My Gear review_Updated 4/29/2007

[pitfallharry]

Edit:

I've gone back and revised the reviews and added better shots of all of my gear.

I'm also ranking them now by how close they are to the actual gear and the quality of each item. The ranking goes now from 1 to 5 stars with 5 being the highest.



Fedora : Adventurebilt Rabbit felt. Color / dark brown




www.adventurebilt.com/


This hat is the last of it's kind from Adventurebilt hats. I was able to get in on a deal the company was having because they were discontinuing their line of rabbit felt hats. This hat is the nicest Indy hat I have ever owned. The color and the bow work on the hat is perfect. The felt is really smooth and looks wonderful.

As with all Adventurbilt and Adventurebilt Deluxe's these hats can be ordered to your size and measurement specifications. With mine I ordered the 7 3/8 hat with a 5/12 inch crown with the brim dimensions being 2/12" on the sides and 2 7/8" in the front. You can order it open crowned and style the hat yourself or you can have them style the hat for you and specify which scene from Raiders or any other Indy movie you want the hat to look like. Trust me. There are differences.

The beaver felt that is the only available felt these hats come in now and it's a much higher quality. Don't let the prices on these hats scare you either. For a hand made custom hat they are a steal and some of the best you will ever find.


Close-Enough - 5 Stars

Quality - 5 Stars



Fedora : Akubra Fed. Deluxe. Color / Londen



www.hatsdirect.com/cgi/products.cgi?view=59&returncat=Fedora+Hats&returnpage=0

My first real Indy hat. Other than possibly the JPD fedora this hat offers the best "bang for the buck". My hat isn't very old and I've already put it threw it's paces quite a few times and the hat is a tough as nails.

The only minor complaint that I have is that this hat is very hard to bash for someone who has never done it before.

Close-Enough - 4 Stars

Quality - 4 Stars



Indiana Jones Jacket : Wested Color/ Dark Brown Hide / Goatskin




www.indyjacket.co.uk/home.html


Wested is the company that made the jackets for the Indiana Jones films. It is at the top of the list for Indy Fans and collectors. If you want to own a jacket from the same people that made the jackets for Harrison Ford then this is it. The jackets are custom made to your measurements and you have a choice in a few different hides. Although, as of this moment the Goatskin like my jacket is no longer available.

This is one of the nicest leather jackets I have ever owned. It fits perfect and I wear it wherever I go. Since I live in a part of the country where the weather changes on a dime I've been able to wear this jacket in all sorts of different temperatures. For the most part it is fairly light so in the summer you won't roast in it and during the winter the only thing extra I add is a sweater underneath.

This is a finely crafted durable custom jacket and at it's current price it's a really good deal.

Close-Enough - 5 Stars

Quality - 5 Stars



Indy "Close-Enough" shirt #1 : Cabela's Long-Sleeve Safari Shirt
Color / Stone



www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp


My first attempt at trying to find a bargain "Indy" shirt. The shirt itself is very well made. The "Stone" color is somewhat close to the color of Indy's shirts in the movies. The problem I have with the shirt stems from the fact that this shirt is not light and it can get very hot, especially wearing it under a leather jacket. Another problem is that this shirt tends to "puff out" around the sides and stomach. Some people that own this shirt have had some luck in having the shirt hemmed in to give it a tighter cut. Out of all of my "close-enough" shirts this is the one that I wear the least. I don't really recommend this shirt when there are others out there that are cheaper, closer and more comfortable to Indy's shirt.

Close-Enough - 3 Stars

Quality - 3 Stars




Indy "Close-Enough" shirt #2 : Aramark Aviator Long Sleeve Work Shirt Color / White




This one was my second attempt at finding a cheap "Indy" shirt that I could buy on a regular basis if need be. I have mixed feelings about this shirt. The cut is fairly good and it doesn't "puff out" like the Cabela's shirt does, at least not as much. The color was a basic white which I changed using the Rit Dye : Pearl Gray color. The fabric dye did take some of the "brightness" out of the shirt's color which helped. Over time though and several washes the shirt has taken on a "blueish hue". If you were going to buy this shirt I wouldn't recommend dying it....at least not with the "Pearl Gray" color. Another problem I have with this shirt is the material it's made out of. It can become a little scratchy on bare skin after wearing it for a little while. So I would recommend wearing a t-shirt under this shirt IF you buy it. Another plus for the shirt is that it is lighter than the Cabela's so you won't be sweating after wearing it for 5 minutes.

