DYI - Lazer Rifle

At the San Francisco Comic Convention I got lots of compliments on my cosplay guns so I thought I would post my how to so you can make your own. For something like this it more about time over skill. If you can paint by numbers you can do this.

BEFORE

This a $20.00 water gun I got off of Amazon. Water guns tend to have a more futuristic look.

AFTER

WHAT YOU NEED:

-Sand paper
-Hack saw
-Primer
-Spray Paint
-Masking Tape
-Puddy
-Paint Sponges
-Gloves
​-Mask 

STEP 1: Sand. You will most like need a couple different grades of sand paper. The main point it to get off any shiny parts. It's good to start with a rougher grade and then and use a finer grade to smooth the surface.  

This can create a lot of dust so if you are sensitive you will want to wear a protective face mask.

STEP 2: Modify. Make any major cosmetic changes now. Since this was a water gun it's most glaring flaw was the water spout coming out of the top of the water chamber. I used a hack saw for this one. It was a soft plastic so it wasn't too bad. If it had been the hard kind, like what the handle is made of, I don't know if a hack saw would have done the job. 

After all the sanding and sawing you will get all the dust off with a wet cloth or just go ahead and run it under some water.

STEP 3: Patch. I had to cover up all the holes. Not only the giant one that was now on the top but also all the little ones where all the screws are (see above). For the big holes I got some wall patches from the hardware store. For the little one I used puddy. I have also use Gorilla glue. It expands as it dries so you do not want to fill it to the top. It can be sanded down later if needed. I just stuffed all the little holes with puddy and let them dry

STEP 4: Prime. You will want to coat everything with some spray paint primer. Let it dry completely.

Note that I taped over the part of the gun that is the hand grip. I did not paint it at all because I didn't want to chance the paint coming off on people's hands as  well as not wanting to agitate skin allergies or anything like that.

Step 5: Paint. I choose to spray paint everything silver as base layer so that if any of the blue came off there would still be a color that. This took 3 or 4 stages since I had to paint one angle, let it dry, and then do another angle. You don't want to spray too heavily or you will get drip marks.

​Using the silver as a base had an unexpected result. I used the sponges to apply the blue paint. With the first stroke my royal blue mixed with the silver and to get the light blue panels you see. I actually liked how it looked so I just went with it. But if you want to make sure that doesn't happen then use the masking tape to cover up the sections to want to be different colors. If the tape takes any paint off you can touch up later.

In order to get the darker color I had to dab the paint on rather than dragging the sponge across the silver. This took 2-3 layers. 

Make sure to let each layer dry completely.

Having learned my lesson from the rifles I did make sure to cover up all the parts I wanted blue for the hand guns. It took more time but I did get the results I was hoping to achieve. For the ones below I also got silver and blue Sharpie Paint pens to help with the more detailed work on these. The work good but the paint does come off so you don't want to use the Sharpie paint pens for any part that would get touched a lot. Or you can just touch it up often to.

And that is how I turned water guns into lazer rifles. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or contact me using the "Contact Me" page. Have fun!