Rusty and battleworn Thompson

[redvonhammer]

Hi all

I was pretty bored this evening, and decided to do something with my thompson.

Pics:

www.airsoftguns.info/download/file.php?id=2205&mode=view
I took some black shoecream and rubbed it on the receiver, and scraped alittle on it to give impression of scratches

Ok I know this is overdoing the whole rust thing, but:

www.airsoftguns.info/download/file.php?id=2206&mode=view

I scraped some rust of old car parts, etc. And rubbed it in on the shoecream already on the receiver. This is for demonstration only, I wouldnt dream of a weapon with so much rust.

www.airsoftguns.info/download/file.php?id=2207&mode=view

www.airsoftguns.info/download/file.php?id=2208&mode=view


Best thing is, its shoecream! If you dont like how you put the rust on the gun, all you have to do is clean it off with a paper soaked in water

Good luck!

RvH


Edit: The picture adding thingy didnt work so I just put in the links instead.

[migmadmavis]

Youve got a good technique, but I think it will look great if you toned the rust down a bit, but that is a good idea with the old car parts. A technique I learned from Guinnes was to take steel whool to it like around the parts that move, or get handled with alot. I.E like the bolt on the reciever, the mag release, or the edges around the frame. Good luck

[redvonhammer]

Yes ofcourse, steel wool is definitly the way to go for any gun.

But my CYMA Thompson has a VERY thick paintjob layer. I needed to go twice over the same spot with the art drill head of my dremmel to get through to the metal. Hence the shoe cream, when it dries, I can easily make scratches on it without harming the gun itself, thus retaining the value should I forexample want to sell it.


S!

RvH

[TommyGunner]

I like the idea and the rust finish really looks very very reall. Fanastic job on it. But the problem is that no soldier would ever let there gun get that dirty. Not even in the Pacific where the conditions were prime for a weapon to rust would a weapon be used in such poor condition. Soldiers constantly cleaned, lubed oiled and maintained there weapons to ensure it never failed on them. Plus there was often times nothing else to do so soldiers really paid very close attention to there weapons.

TommyGunner

[redvonhammer]

Indeed, it was just to show how much rust was really possible to put on. Not even I would have brung the Thompson to a skirmish like that, I would have been laughed out..

But some rust in cracks and places not reachable on the other hand, is just cool in my opinion, but again, not as much as I put on the gun on the pictures. I cleaned it all off, and just put some rust inside the stamped letters on the lower receiver, and in small cracks on the upper receiver, etc. For a more realistic look.

And you are utterly right about the soldiers cleaning their guns when they had nothing to do. I did nothing else on my G3A3 assault rifle when I served in the Home Defense. I even went as far as using a ear cleaner with oil on it to clean even the tightest of spots when I was utterly bored with waiting.


S!

RvH

[YankeeDiv26]

Nice job, good idea using the shoe polish and old car parts rust, I'd hate for something like that to be perminant.

[Young Blood]

look pretty cool, great idea, their is a bit much rust on it though..

[KRaddatz]

As an idea good job, but i just hate how it looks, it looks like theres dust and sand covering it.
the rust is just overboard, its caked on and i dont even know why you would want someting so rusty looking.

[Tough Ombre]

Although what you guys are saying is absolutely right, you gotta remember there were those guys who didn't care at all. They would let their guns get so fouled up it was insane. Heck John Hatfield (Old Para) was talking about when he was in the Philippines in the 80's i believe how he never once cleaned his 45. He also never thought once of even using it. He picked up a shovel and killed a guy with that Shovel instead of pulling out his colt. I have also heard other stories of similar things happening in Vietnam.
-Cary

[Young Blood]

That very well may be, but not caring for your rifle doesn't make it look like you took a hand full of rust and threw it aganist the rifle at a ridiculous speed then slicing the rifle with a sharp object, personally I think it could have been done with a little more focus on how it would really look.

[TommyGunner]

Im glad it can be cleaned off, but I have to say, as a modeler who has done things like this to tank models and such that it is very good. It has the nice randomness that you might find on something like that.

TommyGunner

[redvonhammer]

Yeah, AGAIN, I threw rust all over it ONLY for demonstrational purposes, I would never bring the gun outside like that, I cleaned the gun like 10 mins after I did this because it looked ugly.

I never cut into my gun, I merely scratched it on places where a Thompson is supposed to be scratched even if it was new and before the soldier the gun is issued to, is sent into combat. Because of the training, throwing down, going through bushes with the thompson as a protective stick or something, etc.

It is very easy to clean off, with a stump of paper and some water on it. It comes off immediately. Before I washed it off, when I touch along the gun with my finger without applying too much pressure, it doesnt even get dirty. So thats why I thought I should post this, if someone wants alittle rust on small unreachable edges, etc, without actually putting the gun under water and let it be outside, etc. Then this is how I think it might be done if you should feel like u wanted a safe way of doing it and a easy way of reversing the process.

On a sidenote, Do not come and tell me that a Thompson thats been through 4-5 years of hell in (I am not saying you are.) forexample, in the pacific.
doesnt have scratches or possibly dents after being shot out of the hands of its soldier.
Forexample, the receiver might be new, but the barrel is old and has worn paintjob, have you seen on pictures of thompsons actually used in most time of the war? The metal on the receiver looks like it has 1000s of hacks and dents on it, someplaces if you watch it from the side, it looks kind of uneven at the top, doesnt shine or reflect as much, looks more like a blury shine of the camera blitz rather then a silver shine as you find on new guns. Unless the gun has been greased before being put into use again.

Thats where the Shoe Cream kicks in, it makes the metal look just like that. Remember, Thompson was seized in production in the mid 40`s. Alot of WW2 thompsons even found their way into Nam, Others into police service far into the 70s, some countries still use them today. Auto ordnance still produces semi auto Thompsons for civilian use.

I am not gonna go on a huge campaign here, but seeing as those who say it looks ugly when I just threw the rust on, obviously hasnt read through the post, or they wouldnt say it looked ugly if they had actually read that I said it was for demonstrational purposes

Same thing happened on a similar thread I posted about this rusty thompson project on a norwegian ww2 forum, everyone jumped me on how ugly it looked or how bad the pictures were even though I said it was merely for demonstrational purposes, so I thought I should clear that up here before someone steps into the minefield without reading what the big plaques with totenkopf`s says...

Have a good day sirs!

RvH

[Sgt_Tom]

Great job. It looks very real.

[2nd Bat]

While I do think the level he took it to is a little over the top the reality in the heat of combat some rust on a weapon is inevitable and highly likely in spite of the care and attention it would recieve. I can guarantee you that in the Pacific and rains of Italy in the squalid conditions the soldiers were functioning in some rifles though fully functional probably looked that bad.

In addition it could be a battlefield pick up which was exposed to the elements for perhaps a week. (or less) I heard many stories of just such a thing and the suprise the soldiers received when they discovered they still fired. I think it was cool thing to share and am impressed with the effect.

In much the same way we make fun of the squeaky clean appearance of out uniforms in most photos the same could be true of our weapons. In Vietnam in spite of a great deal of attention and constant cleaning and maintenance weapons definitely looked field worn within a few months of field use.