See how I customize my Nerf Strongarm blaster with paint weathering and a simple LED strip. as a baby step towards prop making.\r<br>Subscribe to my channel: \r<br>\r<br>DETAILS: \r<br>\r<br>Special thanks to William Morales for his support on Patreon! He made this video possible!!\r<br>\r<br>MORE PROJECTS, POSTS AND EVENTS\r<br>\r<br>\r<br>HERES WHAT YOULL NEED:\r<br> - Nerf N-Strike Elite: Strongarm Blaster\r<br> - Apoxie Sculpt\r<br> - LED strip\r<br> - 2xAA power inverter\r<br> - Dremel tool\r<br> - Metallic silver spray paint\r<br> - Metallic dark gray spray paint\r<br> - Gray primer spray paint\r<br> - Acrylic model paint set\r<br> - Soldering iron\r<br> - Multimeter\r<br> - Wire strippers (not the ones I have, but good ones)\r<br> - Thin solder\r<br> - Solder tip cleaner\r<br> - Tekton Precision Screw driver kit\r<br> - Fiskars cutting mat\r<br>\r<br>BUY A SHIRT, STICKER, PENCILS and MORE!!\r<br>\r<br>\r<br>FOLLOW:\r<br>\r<br>\r<br>\r<br>\r<br>To be fair, I started with the same blaster that my kids each have :)\r<br>The gun comes apart very easily, with a precision screw driver.\r<br>There are lots of small springs and screws inside. Be sure to take photos of everything before disassembling.\r<br>I used a Dremel tool to sand off all of the names, logos and warnings.\r<br>Then I smoothed out the surfaces (kind of) with a sanding block.\r<br>I laid all of the parts out to paint.\r<br>I used a gray primer made for plastics, for the first layer.\r<br>Then I put down two coats of metallic silver spray paint. Some pieces were black instead.\r<br>After the paint was all dry, I started the first layer of detailing.\r<br>As a first pass, I pushed acrylic flat black paint down into the recesses of the surface, and wiped away the excess.\r<br>I added minimal color to a few parts for highlighting and detail.\r<br>I stole the inverter from some EL wire that I had.\r<br>I chopped off the end, and stripped the wires.\r<br>After disassembling it, I unsoldered the wires, and re-soldered them so that they came out the back side of the inverter.\r<br>I drilled a small hole to allow the wires to pass through the case.\r<br>I cut a single section from a long LED strip.\r<br>This strip was soldered directly to the power inverter.\r<br>Now I had a very small strip of lighting to use in the barrel.\r<br>I drilled a hole in the bottom of the gun for feeding in the wire.\r<br>I used a Dremel to cut out a channel, from that hole, to house the wires.\r<br>A little hard to be trimmed from the barrel to allow the wires to come through.\r<br>I stuck the LED strip in the barrel using its adhesive back.\r<br>Now the barrel had a light!\r<br>I fit the barrel back in place, making sure the wire/LED stayed in place.\r<br>Using a small tool, I pushed the wires into the channel Id made so they wouldnt get in the way of reassembly.\r<br>Then I put everything back in place and closed the gun.\r<br>Before moving on, I tested the lights.\r<br>To mount the inverter and sculpt the gun, I used Apoxie Sculpt.\r<br>Its a two part, 1-to-1 mixture. Be sure to mix it thoroughly, per the instructions.\r<br>I used s small amount to mount the inverter to the gun body.\r<br>Then I added small amounts to merge the surfaces and slightly customize the shape. You could go crazy here and make the gun totally different.\r<br>I added a big block to the handle to make it fit an adult hand better.\r<br>Using a little water made it very easy to modify the shape and smooth out the surface.\r<br>It takes 24 hours for the Apoxie Sculpt to fully cure.\r<br>Make sure youre safe when sanding the Apoxie Sculpt, the dust is VERY fine.\r<br>I feathered the edges of the material with some flexible sand paper.\r<br>Large flat areas were sanded with a sanding block and orbital sander.\r<br>I even re-sculpted a little with the Dremel tool.\r<br>I used compressed air and a tack cloth to remove all of the dust.\r<br>After masking off most of the gun, I primed the new sections.\r<br>They also received the same paint as before.\r<br>I should have masked along body lines where possible to minimize touch up. A little sanding and paint blended it well.\r<br>Then I began dry brushing all of the edges.\r<br>Dry brushing creates the illusion of worn off paint, giving it a used look on high spots and edges.\r<br>I used a light silver on the high spots and flat black in the low spots.\r<br>I also brushed on LOTS of black/grey paint, then smeared and wiped it off with paper towels. This fills small gaps and gives it a dirty/greasy look.\r<br>The more layers and variation, the most aged and distressed the item will look.\r<br>Here it is all finished! It turned out great for a first try (I thought). Second channel: bit.ly/iltms-2
