How do I make plastic grips looks like wood?

[sdmicp]

I am painting a plastic Han Solo Blaster and would like to have the plastic grips have more of a wood / grain look. I'm hoping not to have it turn out as just a flat brown grip. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. As you can probably tell, I am new to this but it has already got me hooked! Thanks!

 

[Serenity]

Use some really coarse sandpaper and carefully create some lines/patterns that resemble wood grain. Alternatively, use a knife/razor to cut some lines too. After you're done with that, paint the grips in your chosen brown; once dry, take a darker color brown paint/stain/ink and brush/rub it into the lines you created. (If I recall correctly, India ink may be good for this part.) If you're going to handle the blaster a lot, it might help to add a clear coat to seal it, but this might take away from the look. Good luck!

 

[sdmicp]

Thanks! I will try that. I'm practicing my painting on the plastic blasters before I move on to a resin kit.

 

[CynderBloc]

Another method you could try is get a fairly stiff brush (at least 1"), the cheaper the better because you want it to separate a bit. Even bash it down into something hard to mess up the bristles

Now, spray a flat primer coat of white on to whatever you want to paint, followed by a thick coat of yellow brushed on. The trick is not to let the paint settle, and have your strokes the full length of the piece you're painting. Normally I brush it on sloppily, leave it for a couple of minutes, brush for a minute, leave for a minute, brush for a minute etc.

As the paint starts to dry, you'll see the "grain" appearing (be careful when the paint starts to thicken, it's very easy to brush too heavily and end up with areas too heavy in paint and others too light)

After that coat has dried, follow up more coats in exactly the same way with progressively darker colours. Light brown, medium brown, dark brown should be enough, but you might wanna throw some black in there while the last coat is drying to give it an aged look. Alternatively, weather it after it's dried.

If you do it right, it should look something like this

Good luck!

 

[Badsprout]

You can get some nice results with a bit of creative painting. This is a Rubies Han Solo blaster I did a while ago. The grip is Vallejo semi-transparent red brown over a flat black basecoat. Once it had dried thoroughly, I painted a thinned-down flat black over the grooves then waited about 5 minutes before wiping it off. The black stays in the grooves and gives it a well-used look. Hope this helps.

 

[sdmicp]

Thank you! Cynderbloc, the stock looks like real wood! That is amazing. I will have to try that on a project. Badsprout, that is the same gun I am painting! I will give it a go. Thank you. This information helps out a lot.

 

[Badsprout]

Here's my Rubies thread from last year if it helps:

http://www.therpf.com/f9/another-rubies-dl44-mod-107177/

Badsprout

 

[slave1pilot]

For this segment
there ya go

 

[Darth Lars]

Use some really coarse sandpaper and carefully create some lines/patterns that resemble wood grain. After you're done with that, paint the grips in your chosen brown; once dry, take a darker color brown paint/stain/ink and brush/rub it into the lines you created.

I did something similar on a project. I painted a coat in one colour, then in another and then I used coarse sandpaper to make the bottom layer show through.
You could experiment with different approaches and different types of paint.

 

[Badsprout]

If you're anything like me, it'll take a number of attempts to achieve the results you want, so practice your technique on a piece of scrap plastic before moving onto the real thing.

 

[sdmicp]

For this segment
there ya go

Wow! Looks great! I have a few of these items. I'm assuming all these items can be purchased at Home Depot or should I go to a specialty place like Michaels?

 

[sdmicp]

If you're anything like me, it'll take a number of attempts to achieve the results you want, so practice your technique on a piece of scrap plastic before moving onto the real thing.

I actually now have two Rubies Han Solo blasters, a POTF blaster from 1996 (the orange one) and a new Jango Fett blaster. I think I'm gonna have a lot of fun ahead of me! My kids are having a blast playing with them. I have even started spraying cheap squirt guns flat black and finishing them up with silver rub n buff. Turns out good but I could never get the "wood" grips down. I think I will soon move on to a resin ESB blaster soon. I recently found the RPF and I am hooked!

Thanks for all the advice everyone! :thumbsup