Nerf Recon CS-6 Custom Yellow Edition
At the risk of turning this into another Nerf Blog, I will come straight out and say that this isn’t the intention, it’s just another part of my life that I like sharing with you all once in a while.
My Recon is close to my heart as it’s the first serious blaster I’ve owned. I think it was my second blaster after my Nitefinder. I’ve never liked the look of the stock that came with the Recon and ever since I saw the one that came with the Raider, I knew they belonged together (in my mind at least). Thus began the long mission of finding a Raider Stock sold off as parts.
There were a few promising leads on eBay, but they were few and far between, and often the buyers were shooting for the moon when it came to an asking price. So that, I thought, was that. Fast forward half a year and my girlfriend was heading away for a secondment courtesy of her company, and I was lucky enough to be in between jobs, waiting for the new one to begin, so I took an early exit from the preceding job and joined her on a holiday.
As luck would have it, she would be heading off to the land where all Toys are born, the United States. I could finally obtain a cheap Raider Stock complete with a Raider. Why would I spend extra for a Raider when I only wanted the stock? Well I had my own plans for customising the Raider, but that’s another story for another day.
So it came to pass that I brought home a Raider (and a Marauder Long Sword, also thanks to KMart Times Square) to add to my now sizeable collection, rivalled only by Benny.
Since I came home to a new job, it was obvious that I wouldn’t have much time for my personal hobbies. So I slowly collected the materials (really just the spray paints) until it came to a dreary day in February, when I finally got off my butt. About 4 weeks from when I came home with the Raider.
I have a bad habit of rushing jobs when I’m keen, but I eventually settled down and paced myself, and all in all, I’m happy with what ended up being one days work which mostly entailed alot of waiting time for paint to dry. Sure if you look closely it’s not that nice a job, but in the end it’s still a Toy, not an art piece.
Now I’ll let the pictures do the talking, the finished job.
You’ll also notice a few small flourishes I added a long time ago just with the use of a silver marker. It’s amazing what a little detailing can do.
Anyway if you like what you see, here’s what you need to do to have one of your own.
Send a cheque for $50AUD to… I’m just kidding…
It’s pretty straight forward the steps you need to take, be familiar with spray painting, masking off, and a little brush painting will be called upon too.
A few helpful hints, the paint I used was Tamiya Spray number 16, which gives quite a nice color match with the Nerf Yellow, but is abit expensive (about $10AUD for a can, and this was barely enough for the job), and remember it’s just the stock. I will experiment in future with different shades of Tamiya Yellows or even the spray paints at Bunnings.
If you’re not patient enough to surface prep, remember 2 things.
a) you will need to be careful with the painted gun as the paint can chip/flake easier.
b) be patient enough to slowly build up the colour layer by layer. You cannot get proper coverage in one go. All you will end up with is the paint welling in all the crevices, a stock that’s still blue and no more spray paint.
Make one pass or two, then let it dry, and repeat the process until you build up opacity.
Lastly the grey on the butt of the Raider stock is a very good match with Tamiya Metallic Grey, XF56. If mixed well it will blend in seamlessly.
If you aren’t satisfied with the coat of spray paint, a little brush painting goes a long way. Remember, I achieved these results with little more than a few hours of work.
And that’s pretty much it! One properly colour matched Nerf Recon CS6, and one stockless Raider which kinda makes it look like a shotgun… hmmm… *wiink*
Realissimo's Therapy Session 