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Couldn't find a suitable place to post this...just consider it as artillery. 😉 It's an old L&S 1:1 scale kit that I've had for some time now, but badly finished in the past with car spray paint. I'm sort of between builds at the moment, so I thought I'd refurb this while I'm waiting for a kit to arrive in the post. I started by soaking the parts overnight in Mr Muscle oven cleaner, which did precisely zip to the paint. I got hold of some brake fluid, soaked the parts again, and within an hour they were bare plastic. Useful to remember... The parts were pretty poorly moulded, and the barrel and frame had a crinkly finish to the moulding, almost as if they'd designed it not to look too real. A lot of primer and sanding later, and it was just about acceptable. I used Alclad Gun Metal for the blued finish, as it seems to replicate it well...it's a sort of purply black colour, and when glossed over it looks about right. The sights and the top of the barrel were done in matt black as per the real thing, and the trigger and hammer were done in Alclad Steel with case hardening effects painted on using clear red, blue and smoke, although it's hardly visible in the photos. I simulated the wood grain of the grips by using oil paint, and glossed over it to look like polished walnut. All in all, I think it worked ok. And before anybody pipes up about the VCRA, yes I do have a valid defence for owning a RIF. Here it is: Cheers, Dean

Hello all, A while ago I showed a selection of the 1:1 scale guns that L&S used to produce, including my Parabellum P08, better known as a Luger, after the designer. A little while afterwards, the thing fell off a shelf and cracked across the frame, so I stripped it down and put it to one side intending to refurbish it later. That was in February 2012. I recently came across the bits almost completed, and in a lull between waiting for paints to dry on another project, I decided to finish it. Here's the story: This is the box you used to be able to buy in the good old days before we weren't to be trusted with even plastic guns: And these are the bits that I had after stripping down my broken model: Luckily in my archive, I still had the original instruction sheet: Once the bits were coated in Halford's primer, I could see the imperfections and seams and blemishes could be carefully removed: Then it could be reassembled. Looks weird in grey, doesn't it? Then came the quandary of what finish to use. I'd already experimented with Alclad Gun Metal, and wasn't impressed. I eventually settled on good old Tamiya XF-1 Matt Black, lightly buffed to bring up the sheen. I think it works: For those unfamiliar with the action on a Luger, here's how it works. First, take your loaded magazine: And insert it in the base of the grip: Pull back on the toggle on top of the gun: It also locks back like this when the last round is fired from the mag: Looking inside the action while the toggle is back reveals the top of the mag and the first round about to be chambered: Release the toggle, the action springs forward, and you're now ready to fire: Now, what's next...? Cheers, Dean

Hi folks, Our local Comicon-type thing is on this weekend so we've been adding to my daughter's Zombie Hunter outfit with a Nerf gun: (click for bigger) This started out as a Nerf Stockshot, which is a sort of pistol which converts into a stock for the Modulus guns. It looked a bit daft in the box, but had potential: Disassembly was just a matter of removing the screws and then un-clipping those very solidly attached white bits. After taking the back off with a razor saw I filled it with Milliput. I also filled in the top of the front extendy-bit to make it look a bit more solid/less injection moulded. L insisted that the logos be removed but wasn't keen on sanding, but it wasn't too bad with 180 grit paper used wet with a block. She did scuff up the plastic with a brillo pad though. I primed it all with left-over Chaos Black lacquer and painted the separate bits with Molotow spraycans (cheap!) The details are mostly decanted Tamiya lacquer, and we added some decals off an old Tamiya armour sheet. I weathered it with sponge and drybrush then sealed everything with Dullcote, which is frankly a bit crap after the Alclad varnishes, but it is nice and tough. Metallic dings are Boltgun Metal with a tiny bit of the Molotow chrome pen on the high spots. Then I did a bit of "film style" quick and dirty weathering with artist's acrylics, a stuff brush and a wet rag. Not much to it (I think we started at the weekend) but it was a fun little project and I kinda fancy doing one of the bigger ones. L enjoyed picking the colours and decals and it was only once we'd put it together that we realised it's the Bosch colour scheme Heckler and Bosch maybe? Thanks for looking! Will

