Can anyone pass on a good, effective way of making machine guns, rifles and other small arms look realistic? Hull mg's on armor have always perplexed me when it comes to painting them. Some of the work I see here is spectacular in this regard. I usually start with black and try to impart drybrushing of silver or 'gunmetal' but it never looks quite right. Surely theres something Im not doing...

Steve

Steve,
well, despite the actual base color depends on the finish of the real weapon, I tend to paint my machine guns a dark grey color first (i.e. vallejo panzer grey), the highlight the various details (sights, raised details and such...) with a slightly lighter hue of grey before I give 'em drybrushings- and washings. the reason for that is that you'll need some 'space' in between the colors to allow for some contrast in between the drybrushings(highlights), the base color(mid-tones) and the washings(shadows).
also you might want to experiment with either brown- or brueish hues of grey. some guns such as the browning M2 do loook more brownish to me, whereas others such as the M16 appear to have a blue-like finish...

Cheers, Max

Hi Max, Ill play with some colors I have laying around to see how it goes. I like your idea of a dark grey base with lighter colors for highlights (almost like figure painting).

Hello

for metal I basecoat in a very dark grey, sometimes black. I then drybrush with a silver/grey mix. For some weapons I finish with a wash of field blue or luftwaffe grey.

for wood I basecoat in a tan or buff. Then I give it a wash of variations of orange brown(vallejo) and/or mahogany brown(vallejo)

The technique I use is very much like previously discussed here. I paint the barrel with Vallejo Model Color dark grey (any dark grey will do). When dry, I apply a medium-thin wash of blue artists oils (again, almost any medium-to-dark shade of blue is acceptable). Then, as a finishing touch, I gently brush on MIG Productions Gun Metal being careful just to hit the hig points and edges. You can subsitute powdered graphite, but I have found the MIG powder is very finely ground and leaves a nice uniform shine.
The stocks and handgrips I typically paint using Tamiya Desert Yellow, finished with raw umber oils streaked on for grain, followed by a few oil washes of ochres and browns to deepen the wood tone.

Kirchoff

I like to paint them dark grey (Tamiya XF-63) with lighter grey highlights and then scrub pencil graphite over them (from a ground up pencil 'lead') with an old stiff-ish brush that I've cut down close to the handle. Just remember to keep the graphite off any areas that need to be painted 'wood' colour.
TTFN
Tom

Ola Well I have a similar technique for doing this like mentioned above with the Pencil graphite. Except I choose a basecolor first depending on what color of steel I want. Either a shade of grey sometimes with a bit of blue in the mix And a wash of black for the deep parts. And then I take a pencil and simply scribe over the gun with it. The deeper parts will remain dark as they don't receive graphite. The higher parts will get a light metal sheen and the basecolour will shine through the graphite. Works very well.

World War Two US machine guns had a Parkerized finish, a phosphate coating that leaves the metal parts a flat, dark gray color. Postwar treatments used a slightly different formula, so some weapons were a bit greenish.
Just paint the US weapons flat dark gray and add a darker wash to pick out details.

Excellent suggestions from everyone and I thank you! I like the pencil graphite one particularly.

I base paint them with a black/silver base coat, dry brush the edges/raised details very very lightly with silver, and give it a black wash when finished. Quick and easy, but if plan on doing a flat coat, paint after this, so you still have a satin finish. I use Humbrol paints.

I note your use of the graphite 'lead' pencil as well as others on this forum, would this be the same as graphite powder that comes in a 'puffer' bottle?

It's available here in Oz for use as a dry lubricant, and is used in general engineering applications.

Was just gettig ready to do a Sherman .50 cal when I saw this.It was my first MG and was a little lost as to what to do.Tried the pencil lead deal and it worked out real well.I also tried it on some tread pads,and I thought it looked pretty good.My next question is,could you use the same trick for onboard tools?Like pry bar handles?

I've used pencil lead and colored pencils to highlight tools as well as any parts of the vehicle that would show bare metal. I have some graphite sticks and pencils in varying hardness levels. The harder the lead, the less will transfer to the surface. The colored pencils are high quality artist pencils and have a metallic sheen.

