So, after my (admittedly quite long) hiatus, I’m back on the Shepard costume. The next step is to get the gun to a decent state.

The images above should give an idea of how I’m going to do this. Although the gun I’m using isn’t as close to a Mass Effect pistol as I would have liked, I think it’s pretty close (it’s a NERF watergun, currently sprayed black).

Mass Effect weapons tend to be two-tone, with a darker, dull colour and a much lighter metallic colour, so I’ll be following this scheme as well.

The darker parts will first be painted in a very, very dark grey, then have a dark metallic colour drybushed very lightly over the top - and major scraps/gashes will be picked out with a light metallic colour.

The lighter parts will first be painted in a medium metallic colour, then a lighter one will be drybrushed very heavily over the top.

Finally, I’ll reassemble it and paint the whole thing with a wash made of a small amount of dark grey paint to a large amount of water; this should give the appearance of dirt that has worked into the nooks and crannies.

Finally, I’ll get a metal N7 logo and glue that onto the side (you can get keyrings of these from eBay).

Hopefully the end result will be good. I had considered putting lights in etc. but that’s a bit too ambitious for the first go; if I have chance to make a second weapon, I’ll look at it then. Tomorrow then, I need the following paints:

• Very dark grey
• A dark metallic colour
• A medium metallic colour
• A light metallic colour

Here’s a slightly better image of the bracer and glove so far; the “weave” texture is more evident here.

The next thing I need to go is to get a Dremel; that’ll allow me to cut the panel lines into the bracer section. Once that’s done I can paint the stripes on the bracer and varnish the stripes. I also need to clean up the stripes on the glove.

To paint the stripes, I used tape to mask out the lines and painted with a brush, using acryclic paints - specifically Titanium White and Cadmium Red. I used acrylic for a few reasons:

• it’s fast drying
• it adheres well to most surfaces I’ve painted in the past
• once dry it forms a waterproof layer, which is good as the EVA foam is also waterproof. I don’t intend to wear the armour in a rainstorm but at least I know it won’t run if I get caught in a bit of drizzle at the con
• I don’t have the room to use spraypaint

The problem I’m having is that the surface texture of the foam makes the stripes have a sawtooth edge; I’m going to explore some possibilities to fix that before I paint the bracer, and I’m hoping “go over the edges with a tiny brush” doesn’t end up being the only solution!!