Post by marcomix on Mar 23, 2019 5:47:43 GMT -5
Hello there!
I'm a huge fan of WWII us weapons, expecially thompson sub-machine guns. While I can see the charm and the beauty of the M1921\28\28A1 models, I always preferred the M1 and M1A1 variants over them.
That's why I undertook this project: making a cheap Cyma thompson (yeah, I'm broke) into a realistic replica of an M1 Thompson SMG.
What bothered me the most was the finish: the cyma thompsons come out painted of a dull black that doesn't resemble du-liting (or even parkerizing) at all.
At first, I didn't know what to do....I stripped the paint from the receiver, but I was at loss. How can I give the receiver that characteristic "warm grey" color of a proper du-lite finish?
I tried EVERYTHING....from dry-brushing various shades of gray to trying to coat it in graphite.
Then, I discovered the MAGIC world of cold-bluing.
Now, bluing the gun wouldn't be enough: The M1921 and M1928 were blued, alright.....but from the M1928\A1 onwards, Auto-ordinance switched to du-lite.
Du-lite is, basically, a black oxide that's effective when applied on a sand-blasted surface. This gives the treated piece a dull-gray finish.
So, my next step, after buying a small bottle of Allum.black, was to buy a sand-blaster.
Luckily enough, There was one at my local supermarket. alluminum-sylicate sand included.
****NOTE: FROM NOW ON, IT'S IMPERATIVE TO HOLD AND HANLDE THE GUN PARTS USING CLEAN RUBBER\VYNIL GLOVES, IN ORDER TO NOT TO CONTAMINATE THE METAL PARTS WITH SKIN OILS***
Back at home, I started by Sandblasting the receiver. The shiny alluminum suddenly became very dull...but it was, obviously, still white.
I haven't degreased the part afterwards....since the sand-blasting should take care of any residue oil on the part (and the receiver wasn't oiled in the first place anyway).
Then, I started Bluing\oxidizing both the receiver and the barrel. I soaked a sponge on the bluing solution, squeezed off the excess and started applying the bluing solution on the receiver with long, straight strokes.
After whole piece was blued, I started the aging\weathering part...well, I just stroked the receiver with very fine steel whool.
the last step is to oil the blued parts to stop the chemical bluing process. I used a random oil that I had laying around my garage (in theory, every oil will do...even kitchen olive oil)
And that's the final results:
Sadly that finish is long gone: I kept experimenting with it and ruined the finish. But I plan to replicate the same treatment on a brand new one, once I'll lay my hands on it
Wood furnitures
The replica on the pics still has the original plastic "fake wood" stock, grip and handle. To make them look that way, I sanded them, applied wood wax with a brush, slightly sanded the parts again, then used dark brown and black oil paint to give the parts the correct color shading. finally, I oiled the plastic parts using random oils.
I'm a huge fan of WWII us weapons, expecially thompson sub-machine guns. While I can see the charm and the beauty of the M1921\28\28A1 models, I always preferred the M1 and M1A1 variants over them.
That's why I undertook this project: making a cheap Cyma thompson (yeah, I'm broke) into a realistic replica of an M1 Thompson SMG.
What bothered me the most was the finish: the cyma thompsons come out painted of a dull black that doesn't resemble du-liting (or even parkerizing) at all.
At first, I didn't know what to do....I stripped the paint from the receiver, but I was at loss. How can I give the receiver that characteristic "warm grey" color of a proper du-lite finish?
I tried EVERYTHING....from dry-brushing various shades of gray to trying to coat it in graphite.
Then, I discovered the MAGIC world of cold-bluing.
Now, bluing the gun wouldn't be enough: The M1921 and M1928 were blued, alright.....but from the M1928\A1 onwards, Auto-ordinance switched to du-lite.
Du-lite is, basically, a black oxide that's effective when applied on a sand-blasted surface. This gives the treated piece a dull-gray finish.
So, my next step, after buying a small bottle of Allum.black, was to buy a sand-blaster.
Luckily enough, There was one at my local supermarket. alluminum-sylicate sand included.
****NOTE: FROM NOW ON, IT'S IMPERATIVE TO HOLD AND HANLDE THE GUN PARTS USING CLEAN RUBBER\VYNIL GLOVES, IN ORDER TO NOT TO CONTAMINATE THE METAL PARTS WITH SKIN OILS***
Back at home, I started by Sandblasting the receiver. The shiny alluminum suddenly became very dull...but it was, obviously, still white.
I haven't degreased the part afterwards....since the sand-blasting should take care of any residue oil on the part (and the receiver wasn't oiled in the first place anyway).
Then, I started Bluing\oxidizing both the receiver and the barrel. I soaked a sponge on the bluing solution, squeezed off the excess and started applying the bluing solution on the receiver with long, straight strokes.
After whole piece was blued, I started the aging\weathering part...well, I just stroked the receiver with very fine steel whool.
the last step is to oil the blued parts to stop the chemical bluing process. I used a random oil that I had laying around my garage (in theory, every oil will do...even kitchen olive oil)
And that's the final results:
Sadly that finish is long gone: I kept experimenting with it and ruined the finish. But I plan to replicate the same treatment on a brand new one, once I'll lay my hands on it
Wood furnitures
The replica on the pics still has the original plastic "fake wood" stock, grip and handle. To make them look that way, I sanded them, applied wood wax with a brush, slightly sanded the parts again, then used dark brown and black oil paint to give the parts the correct color shading. finally, I oiled the plastic parts using random oils.