2- use Dremel and Blast Marks on your nerf gun

Make it look like it was shot, slashed, and nearly blown up in one of the most intense fiery battles this side of the universe has ever seen (in 20 minutes)

To the painting pro, the logo is very much a cheapening characteristic to leave in a paint job. To give it that pro level edge, you will want to hack that thing off. Actually, we do this without hacking. All you need is a dremel.

Before doing this, I recommend safety glasses. Sometimes pieces of plastic shoot off like the fragments of a Covenant Needler needle on impact. Actually, that’s a bit dramatic, but you Halo fans probably enjoyed the image.

What you will learn in this step

  • How to use a dremel to add blast marks
  • What bits work best for different damage marks
  • How to get rid of the logo

What you need to get started

  • A dremel, DUH!
  • Safety glasses
  • Good lighting
  • Sandpaper

Now, let’s put the dremel to the shell

Make sure to wear those safety glasses! The dremel is the fastest way to sand off markings (logos, recylcing marks, etc). The bit used in the video is an aluminum oxide grinding stone.

Grinding stones are similar to sandpaper. Just like there are different kinds of sandpaper grits -there are different kinds of stone grits.

To grind plastic like a professional, you will want a silicone dioxide stone. Remember when I recommended you get sandpaper with that stuff in it? Yeah, when taking on plastic this stuff does the trick.

You can let the video be proof that the job can still get done with a cheaper aluminum oxide stone.

A bit with a rounded edge works best and makes grinding down the logo much easier. These are called cone bits. When using the dremel, use it at a lower speed, otherwise you risk melting the plastic.

High speeds are fun and all, but for plastic, it’s a bit of overkill. All dremels are different, so you will have to test what speed is best on yours. This dremel was set about halfway, so you can try that as a starting point. If you smell a burning smell then you have the speed set too high and will need to switch to a lower one.

No dremel?

You can use round file to file off a logo. Start with a rougher file to remove 90% of the logo, then switch to a finer one to get the rest. Then finally, use sandpaper to further smooth out the aftermath.

Adding damage marks

A cylindrical stone doesn’t work as well for this, but it does work great for gouges, (in this case my gouges are line-like damage marks).

The idea behind adding blast marks is it gives your blaster a look of hard-use. It tells people it’s seen battle, so feel free to add them in a way that tells a story.

Have fun with it.

When holding the dremel, be sure to keep your hands away from the bit. Blast marks are for the blaster -not your hands!

To make blast marks, use a pointier grind-stone. Then press down into the blaster to grind out where the imaginary bullet impacted. From that single impact point you then grind out the ricochet damage. That is simply a matter of grinding out streaks in an outward fashion.

A clever way to integrate the blast mark – if you are not satisfied with the smoothness of where the logo used to be – is to put it there. So instead of perfectly smoothing that area out, you can go ahead and grind out your battle damage there.

The above video shows how a blast mark can be made using a cone dremel. The final part would be to sand off the loser pieces of plastic. If not removed, those looser pieces may come off after painting, and you don’t want that!