It's not a bad shirt and up until last summer I wore it a lot. Now it sits in my closet.

Close-Enough - 3 Stars

Quality - 2 Stars


Indy "Close-Enough" shirt #3 : Old Navy Color / tan




Well, they say "Third times a charm" and for this "Close-Enough"shirt it was. A member of another site alerted all of us to this shirt that he found at Old Navy. I went there that day and picked this up. Other than missing the shoulder epaulets and having a small pocket on the sleeve this shirt was as close to an "Off the Rack" Indy shirt that you could find. The color may not be exactly like Indy's but it's very close. The shirt is very comfortable and light weight. Great for the summer but it's not thick enough for wearing in the fall or winter without a t-shirt under it.

The only minor complaint that I have with this shirt is that it also suffers from to much material around the waist and bottom of the shirt. Like the Cabela's shirt it can be adjusted IF you know how to sew. Since this shirt had everything else going for it this didn't bother me that much. In fact I own 2!

Unfortunately this shirt is no longer available which is quite a shame. This was / is a great shirt for an Indy fan on a budget.

Close-Enough - 4 Stars

Quality - 5 Stars



Indy "Close-Enough" shirt #4 : Forever 21 Military Shirt Color / Khaki and Cream




www.forever21.com/mens/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=FOREVER21&category%5Fname=m%5Fshirts&product%5Fid=2031606945


And finally....What I personally consider the closest "Off the Rack" Indy shirt I've ever found. This shirt is my new personal favorite. It also brings to an end (for me at least) my search for the perfect "Indy on a budget" shirt. Not only is this shirt very close to the design of Indy's shirt it is also the cheapest out of all the ones I own.

I found this shirt by sheer accident while surfing the web one night and quickly showed it to the guys here at the Lounge. After some discussion I opted to try the Khaki color shirt thinking the cream was just a plain white and that the Khaki was probably lighter than the picture on the site and closer to the actual color of the movie shirt. Well, the Khaki ended up being a little to dark to work for an Indy shirt. I ended up ordering the cream color and was happy to learn once I got it that is wasn't just plain white but more of an off white.....which for me was perfect.

The cut on this shirt is perfect for me. There really is no extra material to "puff out" at the stomach and sides. The pleats going down the front aren't as thick as Indy's shirt but there close. The shirt itself is very soft and very light. It's a perfect jungle shirt.

I really can't recommend this shirt enough if your on a budget. Your not going to get much closer than this. I ended up buying a second cream colored shirt and I use the khaki one for everyday wear.

The only down side I can see to this shirt is some might find the cream color to light and IF you don't pay attention while washing and drying the shirt you could shrink it. With this shirt there isn't much room for error when it comes to that because of the cut. IF you buy it be careful.


Close-Enough - 5 Stars

Quality - 5 Stars


Update : The F21 shirt in the "cream" color is no longer available on the website. From what I understand the shirt is still available at the stores. So if you have a local Forever 21 store you might have some luck locating one.


Up Next : My pants, boots , whip , guns and bag

[pitfallharry]

Part 2



Indy "Close-Enough" pants #1 : Dillards Oak Creek pants Color / saddle






These were my first "official" attempt at getting a pair of Indy pants close to the ones seen in the movies. Before this pair I wore just a regular pair of khaki pants with my gear. Ragingblues and his wife were kind enough to pick up a pair of these pants for me since we don't have a Dillard's store here where I live.

For the price these pants are very well constructed and very comfortable. As you can see in the pic the saddle color is very close to the color of the pants seen in Raiders. The pants also have two back pocket flaps just like Indy's pants as well. To this day these pants are the most screen accurate "Off the Rack" budget pants that I have owned.

Unfortunately, like the Old Navy shirt , these pants are no longer available in the stores. There is however a slight chance you may find a pair being sold on Ebay or one of the Indy gear sites.


