13 replies to this topic

[CuppaSteve]

You will need:
-A gun you feel like painting. Smaller is better, and it's mostly intended for the clear series blasters.
-Pliers.
-A rag or old t-shirt that you don't care about.
-The Sun.
-Cheap pens. The ones I used are by Papermate.

First things first- Disassemble your pens. If your pens are clicky (which I don't recommend, as they are more expensive), save the springs for various catch springs for the future.



Twist the nib off of the end of your pen with the pliers, and then use the pliers to start crimping the ink-tube thing, working your way towards where the nib used to be. A drop of ink should start forming at the tip. Once you have a good drop, start glopping it onto your gun. For a minimized NF, I found that I needed about a pen per side for two colors. However, I got one pen that refused to draw ink until I was half an inch away from where the nib was, so it's variable.

Hard to tell from the pic. Sorry.

Once you have a some ink drops on your gun (you only need a bit to cover a lot of space), start spreading it around with something. If you feel like reminiscing the good ole' days of fingerpainting like I did, go ahead. Using something more precise than I would be better.


Add a second color if you so desire.

Once you have covered wherever your wanted to paint, leave leave the gun out in the sun for a healthy bake. In the hot Florida sun, it only took about 15 minutes. When the ink seems dry, wipe off any excess and smooth some of the fingerprints with the rag. After that, your done!


Additional Notes:
-Obviously it's not perfect, especially around the handle. It's about as pretty as the child of a manatee and an alley-cat. That being said, I was using my fingers and it's the first time I've done this. There's definitely room for some refinement.

-It seems as though it's possible to "blend" colors. Some areas of the black and red have a slight purple hue. Had I been using any blue pens, I probably could've made a more prominent purple.

-The red on this keeps the transparency. Had I gone easier on the black, it's slightly transparent. That being said, I find this works best on the clear guns, or the proper colors (like blue) could add more body to the Sonic Series guns.

-Should this process become more refined, it would most definitely be more cost-effective than spray paint, but only for handheld blasters. Doing something like a clear deploy or raider would probably rob you of all your pens.

-If allowed to dry completely, the ink shouldn't come off on your hand. At CFNF 5 this was left out in the open to battle a downpour, and the pj survived intact.

-If you use your fingers (like me), your hands will get very messy as you paint the gun. Part of what the rag's for.

-Using my fingers also left a lot of fingerprints on the gun. They seemed to have smoothed over a little bit though.

-Going over smooth portions of the gun with some fine sandpaper wouldn't have been a bad idea.

[Strikemod]

I don't see the problem with buying normal paint and using that:p

However, you had a nice use of average household items and you explained good and had pictures, so I give props. I used to use ABS cement to paint things black like a MOTHER-EFFA so I shouldn't call this bad...

How does it hold up to scratches? I wouldn't imagine ink to dry very stiff... Ladies?

[CuppaSteve]

As I said in the post, the intention is to keep the transparency (which spraypaint won't do), at least with the red ink. It seems to be holding up fine, it looks just like when I did this a couple months ago.

[SlightlySane813]

I used to use ABS cement to paint things black like a MOTHER-EFFA so I shouldn't call this bad...

This is why people erotically massage painting nerf guns because people paint there guns all black and...
(you know the rest)

[TantumBull]

You should look into ABS dyes.

[Eik]

I use Krylon X-Metals series on clear guns.

Its about $5 at most Walmarts I've seen.

[CuppaSteve]

Its about $5 at most Walmarts I've seen.

And these are 13 cents a pop, perhaps cheaper. Less if you just take random pens that are lying around the house. All in all, probably a wash depending on how much of the paint you use for each blaster.

But do you get the reward of finger-painting like a 3-year-old? I think not.

[Evano92]

If you want to use pens on clear nerf guns, use pilot g2 cartridges. They are more expensive, but they hold alot more ink, and getting the ink out is easier and quicker, just hold it over a lighter or soldering iron and the ink will all drip out. Then you could use a paintbrush or something to apply it.

[Banshee]

Invest in an airbrush and candy paints. It's the best way to go, Harbor Freight for like $20, just hook it up to your air compressor, a $5 bottle of paint will last you years. Best investment I ever made.

[CuppaSteve]

Good grief guys....

It's a proof-of-concept exploring possibilities for alternative procedures so that people can reference it in the future, not me trying to say "MY NITEFINDERZ BETR THN YURS SPRAYPAINT SUX LOL!!!11!11!11!". I did this because I didn't want to waste money on spraypaint. I'm a freakin' teenager, why the hell would I have money?

So everyone saying "you should buy _________ paint" has completely missed the point.


Gather 'round and let's review everybody

Invest in an airbrush and candy paints. It's the best way to go, Harbor Freight for like $20, just hook it up to your air compressor, a $5 bottle of paint will last you years. Best investment I ever made.

What's more common in a house.... An air compressor? Or Pens?

If you want to use pens on clear nerf guns, use pilot g2 cartridges. They are more expensive, but they hold alot more ink, and getting the ink out is easier and quicker, just hold it over a lighter or soldering iron and the ink will all drip out. Then you could use a paintbrush or something to apply it.

Let's see... Easily squeezing ink out of a cheap pen? Or trying to light an expensive one on fire?


</sarcasm-laden rant>

[VelveetaAvenger]

Good grief guys....

Your face palm avatar is perfect for this thread.

Do any other alternatives besides the more expensive pens keep the translucence of the clear plastic? Because I feel like that is the main point of this, not just cheap paint.

[CuppaSteve]

I thought about putting that in the post, but I decided the avatar speaks for itself.

I can't say that I've been searching for any alternatives. This is just so easy that I'm amazed at how people are trying to over-complicate it so much.

[andtheherois]

TL;DR using pen ink helps the plastic stay see through.

Good job on this idea. I love the idea of being able to make different colored translucent blasters instead of waiting for Nerf to come out with new translucent blasters.

[Langley]

Do we really need a thread and a writeup to tell us that spreading ink from a pen around a clear nerf gun will look pretty much the way you would expect it to? If anyone is really dead set on telling this kid how not to make his blasters look like my trapper-keeper in middleschool, feel free to writeup your painting technique in another thread. But I think this one has run its course.