Mass Effect Assault Rifle Nerf Praxis mod
The M8A – ‘A’ for I added that to differentiate from the M8 lol.
Just a quick weekend update modsters! The last week or so I’ve been working on a Nerf Praxis. This gun is a nightmare to sand, it literally took a couple of days, hours in each. The paintwork on it is tough to get off and there’s plenty of little nooks and crannys that you’ll never truly get everything off, even with loads of time / effort.
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I took a look at the Praxis and one part of it inspired this mod, the curvature of the main plating at the back. This immediately reminded me of the M8 Assault Rifle from videogame Mass Effect. I decided this was meant to be and set to work with the usual priming and then did the plating in grey after drybrushing in all the detail work beneath the plating.
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For the ammo magazine I decided to pay homage to the M8’s heat exchange (I am assuming) with transparent sheeting running from red through orange to yellow. This looked okay, but I decided to add a color change LED to the tube, this illuminated the entire ammo / magazine tube and cycles through red, orange, yellow and green. I might make a video if I get time as the photos don’t show the cool cycling effect obviously. Still I took a few photos in low light to show you the overall effect.
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For the stock I went basic metal-look, after drybrushing in the detail between the stock body and butt end. On a side note I also left the Nerf logos on the ammo / magazine, something I usually don’t do, but I liked the detail on it so if you’re wondering why it says Nerf on there, that’s why.
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Hope you liked this latest mod.
Till next time people… what do we say?! ….
DO GOOD THINGS!
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Originally written for GirlyGamer.com.au home blog of Nerfenstein / GirlyGamer / BoardGameGran. Catch up with me on my Facebook page, or if you Tweet… there’s always Twitter and guess what, I actually reply!
madd, that looks sick!
I just bought a Praxis. I hope mine turns out 1/2 as cool as this!
Aww thanks Matthew,
Good luck with it! Let me know how you go!
Heyyy i painted my nerf gun as well but im scared that if i put it back together and use it, the paint will wear off or scratch off like around the trigger and the cocking mechanism. (i sanded it before spray painting and used dulux spraypak) will it wear off or shud i apply something else before reassembling? and also where can i buy transparent sheeting? i live in aust too.
Hi Richard,
you know regardless of what people say, the paint will scratch and wear off eventually, just as it will with anything, but you can touch things up if need be. I would definitely give it a clear coat (matte unless you want it to look glossy) and spray something as a test FIRST and wait for it to dry, so you know what the finish will look like.
What sort of transparent sheeting? I bought some thin transparent sheeting from a craft store if that’s any help.
i am just about crying at how awesome this is, you are amazing! if there is one thing I love more than relaxing and playing mass effect its painting and moding things. I would be eternally grateful if you could tell me what kind/colour of paint you used for this.
Hi Benjamin, wow that one was some time ago. I ‘think’ the name of the color on the plating was ‘machine grey’, it’s essentially a dark grey over a black base and then dry brushed with other shades of grey, then detailed in silver tones. It took a LONG time. If you’re in the US I would imagine the name is different, so looking for dark / mid gray might be better (Krylon).
Thanks for taking the time to comment xx
thanks for the help I’ll go to the modelling shop tomorrow and have a look.
BTW: I’m in Australia 🙂
thanks again xx
Hi again Benjamin,
model / hobby shops sell awesome paints, but they are expensive and small. If you’re in Australia look in somewhere like SupaCheap Auto or other car stores, they have full size cans (250g) and you can get any type you like, they even have vinyl dyes. The big cans will generally be cheaper than the tiny rattle cans you will find in a hobby shop. If you’ve got money to burn though, the smaller ones are better quality, for the most part.
oh my, i missed this post. this Praxis is awesome. I am now staring at the Praxis in my room. hehehe…
There are no words to describe how awesome this is! It kicks ass, chews bubblegum, and then some. You rock human!
Have you ever considered selling any of your work?
Hi Matt, thanks for the kindness.. and yes I will be selling blasters at Gold Coast Supanova and after that by commission 🙂
I’m from the US so might be a bit of travel for me, although I’ve always wanted to visit Australia.
How much would you consider selling this one (or similar one) for?
Wow. This looks simply amazing. Not to be a noob or anything, but why must you sand down the Nerf gun before actually painting? Is it to remove paint or something? And how do you go about doing so? Do you just use any old sandpaper and go at it or is there some sort of procedure you do? It’s just something I’ve been curious about for a while. Again, fantastic job!
Hi Scotty,
thanks for the positivity! The sanding is essentially to give the plastic more tooth, so the new paint grips to it. If you just paint of something that is smooth and painted, the new paint will come off a lot easier than if it has a slightly rougher surface to grip to. I use high numbered sand paper, the lower the number on the paper the more coarse it is, the more coarse it is the more of a mess it will make of the plastic you are going to paint… so.. higher = better, less scratch lines.
Hope that helps you and thanks for commenting 🙂
My word, you are very talented.
I have a Praxis, and enjoy it for Nerf battles with friends and family….I just can’t bear the neon colours that it comes in. Oh for an ounce of your skill.
Somewhat tempted to try a more simplistic version of the artistic piece you have created (I’d love it to look as good as yours) so that I won’t be too perturbed when using it causes orange to show through, requiring a touch up.
Have you ever written an FAQ or tutorial for those of us noobs who could use a few pointers?
I have see your work before in the past and admired it. Well done.
Hi Crankcase,
thanks so much for the kind words. The Praxis was a pain to paint, so be prepared for many hours of sanding ;p
Here’s a guide I wrote some time ago, hopefully it will help you in your quest! Oh just be careful painting blasters you intend to use outside, obviously you don’t want to be waving around something that could be mistaken as an actual firearm.
Good luck!
Thanks for your prompt reply. I was coming back to say “doh!…found your guide”.
Lots of sanding….do remember what grade you did use? Did you just do it by hand?
Thanks again for the inspiration.
I see what you mean by a LOT of sanding! Not enough decent TV to watch tonight while sanding.
I wondered, do you strip all of the paint of and get down to bare plastic? I tend to be removing quite a bit of the detailing in the plastic while trying to strip down the pistol grip and trigger guard.
Currently using P280 grit paper.
I don’t think you’ll ever get all the paint off, the main thing is just to give the plastic tooth and to try and get as much of the gloss off as you can, also that’s probably the lowest number sandpaper you want to use. I hope it all works out for you, I’d love to see it when you’ve finished, so be sure and post it on my facebook wall or something 🙂
hi i have a praxis i dont really have the time to do the entire thing but could u please post detailed instructions on the mag light thingy thx
btw i think that the gun is completly and totally incredible