Reccymech,
Sorry mate, I couldn't tell you. I was just trying to impart the fact that pencil 'lead' isn't 'lead' at all.
I tend to swap between a 2B and HB hardness pencils, and, yes they're good for the metal bits on tools as well.
Just thinking because I've never tried it...But using graphite COULD work well with a masking setup ( something like a variation of the hairspray or salt methods)
TTFN
Tom

Slightly but here's something else I use pencil lead for:
take your kit's steel towing wire, paint it a dark red/brown then use a dark wash to give it some depth. When dry 'drybrush' it with your ground up pencil stuff working it round the ferrules (end loops?) where they'd rub on shackles etc.
I think it makes a lovely rusty wire look.
TTFN
Tom

I use the graphite powder in a puffer bottle. its good stuff, goes a long way too and sticks better than pencil lead.. if you are using pencils use any B type ie 3b 4b-6b HB is ok but H series are hopeless try also a square builders pencil.
all in all it produces a good shiny finish for gun barrels. I tend to undercoat with a black enamel but I am still experimenting with the finishing techniques.
Cheers

This has long been a pet peeve of mine. The level of detail we strive for and research only to paint a machine gun black and rub graphite on it and call it good. The answer is simple, a machine gun is it's own machine and deserves the attention you would pay to any other major sub assembly. You have a number of different finishes on firearms, for example:
Blued
Parkerized
Anodized
Wood
Plastic/Polymer
Bakelite

To name but a few. Lets take a modern example, the M16/M4. You cannot simply spray it black then rub graphite on it or dry brush the whole thing silver and expect it to look proper.

Let's examine why. The M4 in the purpose of the modeler has steel in one place, the barrel/front site base assembly. The upper and lower receivers and carry handle/optics are black anodized aluminum. The pistol grip is black polymer, as is the butt sock on the M4, on the M16 it's actually more of a grey unless the armorer spray painted it black. If you dry brush the collapsible plastic stock silver on an M4 it's going to look rather silly. Instead, try lighter shades of black. Same with the hand guards, with the exception of the railed hand guards as these are anodized aluminum just like the receiver. Silver weapons just are not very common.

Being a visual person myself, here are some pictures showing weapons in all manners of use and abuse from Afghanistan last year.


My M249 SAW, it was brand new when I got it and it was carried, fired, stepped on, dragged, you name it. This is it towards the tail end of a year long deployment. Note the different shades of the different materials, the shiny anodizing of the feed tray cover, the gray parkerizing of the steel receiver and barrel, the blackish gray heatshield on the barrel.



This is an M2 that just took a 75 foot flight after the MRAP it was mounted on hit a 500 pound IED and landed on it's side breaking the mount and sending the gun all over the place. If that's not abuse I don't know what is, note the lack of bright silver.



The formerly eagle mounted M240B from that same vehicle except this had the trucks turret land on it breaking the polymer buttstock clean off and bending the barrel/gas tube

Now, this AK-47 was made in 1951 and has been in a perpetual state of use since then it seems. It belongs to an Afghan National Police Officer and when I shot it it worked just fine, however one must consider the level of maintenance the Afghans give their weapons. Dipping them in diesel and dry, that's it. The parkerized steel is worn to a matte silverish sheen on most of the weapon and the formerly varnished wood is worn down and sun bleached.



I suppose the point of all this is that if you are going to go through all the hard work of superdetailing and detail painting your vehicle, don't slack on the weapons systems, no matter how minor. They can greatly add to the overall look of your presentation IMHO.

Steve

I use a similar method. However, I generally dry brush the larger areas with gunmetal and then add the silver highlights. I use Tamiya for the gunmetal and model master silver for the highlights.

if you like this look, at least it looks accurate for me



here is what i did:
-Base: vallejo german grey
-drybrush: enamel Silver
-Pencil powder rubbing
-wash: Black oil Paint
-Pinwash: Buff oil Paint (for the Dust)

Hi Mark,

I think I know where you might be getting the puffer bottle from. Same place as mine. It lasts quite a while.

Like Rueben I use it too in the same manner as you would pigments or pastels. Comes up pretty effective as well.

Cheers, John

Yeah John,

I came across the graphite powder idea by mistake, I was using it on my tool box draws and the thought occurred to me that this stuff might just work as it was sticking to my fingers and everywhere else and leaving a metalised finish.

Cheers & beers

Mark