Close Enough - 5 Stars

Quality - 5 stars



Indy "Close-Enough" pants #2 : IZOD American Chino"Basics" color / Decaf Coffee




www.boscovs.com/StoreFrontWeb/Product.bos?quantity=1&itemNumber=8379&type=Product


These pants were my second attempt at finding a pair of budget "close-enough" Indy pants that were also close in color to the Oak Creek pants. In the second pic the Izod pants are on the left and the Oak Creek are on the right. The photo was taken outside so that people could get a good look at the color of both pants side by side. The Izod pants are slightly darker than the Oak Creek. Of course the Oak Creeks have faded slightly after being washed several times.

The Izod pants I think are a little more comfortable to wear than the Oak Creek pants. They seem to have a little more room in the leg area which I like.

The only downside for me with these pants is that they don't have the back pocket flaps like the Oak Creek pants and the legs are "cuffed" at the bottom which I ended up taking out the stitching and ironing.

From the looks of it they are still available and the price isn't to bad. With only a few minor flaws these pants are still a good option for someone on a budget.


Close Enough - 4 Stars

Quality - 5 stars




Indy "Close-Enough" Boots #1 : Dickies "Grizzly" Work Boot Color / Dark Brown




These boots were the first pair I bought shortly after getting back into collecting Indy Gear. They are basically just your average plain work boot with a faded " worn in" look to them right out of the box. They aren't even what you would call "close-enough". I needed a pair of boots to go with my gear and I found these at a local store for around $40.

They were never very comfortable and I ended up adding inserts because after wearing them a short time they were would start to hurt my feet. They were and still are a decent pair of boots. I wouldn't recommend them for anyone else though.

Close Enough - 1 Stars

Quality - 2 stars



Indy "Close-Enough" boots #2 : SKECHERS USA shoes - Men's Boots : Traffic (Style: 60499) Color / Dark Brown



www.skechers.com/catalog/browse.do?function=displayProductList&gender=M&catId=1&index=0&viewAll=false&sort=popular&prodId=7719&styleCode=60499


These are my second pair of "Indy Boots" that I bought recently. These boots share similar qualities to some of the other "close-enough" Indy boots out there along with the original Indy boots by Alden. Mostly that has to do with the "moc toe" featured on the boot. The boot has a more modern style than some of the other boots which includes more stitching and a padded collar at the top.

These boots are very very comfortable. They required no breaking in time whatsoever. I personally like the "dusty brown" color this boot gives off and I think they go great with either of my Indy pants. In the second pic the boots are being worn with my Oak Creek pants.

For me the boots are the last thing I worry about being totally accurate. My main concern is if their comfortable and not to heavy. These boots are much lighter than my Dickies work boots and I like that a lot. I know there are a few out there that don't care for all the "fancy" extras on this boot but they still make a decent "close-enough" boot IF you don't have many other options. I got these pair of boots at a local shoe store and I only paid $30 for them. IF you can find them at this price then grab them. IF not and there something closer and cheaper out there then you should go for that. For the price I got these at and the fact that I'm not to particular about my Indy boot style these work perfect for me.

Close Enough - 3 Stars

Quality - 5 stars




Indiana Jones Bullwhip : Western Stage Props Indy Whip 12 plait 8 ft. Kangaroo hide Color / Natural Tan



www.westernstageprops.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WSP&Product_Code=WI&Category_Code=IJC


Other than the few cheap cowhide whips I owned as a kid I've never really owned a "real" whip until I bought this one. Even though I haven't had the opportunity to compare this whip to other whips out in the market I can safely say you can't go wrong saving up the cash for one of these. You don't have to be an expert on whips to appreciate the craftsmanship that's gone into this whip.

The only down side I can think of to this whip is that it takes a little while to break in and I don't believe I've really done that with mine yet. It also isn't exactly like Indy's whip in the movies either. There are some subtle differences between the two.

If you're interested in having a whip made by the person that supplied the whip for Raiders then you'd have to order one from Dave Morgan. However Morgan's modern whips are less screen accurate than his older whips. Just keep that in mind if you go to spend the money on one.

My whip isn't cheap but it's a fair price and well worth it.



