You could almost call it making a steam punk prop, but to complete the Bioshock Infinite costume I needed a weapon. Now it is not an exact looking prop from the video game, and I had considered chopping the gun up for the handle and replacing it with a longer, bigger piece of PVC and some trim for the pump. Ulitmately, due to time I couldn't try this, but that was a fortunate consequence. I am very happy with the result.
Here is how the prop started it's life. As a Nerf Super soaker. The other wood one is a prop for the holster but I resprayed it later to a straight black.
First thing I did was sand off almost all the tags on the sides of the gun. I used a 100 grit sandpaper for this to soften a lot of the material up. Some parts were a bit tough so I used a wood scraper to shave them off. Then sandpaper to smooth it out. Here is the result. Compare the tagging between the pic above and below to see the result.
Once the guns were sanded, I dropped them in a sink of warm soapy water and dried them up. To spray them I hung them with coat hooks in the garage and hung them from the garage door opener. The spray I used was a silver that gives a bit of an aluminum texture right from the can! I pulled the pump handle all the way out, and unscrewed the back cap a bit to get optimum coverage on the threads. I also tossed some tape on the nozzles. After paint it is still a functional water gun.
This is what they look like after spraying. I taped the handle on the pistol to paint it brown but I abandoned this idea like I said and sprayed it all black.
So that's it. All in all I think I only spent about five hours working on this thing not including drying time.
Here you can see the texture of the spray slightly. After the guns dried all night and all day, the next evening I started to paint them. I used cheap paints that you get from Michael's, a craft store, in the following colors.
- Black
- Brown
- Gold Metallic
For brushes I used a
- Half inch wide soft brush,
- A wide thin brush
- A small brush I use for model painting.
To apply the paint I would trim with the small model brush to make a nice 1/4" line and then use the larger brush for better coverage. To avoid brush marks on the final product go over the areas painted with a dry brush to remove excess. Here is what they look like after the black paint is applied
The brown paint was applied to the pump and the handle. It is of note the paint was old and did not dry well. It took 36hrs to dry in the furnace room which is the driest and hottest room in the house.
On the bottomside of the gun I mixed the Gold metallic paint with the brown paint. The top part paint was coated with a mix of gold metallic and black. It gives it its luster and changes the color without needing to buy more paints. I avoided painting all the bolt bits to keep them the silver color. With the mixed colors of paint, the wet paint bunched a lot. You really have to go over the wet paint with a dry brush to spread the paint and even it out. For all the paint I only applied two coats of each for coverage.
The final element to painting the prop is the weathering effect. There are several methods. One I have read a lot about is mix some black paint with some water and using a finger apply to the surface and get that dirty look in every single crevasse. My method is the dry brush method, and that is where I take the wide thin brush and lightly put on some black paint. Then brush back and forth on a scrap bit of paper to effectively knock off as much paint as possible. Drying the brush. Then rapidly back and forth run the brush over the surfaces and the edges. The dry brush not only weathers the gun but it also makes the edges and the detailing pop out. If I applied too much I used a paper towel to rub off excess black. Compare the pictures below to the ones above.
Lastly, to really make the paint stick, and make it usable, you need to seal the paint, and for me I used a clear semi gloss spray and applied 3 coats by hanging it in the garage again. This way I can still use it as a super soaker and it won't ruin the paint, and you don't have to worry about any accidental transfer with wet hands or anything.
So that's it. All in all I think I only spent about five hours working on this thing not including drying time.
