It was plastic but it doesn't matter now I got the gun for free and I didn't like the finish anyway so have ordered a metal one. I didn't prime it no which now I know was a mistake, goes with being a costumer I guess, you learn from your mistakes :cool
Paul
I know this is a post from months ago, but I just want to jump in. As a store with plastic models we get asked (and sometimes told) from our customers varying opinions on applying a metal finish to plastic.
Basically it comes down to 2 real contenders.
First being metal foil which can be tedious to apply and is very expensive if you are trying to cover any significant surface. The upside is that it literally coats the object in metal (very thin) but it's almost like gluing extra thin sheets of aluminum foil to the object. When I say thin, I mean 1/10th the thickness or so, but that does make it prone to rips when you apply it. Once it's down and the adhesive cures it's fairly durable if you are careful with it.
Second method would be airbrush. The stuff we have in the store is a lacquer based paint that requires specific primers and then the paint itself. The brand we have is Alclad and if you are comfortable with airbrushing then this stuff is about the best you can get. Also this stuff is fairly durable depending on how you treat it, but is definitely a lot tougher than the testors metalizers.
Before either, I would highly recommend washing the gun/prop whatever in alcohol. (Isopropanol is easy enough to get from a drug store.)This will absolutely remove fingerprints etc that you might not get with just soap and water. Once it's washed (and even while you wash to be safe) wear gloves to ensure no contamination before priming since that is the most likely thing to give you blistering under the paint.
On another note, I just want to say I've been browsing this thread (and others) since I stumbled upon it some time ago and confirmed the type of goggles that Blondie wore in the movie (we were the supplier for the movie) and I must say I'm impressed with the results many of you have made with your costumes and the Photoshop work really looks nice on the faked posters.
Good job everyone.
-Mike