Ok, I like to start with a Maverick (N Strike range) – the proportions are interesting, the deconstruction is fairly simple and the spinning chambers are very steampunky. It’s also very similar to the gun that Leila uses in Vampire Hunter D, which is just pure badassery.

Step one is to disassemble the whole thing. The casing is held to gether by fairly small screws so you’ll need a smallish phillips head screwdriver to get them out. the screws on the sliding hammer of the gun are shorter than the rest – there are three of them, so keep these separate. once the hammer comes off, there’s one more secretive screw under that.

When the casing comes apart, one half will just be an empty shell whereas the other half will hold the orange plastic propulsion mechanisms, springs, etc. The small parts will fall out if you tip this half upside down (which you’ll need to do to paint it) so take the loose ones pre-emptively and make a note of where they go.

The next step is to lay down some newspaper or magazines (I actually use empty chip packets, the surface is less likely to stick to wet paint and tear away from the rest, leaving you with tiny shreds of paper stuck to your gun). Make sure you’re painting either outside or in a well ventilated area. Lay down all the parts of the gun on your paper/plastic/chip packets and spray them all with a basic black undercoat. I usually use games workshop brand citadel paint to do this, because i know it adheres really well to plastic and I didn’t want to risk another brand. Any kind of hobby paint will probably be a safe bet, and dulux and white horse are generally pretty good quality. wait a little while for this paint to dry, then you can pick up the individual pieces and spray the other sides and edges. you WILL get paint on your hands this way, so either wear gloves ot be prepared to scrub your nails with acetone afterwards. Leave the undercoat for a fair while before painting over it – or don’t, it’s steampunk and anything goes, you might end up with a really cool effect.

I followed the black undercoat with gold for the majority of the gun, and silver for the trigger, hammer and barrel. Over this, i used a White horse shade called metallic charcoal to make the entire thing look a little dirty and worn. Be careful with this stuff, it gets everywhere – my phone, carpet and computer are currently very sparkly.

To give the handle a wood/leather kind of feel i painted over the gold/charcoal with a citadel wash in the shade Ogryn flesh – a nice reddish brown. A few coats of that then i reassembled the gun and wrapped a long leather thong around the handle for grip (velvet ribbon or cord also looks good, just steer clear of ribbon, too girly).

The next step is adorning the gun. I went to Bunnings and bough some cool antiquey looking door handles and screws and stuff, spraypainted them then added them to strategic areas of the gun with a hot glue gun. There are lots of guns in my house o_O I also grabbed some little metal fleur de lis’s from Spotlight and some chipboard spirals. everything was spraypainted then superglued, except for the metal decals, which already were a nice silver color, so i just rubbed on some gold framing wax to make it fit with the rest of the design.

Use some leather or vinyl to make little loops that the guns can hang off a belt from and you’re prettymuch done. You can coat the entire thing with a matt finishing spray if you feel the need, but it’s up to you. Good luck, and remember that anything goes – add magnifying glasses, useless handles, laser sights, test tubes and glow sticks! ^^