Customizing Nerf Guns

[Theerteen]

Hey guys,
does anyone of you have experience with painting / customizing Nerf guns? I'm on a bachelor's party in April, which is based on the idea: Upcoming husband has to rescue wife from terrorist / cultist organisation. Next to the mandatory drinking games, he has to fight his way through all his friends, and that battle will be staged with Nerf Guns. To get a more "realistic" experience, we try to paint our guns, but while I've never done that kind of painting / stuff, does anyone here have some tips or ideas for the best paints to use? I won't go with gw colours until I've come to the details, but have no idea how to start...e.g. disassemble first or not, spray paint, sand...?
Attached is the Nerf I've chosen (ZombieStrike Doominator) for that very day, and an example for a very cool paint job.

 

[benvoliothefirst]

Hey Theerteen! I've got a bit of experience I'm happy to share. You've probably already stumbled onto a lot of resources for nerf mods online... I personally have used NerfHaven's forums and Coop772's youtube channel and found both to be extremely helpful. I've painted a couple of my guns. Most people will tell you that similarly to car painting, you'll want to use a plastic paint that "bonds" to plastic... most people recommend the Krylon brand. I can tell you that probably the most important part is sealant... I haven't really found one I liked yet, but next to try is Mod Podge.

And I've done a couple of the mods to make the guns shoot better... it can be tricky trying to reassemble things with all the tiny parts, so take pictures when you first open 'em up! But while they're disassembled you can paint the outer plastic shell much more easily. That's what I did. Just like with priming mini's, multiple thin coats are better than glomming on one thick coat and obscuring detail.

Good luck!

 

[Theerteen]

Hey, thanks for the tips. Meanwhile I have started and almost finished mine, and am busy with 4 others it's really really fun, and they already look way cooler when they are simply primed black. I have the Elite Rampage X.D here, 2 Vagabond and a Z-Strike Flip Fury, all of my friends who liked my paint style . I found very cool examples of custom painting, Blasterparts.de has good disassamble vids on youtube too! I changed the spring of my Doominator, but this one is too tricky to work with further range and power increases I think... I'm far from pro painting, but it is a cool thing to do, even more while I am very far away from my minis. When they are finished I can show you some pics if you like, and I'd like to see yours of course!