Space Gun!

Space Gun!!! Repainting a toy gun was the latest challenge from the PropTarts, a propmaking group I'm a part of on FaceBook. I decided to use this "Space Laser Light-Up Blaster" I bought from Walmart as my base.

Step one was to sand the surface to get rid of the warnings, logos, and to prep the surface for paint.

And as you can see, the gun does indeed light up!

I didn't want that front spinning thing, so I took apart the toy and removed that part by clipping the wires and making sure the light still worked. 

This also made the toy easier to spray with primer as well as not getting any paint on the part that lights up.

Then a base coat of Tamiya light gun metal spray paint.

I also painted the part that lights up a transparent blue, and then I reassembled the gun.

I masked off parts I didn't want painted purple, and used this hex stencil I got from Amazon to try and give a subtle effect. I was going for an alien, Halo needler look.

To get the subtle effect, I used my airbrush with the stencil for several coats to get the purple to be fairly thick, and then I sprayed a very light coat of the same purple without the stencil to make the edges less noticeable. I even used it on the part that lights up. You just have to be very careful not to spray too much without the stencil, otherwise you lose the effect by covering up all your previous stenciled work.

A little weathering with black acrylic paint, and some detail work with my airbrush in areas I wanted to show some depth and I really like how this turned out!

I really want to use this hex stencil technique for everything I paint from now on... ;)

This was literally a one night build spending about 4-5 hours on this.

And thankfully it still lights up!

Pew, pew, pew!

If you're new to propmaking, repainting a toy gun is an excellent way to get your feet wet in the hobby. Happy crafting!