Hi folks, Quick digression in scale today as I made this 1:1 ID tag for my daughter to dress up as a zombie hunter: It's printed on my office printer, glued onto styrene sheet with Klear and cut out. Then I made a little seal from wine bottle foil embossed with a biro, and cut out a rectangle of Hasegawa polarize film so that the photo looks like it's holographic. I don't have a laminator (my wife's suggestion) or time to get it laminated, so I made the holder from clear PET sheet. I cut and folded it and then heated the folds in a candle flame (keep it moving!) to remove the stress cracks and tighten them up. There's a safety pin clipped/epoxied onto the back, and a bit of Blood for the Blood God for zombie chic. I think it looks quite cool, and hopefully means we don't need much other gear apart from khaki jacket and trousers that she already has. If I get any free time tomorrow I might try and do a gross sample of something in a ziplock bag though Cheers, Will

Hi all, I finally took some pictures of this thing, it's not straightforward as it's too big for my piece of paper and is very reflective. Instead of trying to document it like a model I've opted to make it look silly/pretty/instagrammy, with soft focus etc. It's Riff Raff's laser from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, as a full-size prop. I doubt very much that it's made the same way as the original but the shape and size feel about right. I put it together over a week of lunchtimes before we went to a screening last year. The main ingredient is two sets of 15mm knitting needles. I channelled our very own Nigel Heath and bent these using a heat gun and a bending spring. I don't have any bending springs so I made one by winding wire around a pen. It took a fair while, but not nearly as long as it would've done to go to the hardware shop and discover they didn't have the spring I wanted I used a pan to guide the curve and then cut the ends off square. The needles go into holes drilled in a broken turned boss salvaged from our sofa. Lots of epoxy keeps it all together, and I drilled all the way through the boss and each tube to pin it with more wire so there'd be some sort of mechanical joint. The not-authentic ribbed bit is part of a hose coupler, which hides a step between the boss and the rear part. That and the grip are made from pine dowel wrapped in thin styrene sheet. I cut the sheet slightly too long to leave recesses at the ends of the tube and expoxied ping-pong balls into them. The small ball is from a craft shop and has a plastic lightning bolt glued into a saw cut. I painted it all with some awesome shiny rattle can paint from the hardware store. I wouldn't recommend it for models though as it rubs off - maybe the pigment is graphite powder? It was great for this as it took no time and looked just fine on the night. It's probably obvious that I had a great time making the LASER. It's sometimes liberating to just get it done rather than fret about the finish or the details. Plus it helped us win the Best Couples' Costume prize at the screening which was awesesome. Not often that the Mrs. and I get to stand on stage while seven or eight hundred baying twenty-somethings raise the roof with applause! Cheers, Will

Hi all, Been away for a while as I've been busy with work, but I'm on hols for xmas now and I've knocked this together over the last few days. It's a 1:1 scale Smith and Wesson Model 19 .357 Magnum revolver with a four inch barrel, identical to the one I used to own when such a thing was still allowed. It's a plastic kit painted with Alclad Gun Metal and a coat of Johnson's over the top to give it that gloss shine of blued metal, and the sights and sight rail are matt black as per the original. The trigger and hammer on the real thing are case hardened, which leaves a lovely blue/red/brown staining effect on the surface. I tried to replicate this with various Alclads and Tamiya clear blue and red. You be the judge of whether it looks like metal. The rounds in the photos are real but inert, and the walnut grips are the originals from my old gun. Happy days... Here's the main views then: Needs some ammo: Swing out the cylinder on its crane: And slot in the rounds: JSP's...mmm... Personally, I'm quite pleased with the effect: Here's the case hardening on the hammer: And the trigger: As they used to say at the gun club - "It'd get you shot...": Now, what's next...? Cheers, Dean