I've gotten more done in the past three days than I have in the past three weeks.

Finished sanding, masked off the 'real' plastic, 'metalized' the metal bits with steel, gunmetal, aluminum, and brass.

How it started:



Where its at:



A little detail:



Next comes weathering--a little rust, and some mud & dirt to give it that 'Ardennes' winter feel.

Keith, excellent job! I think it looks like the real thing. What kit is this? Cheers Kevin

Hey bud, thats lookin awesome, I could take that to my reenactments and show it off. But im sure a bunch of people would notice the differences, such as the plastic label on the side. BTW is this gun the actual weight? I think im going to buy myself one of these things, only $10 on ebay.

That is absolutely marvelous. Where did you get that kit?Someone mentioned e-bay

Keith,

the paint job you did is great, looks every bit like a real MP40 (I saw one at the Yad VaShem Holocaust museum here in Israel).

but theres is one thing I'm not sure of- it seems like your MP has what looks like a modern picatiny rail on the top of its upper reciver. what is it?

yes pls let us know.what kit is this ?

Hey Guys. Thanks for the comments. Yup, it's coming along.
The ‘kit’ is actually an airsoft ‘bb’ gun. It is made by a Chinese company called Cyma.
Go here, scroll down. It was only $19 US brand new.

http://www.airsoftatlanta.com/rifle.htm " TARGET="_blank"> http://www.airsoftatlanta.com/rifle.htm

Harrison: The kit is really cheap, as in it is not too strong and probably would not survive a reenactment. It is all plastic except for the hardware holding it together and the guts for the firing mechanism. I reinforced the hollow folding stock arms with the only thing I found that would fit--lengths of cable TV coax!

I added some ballast, 'D' cell batteries and nuts & bolts, to the inside to get it close to the real weight of ~8 lbs.



Elad: Yeah, that whole rail seems out of place. All the references I’ve seen only show the rear sight and nothing in front of it. There are some other differences to. Like the retraction bolt on the kit’s charging handle. It is curved like a trigger and folds down. The real ones look more like a straight rod or knob sticking out. But for the price I can live with it.

Keith, is the rail removable ? how it is held on ?
I would be interested in doing the same thing you did. It would hinge on the rail. If it is easily removable n not to much work underneath it to bring it up to standard would be worth trying...pls let me know,,rgds jim

Hi Keith,
The gun looks really great. It's quite a daunting task to try to make all that shiny black plastic look like aged metal. Very nice work. Someone asked about the "rail" on top of the receiver. I think it's some kind of a mount for an infrared scope some of these guns are advertised with. The one I got from ebay didn't show it in the photo for the particular auction but mine arrived with this part as well. It needs to be cut off and the area touched up but it's not a lot of work. And the "bolt" was a little different looking than on this gun but again, it shouldn't be too hard to correct.
I haven't checked in awhile but you used to be able to buy Mauser K98/MP40 slings via "The Shotgun News" pretty cheaply. They may be available online thorugh an auction or a gun sales site. The real leather sling will really complete the look for anyone else making this "model".
Mike

Jim: The rail is just snapped on. The seam for the two halves lies underneath with no breaks or openings. It would be a simple task to cut off the rear sight, close up the resulting hole with sheet styrene, replace the sight, and fill the remaining snap recesses with plastic or putty. Hhhmmm...now ya got me thinkin'.

Mike: I'm gonna leave the rail on for now. Gives it a more sinister look.

And thanks for the compliment on the paint job.
It took a while to figure out a good method to simulate all that metal. What I ended up doing was sanding (with very fine grit paper) everywhere I wanted the metal paint to cling to, and then 'dry ragging' (paper towel with a hint of paint) over the plastic. A good example is the big nut which holds the barrel to the gun. I ran the sandpaper over all the sharp edges around the wrench flats, with a few swipes on the flats themselves. This caused the bulk of the color to adhered to the edges with just a little on the flats to simulate wrench marks. (If a wrench is what they used to assemble them.) I still have the ammo magazine to do. Maybe this weekend.

Funny you should mention the sling. I have been looking around for a replacment since the kit one is a bit two narrow. So I've been eyeing everything from dog leashes to old belts, and both in leather and nylon webbing. I am still experimenting with making the kit supplied sling look worn & used and will play with it a while longer, but will keep your idea of a real sling in mind. That would make it even more of a conversation piece!