Players have donated a few Nerf Mega Thunderbows for Calamity Staff/Monstertown use. Thought I would do a short writeup of how to make these weapons look more period.
Step 1. Unboxing
The Thunderbow comes in two parts, the main body and the bow arms connected by the bowstring. The bow arms can only fit into one side or the other, should be hard to mess that up. I would suggest painting and prepping before assembly
Step 2. Sanding
I always sand off the Nerf logos, weapon name, and safety warnings. I use a palm grip sander to make this process fast.
Step 3. Base Coat Painting
For my base coat I always use Dupli-Color Vinyl Dye. It soaks into the plastic a bit and leaves no residue that can interfere with the functionality of your blaster. I cannot recommend this enough!
Step 4. Detail Painting
I use acrylic paints for my detail work, especially when I want to get a woodgrain look. I use the Americana brand you can grab at Michael's for about a buck each. In this example I also used some red to add warpaint to the weapon. After the acrylic dried I went over the whole thing with a satin clear coat.
Step 5. Leather Wrap & Assembly
Finally I took some scrap leather and wrapped the bow arms and the handle of the main body, then inserted the arms into the body. Here is the final outcome:
All of this took about 30 minutes, not counting the time for the paint to dry.
Hope you find this helpful!