Close Enough - 4 Stars

Quality - 5 stars



Indiana Jones "Close-Enough" gun : Western Stage Props Blank Firing Gun: .357 Police Special Color / Blued



www.westernstageprops.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WSP&Product_Code=SG357LN&Category_Code=BFR


This blank firing gun was a gift from G-Mann and Ragingblues last year. The guys chipped in and bought this for me because I was in badly need of a Indy Gun to go along with the rest of my gear. I never asked them to do this. Being the generous guys that they are they just did it out of kindness. Thanks again, guys!

The gun itself is in the "ballpark" of the one Indy used in Raiders but it's far from totally accurate. At a distance and in some of my "gear pics" it's easy to kind of fool people into thinking it's like his gun. It is a real firing blank pistol and I removed the orange plug from the end. So in person it does look like a real gun so I don't carry it anywhere with me. You could make it look a little more like the movie gun with some different grips and adding a lanyard ring......something I have yet to do.

Trying to find a good "close -enough" budget gun is hard to do and besides the gun from Airsoft I can't think of really any others that come close. WSP also offers "official" Indy guns but they are made out of rubber. Personally I think the rubber guns don't look that good. The choice is yours though. Until I save up for a real gun this is perfect for me.


Close Enough - 2 Stars

Quality - 5 stars


Indiana Jones Browning HP "Close-Enough" : Generic cap gun bought for Halloween.




I'm really only including this because I consider it my "other" gun. I bought this for about $2 at a Halloween store. I really wasn't looking for another gun to add to my gear but I needed one for some pictures I was taking. It reminded me of Indy's Browning so I picked it up.

For $2 it's not a bad cap gun. I did have to paint the tip black because it was orange. I can't even tell you who made this. This was really a low budget item.

Close Enough - 1 Stars

Quality - 1 stars


Indiana Jones "Close-Enough" gun #2 : Airsoft .38 Special Revolver Color / Black



www.speedytoys.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=407&catid=2



I had been wanting to get this revolver for a while now and finally got around to saving up some cash and buying it. As far as I'm concerned it was worth the wait. I really like the look and feel of this BB gun. It's not as heavy as the blank firing gun and it has a very smooth trigger action. It comes with six metal shells that can be filled with BB's if you want to target practice. It requires a C02 cartridge that I didn't buy yet.

As far as it looking like Indy's gun it's as close as you can get without going over $100.

The only minor complaints I have with this gun is that the barrel comes with a painted orange tip. That can be easily fixed by either painting over it or using Acetone to remove it. I ended up painting over mine with some gloss black paint. Another thing I've noticed is that even though it has a smooth firing action it sometimes skips when firing. Which isn't a big deal for me because I bought this to use as a prop. If your wanting to use it for target practice then this is something you should consider. Of course this might just be something with my gun and not all of them.

In the end though this is the closest Indy replica gun I've owned and I highly recommend it to anyone not wanting to spend a lot of money or can't own a real gun.


Close Enough - 5 Stars

Quality - 4 stars


Indiana Jones MK VII bag : Lawrance Ordnance Reproduction Mk.VI Gas Mask Bag



www.lawranceordnance.com/new/equipment-bags.html


I really can't tell you what the difference is as far as quality goes between this bag and others offered on the net. I haven't had the chance to really check out any of the other bags. This particular bag though is very well made and has some heavy duty snaps. The color is about the same as any other military bag that you would see. It does seem to have just a shade of yellow in it though.

The bag does not come with the brown strap in the picture above. That is another one of Todd's Costumes fine products. The strap can be bought off his site for around $20 before shipping.

This particular model is not the exact same one used for the films but it's so close you can't even tell. The price is really good deal compared to some others out there. The item also shipped fairly quickly and I didn't have to wait long. If your looking for a good Indy bag then you should really consider this. I'm very happy with the final result.


Close Enough - 4 Stars

Quality - 4 stars



Coming up next. My belts, Holster, whip holder and gloves

[indianadirk]

8-)how is the taupe color on the Oak creek pants ( TONE !!) , is that Screen like too , or do you need saddle for a good S a look?

