Gun Metal

[moon puppy]

There's all sorts of Gun Metal techniques, colors from blue to brown. What's your favorite technique.

I'm trying to work the .50s for the gun truck and the AK Tube Gun Metal is just too bright.

 

[Jeeves]

Lay down a layer of flat black and then I use my finger to rub in ground up graphite from an art stick. Just picked up some of the AK pigment after reading a few issues of The Weathering Magazine but haven't tried it yet...

 

[jknaus]

Most modern military weapons I have seen are coated in a black material. So gun metal doesnt really work well. Flat black and then go over with graphite powder (scraped from a pencil is best) works. You get the slight sheen of a maintained weapon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluing_(steel)

 

[moon puppy]

Black oxide...hmm. Think I got something with that label.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

On the Spandau that are on my Albatros, I used the Alclad gun metal over flat black. They ended up with that dark black bluish sheen that was just right. I used the Uschi (sp?) blackening on the brass barrel parts but still had to do the plastic parts and the best I had was the Alclad.

Worked for me.

 

[iambrb]

The coating to which James refers is Parkerizing. has been used since the WW2 period. Originally black, small arms like the garand (best example) would normally turn a green like color after time. Other guns, like the M16, being that the base is aluminum, turn a bright/faded color.

HMG's like the M2 have a finish that to me always appears Gray, not black. Also note that parts like the topcover are black, as opposed to the sides, which are gray. I would really suggest what James has there of using graphite.

 

[Paulw]

Gun metal can mean a lot of different things. In the war years the Brits usually painted their Enfields and other machine guns black, straight up black enamel. While the U.S. used parkerization that had the weapons from dark ashen gray to an almost slight rusty gray. At sea they usually turned a slight rusty brown. I have yet to see a military 1911 that was black or a black gray. Lately they are usually coated with a type of powder coating that's pretty tough and can be had in various colors depending on the area of conflict.

The flat black base with a graphite rub would be my choice with a newer weapon that hasn't seen much action. After a few hundred rounds through a gun it is all a moot point anyway then it becomes a chalky gray as the oils are burned off so anything that you do to it with in reason would be acceptable in my book.