Our project began with a quick brainstorming session between him and I. Aydin is only nine and had some pretty grand ideas on what we should be doing.
"Dad!," he exclaimed, "what if we made a scope and put it on the gun and then we could use it as a sniper rifle!"
Like I said grand. Especially when you consider we were using a Nerf Maverick pistol as our base.
After we decided how we wanted to move forward, we loaded up into the car and headed to the hardware/arts and crafts store here in Sheridan. It is an Ace Hardware with a Ben Franklin crafts attached to it. Interesting place really.
At this point my oldest son, Vincent, was involved in the project so he came along as well.
Our purchases from the store included pvc piping, copper elbow joints and Gorilla Glue. In total we spent less than $11.
As for paint, I had determined early on that we could use my extensive collection of Citadel Paints from my Warhammer 40k kit.
We began by painting the gun with a base coat of black. Aydin and I figured this would be our primary color.
Once that was completed, I dry bushed a silver gun metal color onto the pvc piping and other parts of the gun I figured needed that silver metal/Iron look.
The slide and handle grip were painted with an anodized blue metal color while the cylinder was painted gold. I used a bit of red on the gun as well to add some more color.
After the painting was done, we used the Gorilla Glue to attach the copper elbows. These serve as vents for our newly created steampunk weapon. Plus, they look pretty cool!
The gluing of the copper elbow pieces took the most time. I ended doing one on Saturday night and then the other on Sunday. We used an Exact o knife to trim away the excess glue.
After the last copper elbow was attached, I set about touching up the paint job. Aydin meanwhile was sketching plans for more weapons he wants to create next week. I have a feeling a sniper rifle is in the works!
When the paint was dry, I sprayed the entire gun with a matte finish. This served to seal the paint and also to dull the shininess of the copper.
All-in-all the project took about 8 hours to complete. Eight hours where my boys and I got to create something pretty cool together.
As a side note, I don't recommend using Gorilla Glue. Although it is a strong adhesive, it does expand creating quite a mess. I am still looking for an adhesive that will work better.
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