[pitfallharry]

indianadirk said:

8-)how is the taupe color on the Oak creek pants ( TONE !!) , is that Screen like too , or do you need saddle for a good S a look?

Sorry, Dirk. I'm not quite sure what your asking and if it's directed toward me or Tone? ;D

I've only seen the Oak Creek pants in the "Saddle Tan" color. The Izod's pant color is what the company labeled "Coffee".

In my opinion the Saddle might be a little bit more screen accurate than the Coffee color but there's not that much of a difference.

[pitfallharry]

A little update on the F21 shirt.


Looks like the shirt is now only available in medium. I'm glad I bought a second large one when I did.

This shirt isn't carried in their stores by the way. At least they don't in the town I live in. So I'm assuming this is just a shirt only offered on their website. I have a feeling once they clear out these shirts they're done. If they were going to continue to carry it they would have restocked the other sizes by now.

Looks like this shirt is going the way of the Huskers and the Oak Creek Pants!

[pitfallharry]

Part 3

Indiana Jones Holster : Todd's Costume Basic Gun holster original color / light brown new color / dark brown



www.toddscostumes.com/indy/indiana_jones.htm

I bought this holster a little over a year ago. The original color was a light brown but I ended up dying it dark brown using a leather dye I found at a local hobby store. The holster itself is very well made and can hold the weight of a real gun. The downside is that this basic model requires a few mods to do that. I had to glue and add a barrel plug plus I had to insert little pieces of felt inside the holster because of the bolts. This keeps them from scratching up the metal on the gun. Todd does offer a deluxe holster that is more expensive and has these mods already in place. IF your on a budget though this is a good start.

The only thing I would say I don't really care for it that the leather feels a bit flimsy with this holster and almost feels like a costume piece.


Close Enough - 3 Stars

Quality - 3 Stars


Indiana Jones "work gloves" : Menard's work gloves color / dirty white



www.menards.com/


I bought this pair of gloves just the other night. They aren't exactly like the screen gloves but they were "good enough" for me. If you want more accurate gloves you can find some on the net for around $20 plus shipping. I paid $6 for these and they do the job.

Close Enough - 2 Stars

Quality - 3 Stars


Indiana Jones whip holder : Made from scratch. Color / Dark Brown



I've owned a few accurate whip holders but all of them seemed to suffer from "whip slippage". After searching around I found another style of whip holder that corrected this problem. I bought it and followed the pattern and now I own two. The one in the pic above is the one I made. The design really holds the whip in place and keeps the whip from slipping if your running or jumping.

If your feeling "Up to the challenge" you can make your own or you can buy these on the net. I bought my original one from here.... www.wolfpitwhips.com/


Close Enough - 1 Star

Quality - 5 Star


Indiana Jones web belt : Todd's costumes Color / Brown



www.toddscostumes.com/indy/indiana_jones.htm


Well, there really isn't much to say about this piece of gear. It's standard brown web belt. They can be found at various military sites on the net. I ended up ordering this at Todd's while I was ordering my deluxe bag strap. I think you can find them a bit cheaper elsewhere but you'd have to do a search. I'm happy with mine.


Close Enough - 5 Stars

Quality - 5 Stars


Indiana Jones Gun belt : Todd's Costumes and JC Penny's Color / Dark Brown



[Todd's Belt]




[JC Penny Work Belt with Todd's buckle]


www.toddscostumes.com/indy/indiana_jones.htm


Last year I ended up getting the basic gun belt from Todd. It has served it's purpose and for the most part and I was happy with it. The color of the belt is very nice. The leather itself is what I kind of had a problem with. It's not bad but it always seemed a bit like a costume piece to me. This is his basic belt so for the price it is a steal. I ended up just the other night finding a dark brown work belt for $15 at JC Penny's with leather that I felt was much better and than what was used with Todd's belt. So I bought it and switched the buckles. I'm a lot happier with the new "blended" gun belt.

{Todd's original gun belt}

Close Enough - 4 stars

Quality - 2 Stars



{Hybrid Gun Belt}

Close Enough - 4 stars

Quality - 5 Stars

[Ragingblues]

Pitfall.... nice work! I will be adding these to "the list".

