactra had a fantastic transparent purple/blue which was used for Gypsy (the car seat one). A light coat of that over black would do the trick. It's extremely thin. I put something like 15 coats on one of those car seats and the mold lines + seat texture was still there. (It was a little embarassing actually, I should have prepped the surface a little better and removed all of the micro-scratches).

Otherwise, I have some black zinc/anodize dip repair kits at the office which will have matched the oily "blued" look for me in the past on metal pieces. We can dip a sample piece and see if that does the trick for you.

--Brian

 

[SingleSeat]

I would try both at the same time on a flat black coat (or consider a few drops of white). Give it a few faint localized passes with the clear blue on a super fine nozzle (after the enamel has completey dried). Then take the graphite powder and rub it down with a cloth so that the graphite really gets into the surface. Buff it enough so that it doesn't show up so much on the cloth, reapply as necessary. Then post what happened here... A last ditch option could be a lot of burnishing with a washcloth or actually polishing the flat black surface with toothpaste.

 

[RaiderZee]

Hi,

I've used the graphite rub method to finish out some Webley WG resin casts. I clear-coated afterwards and it seems plenty durable, with no appreciable loss of sheen.

Having said that, I would prefer something more of a true gun blue. Has anyone tried Duracoat gun paint? Made for real firearms, but works on anything really. Curious as to the color of their "gun blue".

RaiderZee

 

[BlindSquirrel]

The Testors Metalizer Gun Metal paint work real good. I've only used the Metalizer sealer made by Testors to seal them.

FB

Seconded! I've never even sealed the paint because I've found that after buffing it's a pretty durable paint. The buffed sheen is really good!

 

[PHArchivist]

All good suggestions!

Here my MiM MR (pre World Con) gun. It was finished with my standard formula (Crown/Ace Hardware's Wrought Iron Black, wet-sanded to 2,500 then coated with Testor's Semi-Gloss clear,and buffed with a t-shirt).

But it laks a couple things in this image - first, the angle of the gun/cam doesn't show the sheen well at all, and second, there is no attempt at blue (no clear blue over coat).

I'll post a better shot when I get home.

 

[thegreatgalling]

That looks fantastic, def. looking forward to more pics.

 

[PHArchivist]

Here's a shot that shows the sheen a bit better...

 

[PHArchivist]

And some shots of a Matsuo cast shot gun using the same technique, but again - no clear blue.