Update for the MA5B:
I am a little behind on this, but I was pre-occupied with getting my firearm finished in time for a costume party I was going to! Onward...
After I attached the detail pieces, I had to resin and re-bondo those areas to make them look smooth. I'm not sure why, but I didn't get any photos of that part. After that was finished, I got an initial semi-fine sand @ 150 grit done, then sprayed the primer, and every surface got the same treatment with 220 grit. It's about 1/4 of the way there in this pic...
After that, I used the same black Rustoleum 2x Satin Black paint that I had used on the details and weathering for the rest of the suit, and after that cured, moved into dry-brushing.
Ugh, I'm sorry -- I didn't get any photos of how I mounted the barrel, either. It's a little less than a foot of copper 1/2" pipe, sprayed silver, and here's how I did it: I had thought of this beforehand, and put in some paper cross-members inside the pep design as I was making it, because I knew I would want to have at least two places where the barrel was glued to when I mounted it. The inner portion of the barrel is bumped into one of those inner strengthening papers, and glued to that, as well as epoxy-puttied to the external part of the gun. I stuck some epoxy putty on the inside portion of the barrel, and smushed it lightly against the inner cross-member so that the epoxy putty would take that shape. I then pulled that out (gently) and let it cure, then used 1 minute epoxy (great stuff) to adhere it to the surface once I shoved it back in. After that, I crammed a bunch of epoxy putty around the barrel, let that cure, and sanded it down flush.
For the grip, I used thick EVA foam mats that I cut to shape of the finger spaces, and hot glued them to the handle. Then, I used a thin sheet of black detail foam for the exterior surface. I sized it approximately to the area I would need, and glued it onto one side. Using a hair dryer, I heated it so that it would form well to the finger-detail pieces that were glued to the pep handle, and stretched it across them, holding it there for a few moments so that it would take that shape. Once it was holding that shape, I glued it to the other side. The result is a soft handle that is formed to my hand!
For the flashlight, I knew I would need to break open the one that I bought before to make it work. I drilled out the back, and took apart the front part, where the LED resides. Additionally, I sprayed it silver while the front was disassembled.
The front, reassembled. This flashlight has only one LED, powered by one AA battery. I lightly sanded the portions of the light housing that touched the battery, and soldered wires into their respective spots (+ in the center, - on the edge) to power the LED. Once I confirmed that it still worked (aka, I hadn't broken anything), I hot glued over the solder to hold the wires into place, and started to run wires to the battery!
I had quite a few leftover 9V battery connectors, so I used two of them to make the flashlight detachable while I worked on it. Once glued into place, it would make no difference, but running wires is a pain in the ass, so I went this route. I drilled two small holes near where the trigger housing would have gone if this was a real firearm, and ran wire through there.
I soldered directly to a AA, as you can see. Being that time was short, this was my only option, but I will eventually replace this battery with a housing for one AA that will be removable. I then used some more of the thin black hobby foam to conceal the battery.
I did obviously glue this into place as well, using the same epoxy putty that I used for the barrel. The result is alright -- it holds, but I imagine it is a much more fragile mounting solution than the two points of contact that the barrel has (exterior + interior). After the epoxy putty had cured, I sanded and used a few dabs of black paint to blend those areas in, and it was finished!
Next thing that needs revisiting is the forearms -- they were a hysterical pain in the ass at this party. Had the magnets stayed adhered to the pieces, everything would have been fine. Unfortunately, the magnets didn't stay attached to their respective sides, so the forearms kept falling off if I moved my wrists too much. As they are the only pieces not made out of fiberglass resin, this is understandable
(stay away from aqua resin!) so they'll need to be re-made. I'll also use a higher definition pep model, as the low-def ones I made initially are one of the weakest links in the game-realism of this suit.
