Occams Razor

So I saw some really great guns floating around Whisper Hill. What do you use to paint them with to make them look so great?

There are only two types of paint that properly sticks to NERF guns. Vinyl dye spray, which you can get at any auto parts store, and Plasti-Dip, which you can get at any hardware store. If you use either as a base coating you can then paint it however you like.

I've had OK success with self-etching primer, but you then have to be careful that the thicker paint coating doesn't jam up moving parts.

I use nail polish

But, then again, I'm a little bit stoopid

Personally, how I get that good 'gunmetal' look is with two different vinyl dyes.

First dye the appropriate part black. (typically you'll be doing this anyway)

Mask off all the areas you dont want gunmetal. and I do mean ALL the areas, not just the ones directly around it.

Now spray a VERY light pass of silver dye over the part. A dusting really, you want it to barely mist the part. Repeat this step until you get the shine (or lack thereof) that you want. Keep in mind that the dye 'mist' will carry a LONG way (several feet!) so anything not protected will also get a light sprinkling of silver too.

The advantage of using very light coats of dye is that it dries super fast (30-60 seconds per coat!)

Interesting. I've been using wall paint and then a coating of polyurethane, and it seemed a bit excessive.

How do you block off parts you don't want painted? Painters/masking tape?

yup, and newspaper for large areas (since painters tape can get pricy)