Ken

[pagey]

Wow, that's very informative - nice work.
But I have to disagree with this statement: "If you want an exact replica of the movie whip you'd have to buy one from Dave Morgan."
Mr. Morgan's whips bear little resemblance to the ones he made at the time of the movies. In fact your whip is closer than a modern Morgan. In my opinion the most accurate looking whip would be from Bernardo or Joe Strain (if you tell Joe that's how you want it). I like to think mine are reasonably close too

[pitfallharry]

Thanks guys.


Pagey I only mentioned Morgan becuase he was the one that supplied the whips for Raiders. I understand that the modern Morgan whips are not as screen accurate as the older ones but I was looking at it like the HJ hats. Up until recently the HJ's weren't that SA either even though the were the original supplier but people wanted a HJ just because it was the hat used in the film.

Strain didn't make my whip unfortunately and I probably could have requested that or ordered one from his site because it was the same price. At the time just going and ordering one from the WSP was the easiest thing to do. I can't remember who made mine though. I believe he studied under Strain or worked for him at one point though.


Edit : I did go back and change the wording on my "whip review" to make it a little clearer.

[pagey]

I think your whip is a Russel Schulz.
The whips Joe makes for WSP looks very similar, and his own Lone Star whips are fairly distinctive. However, if you order directly through him, he can make you a very screen accurate Raiders whip with an over large Morgan style knot
Like here: Top is Strain (his Raiders stlye), bottom is a modern Morgan

[pitfallharry]

Russel Schulz! Yeah, that's it. Back when I originally bought the whip I posted pics over at the other site and some of the guys were telling me they thought that looked like a Russel Schulz whip. I just couldn't remember his name.

I like the look of that Strain over the Morgan. I'm not a big fan of really thick whips for some reason. I do kind of like the look of the larger Turks Head knot though.

Thanks for the info , Pagey

[pitfallharry]

Here's a link to the WL driver gloves. They're the closest I've seen to the real gloves used in the film.

www.gloves-online.com/work_gloves.htm

[IndyBlues]

Nice gear review, Harry. I especially like that dark brown Wested goat, and your repro MKVI bag. The bag looks just like an original. Great price, too.
'Blues

[pitfallharry]

indyblues said:

Nice gear review, Harry. I especially like that dark brown Wested goat, and your repro MKVI bag. The bag looks just like an original. Great price, too.
'Blues

Thank you.


Yeah, even if I get a G&B or one of Todd's jackets someday the Wested will still hold a special place in my heart. It's my first real Indy jacket. It's to bad they don't have the goat hide anymore. It's a shame new people have to miss out on that.

The only thing different (I believe) between the model of my bag and the SA version are the missing vents on mine. Other than that I can't tell the difference.


Hopefully the review will help someone who's new to this that doesn't want to or can't spend a lot of money. Yeah, even some of my stuff wasn't cheap but I think I've done ok keeping the costs down and keeping close to the original screen gear. If your a big time collector and have the cash go for the real stuff. I'd rather find stuff close enough that's "off the rack" that can be easily replaced if something happens while your out traveling.

[pitfallharry]

I added the review of my new Airsoft revolver.

[winstonwolf359]

Good score on the airsoft, Harry! I think that's one of the best airsoft close enough's out there.



If you get ambitious enough to try to weather it up a bit I'll tell you a couple of the things I did to mine.

Remove the grips and rub them down a bit with coarse sandpaper, around 200-300 grit. It takes a bit of the shine off them and to me makes them feel a little less plastic-y.

Grab a can of Testors Model Master gunmetal buffing metallizer spraypaint. You should be able to find that in Hobby Lobby or one of the other hobby shops in town.
Spray the whole gun a few times, moving the cylinder each time to get even coverage, and lightly buffing in between coats.

Clear coat (light coats) with the Testors metallizer sealer. Repeat a few times, buffing in between coats.

Get a can of Rust-Oleum or Krylon High Heat or BBQ black spray paint.

Again, use two or three light coats, buffing lightly between coats. Don't worry that it'll look a little funky and REALLY gray when it dries. The trick is buffing the BBQ black paint.

If you put a *little* elbow grease into buffing the black coats you'll expose some of the gunmetal layer underneath. Of course don't go TOO crazy, or else you'll end up back to the black plastic underneath.

