Most people who are new to the NERF modding community will often find themselves fretting about which techniques for painting are the best, so I compiled this list of popular painting techniques, their advantages, disadvantages, and their results. So without any further explanation, lets jump into the crazy and complicated world of NERF modding.
Base coats and hand brushing
It seems a lot of people like to apply base coats and then do all other detailing with brush paints, I personally don't recommend this unless you invest in some nice paints.
Masking and spraying
A fair amount of people like to do detailing by taping off areas and then spraying over them, I personally like this technique but isn't very cost effective.
Masking and air brushing
Similar to mask and spray, this technique involves masking off areas and then airbrushing over them, this is a bit more cost effective then masking and spraying, but requires I bit of an investment.
Now I will go over each technique in detail.
Base coats and hand brushing
This technique is fairly popular and I originally started off using these techniques before I really understood the hobby. Typically you would sand the blaster with a very fine grit sand paper, then use a vinyl dye primer and an automotive or Krylon base coat, and then using brush paints of choice to do detailing of all sizes. Citadel paints are very high quality but extremely expensive, Testors are on the cheaper side of things but are not very good quality. It is highly recommended for just about everything that you follow up with a good clear coat.
Masking and spraying
Masking and spraying is not the most cost effective way to paint, but it diffidently gets the job done. Masking and spraying works by using vinyl dye primers and a base coat, but doing different colors by masking off areas and spraying them a different color. I personally do not like to mask and spray as I think it is inefficient but a lot of people like it. Most people will do fine detail in enamel paints and follow up with a good clear coat.
Masking and airbrushing
This technique is personally my favorite and it requires some investment, recommended if you intend to paint multiple guns. The process starts by spraying on your primer and base coat, then you take an air brush (a tool used to atomize paint) and airbrush over areas you previously masked off. I use a combination of painters tape and liquid mask (which is a cheap liquid that hardens with a rubbery peel) and then peel off the tape after spraying.
Here are some great resources for materials to use in paintjobs.
All of the following items can be purchased at most automotive paints and should really be used for all techniques listed above.
Primer: Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric (around $8 USD a can)
Base coat: Duplicolor Perfect Match (around $8 USD a can)
Clear coat: Duplicolor (I swear I'm not sponsored) automotive clear coat (around $8 - $12 USD depending on where you buy it)
All of the following items are for the brush painting technique and general detailing.
Testors Acrylic: These paints do not give the best quality paint job but are a good place to start, they are easy to clean and cheap. I recommend purchasing them in the promotional packs as it is the most cost effective way.
Testors Enamel: Somewhere between Citadel and acrylics, Testors enamels are somewhat better paint and apply more smoothly then acrylics and are more multi-surface. On the downsides they are incredibly difficult to clean up afterwards and require thinner to properly clean from your brushes and hands. I recommend wearing gloves and a smock as these WILL NOT come out.
Citadel: Citadel paints are highly recommended for more professional modders, they are incredibly high quality and apply so smoothly you won't be able to tell the difference between Citadel and spray paints. They are very easy to clean up but are very expensive (around $5 USD a bottle) if you want to use these I recommend buying them in their respective kits.
Brushes: Finding the right brush can be tricky and I won't go into too much detail here, I recommend investing in some nice detailing brushes as a good quality brush will give you great results. There is not real best brand for brushes but I recommend doing a bit of research as not all brushes are created equal.
All of the following items are for mask and spray techniques and general purpose.
Liquid mask: There are quite a few brands of liquid mask and not all of them are the same, I recommend Grafix brand as they are cheap and good for acrylics and enamels. Coming in at around $7 USD for 2 ounces on Amazon they are fairly priced and good quality.
Masking tape: Before I dive into this I would like to explain something, painters tape is basically a more expensive version of masking tape that's a different color. I know guys, mind blown right? Really any masking tape will do just don't buy any cheap dollar store brand tape. Scotch is a good brand and so is FrogTape but really they are all the same.
Masking colors: After you mask off areas you want to paint a different color, you're going to need a different color to paint it. Once again I recommend using Duplicolor automotive paints but they come in a strict variety of colors, if you need a more goofy color, then I recommend using Krylon Fusion or Krylon Colormax.
All of the following items are for airbrush techniques and only airbrush techniques.
Air brush: Finding the right airbrush can be difficult, and for an all around air brush I would go with the Testors Aztek A220. It can be picked up on Amazon for around $20 USD and is a good air brush to begin with. I personally use this model and it works great for NERF.
Air brush paint: Air brush paint can get expensive, at around $6 USD for a 2 ounce bottle. That said though, one bottle of airbrush paint, will get you a long ways. The brand I personally use is Testors Aztek water-based acrylic.
Propellant: If you don't like to go to the store, then buy an air compressor, other than that air compressors are useless. They cost a lot of money and are frankly less efficient than standard pre-packaged cans of propellant. If your using the Aztek airbrushes use the Aztek propellant cans. Really just use the propellant the instructions tell you to use as brands have different variations
Masking: Use the same stuff I mentioned in the above script on mask and spray techniques.
The best painting technique overall: Drum roll please... There isn't one! There is no proven best way to paint and I recommend trying them all and seeing what you like, opinions change over time. Just make sure to have fun and don't get too upset if you goof up a few times as it's all part of the learning experience. Most of NERF is learning and readjusting based on your results. Hope I helped and NERF on.
-cakenoodle