IMHO the BBQ black looks very much like deep black gun bluing, it definately has a different quality from regular black spray paint, and the gunmetal paint mimics the dark gray look of exposed steel very well.

[GCR]

winstonwolf359 said:

Good score on the airsoft, Harry! I think that's one of the best airsoft close enough's out there.



If you get ambitious enough to try to weather it up a bit I'll tell you a couple of the things I did to mine.

Remove the grips and rub them down a bit with coarse sandpaper, around 200-300 grit. It takes a bit of the shine off them and to me makes them feel a little less plastic-y.

Grab a can of Testors Model Master gunmetal buffing metallizer spraypaint. You should be able to find that in Hobby Lobby or one of the other hobby shops in town.
Spray the whole gun a few times, moving the cylinder each time to get even coverage, and lightly buffing in between coats.

Clear coat (light coats) with the Testors metallizer sealer. Repeat a few times, buffing in between coats.

Get a can of Rust-Oleum or Krylon High Heat or BBQ black spray paint.

Again, use two or three light coats, buffing lightly between coats. Don't worry that it'll look a little funky and REALLY gray when it dries. The trick is buffing the BBQ black paint.

If you put a *little* elbow grease into buffing the black coats you'll expose some of the gunmetal layer underneath. Of course don't go TOO crazy, or else you'll end up back to the black plastic underneath.

IMHO the BBQ black looks very much like deep black gun bluing, it definately has a different quality from regular black spray paint, and the gunmetal paint mimics the dark gray look of exposed steel very well.

Sounds like a cool way to get a great look out of that Airsoft Revolver. Got any pics of yours? I'm curious as to how it looks myself!

-GCR

[winstonwolf359]

Here's an old pic of my HFC, which I no longer own, and a couple pics of my Tanaka I got from G-Mann (thanks John!) and repainted in the same fashion.

[GCR]

Wow, Winston, those guns look great!!!

That Tanaka especially! Looks like it could be the real deal! Well done, that technique should be cataloged somewhere so other people can try their hand with it. It really gives some great results!

Thanks for posting the pics!

-GCR

[pitfallharry]

Winston..


Thanks for the tips on how to "weather" the Airsoft revolver. I may end up trying that down the road. I was thinking about buying real grips for it. Every few months we have a gun show that comes to town and they always have used S&W grips for sale so I plan on purchasing some then.

So the only thing you did before painting it was remove the grips?

[winstonwolf359]

Removed the grips, and I think I wiped the whole thing down with alchohol to remove any excess oil that might have been on the gun.

Real grips go a long way to improving the realism, but I think the HFC gun might need some modification because they did some weird things with the grip frame of the gun on their model. The grips on my Tanaka gun now I'd originally bought for the HFC but I didn't end up using them for some reason, I think because the grip frame was shaped strangely once you removed the grips.

[pitfallharry]

winstonwolf359 said:

Removed the grips, and I think I wiped the whole thing down with alchohol to remove any excess oil that might have been on the gun.

Real grips go a long way to improving the realism, but I think the HFC gun might need some modification because they did some weird things with the grip frame of the gun on their model. The grips on my Tanaka gun now I'd originally bought for the HFC but I didn't end up using them for some reason, I think because the grip frame was shaped strangely once you removed the grips.

I didn't really look to closely at the frame after I removed the extra grip piece when I got it. I'll keep that in mind when I'm shopping for new grips. I may end up taking the whole thing with me when I go to buy some. It will most likely be at one of the gun shows. That's my best bet at finding some.

Thanks again, Winston.

[pitfallharry]

Finally got around to adding my AB Rabbit to the thread.

[pitfallharry]

Hey,

Just a little update about the F21 shirt. Just encase any of you were still looking into buying one.

It looks to me like they're getting rid of their entire men's collection. The store here in town no longer carries any men's clothing! What they did with all of their Indy "close-enough" shirts is a mystery. The racks were full of them and then I went into the store a few days ago and everything was gone. The website link no longer works either and it looks like all of their men's clothing has been marked down.

So needless to say one of the best off the rack "close-enough" shirts is now gone for good.